Film Review: Zubeidaa

`MEHNDI HAI rachne wali... khushiyan hain aane wali' goes a hummable lyric from Shyam Benegal's ``Zubeidaa'' which has opened to critical acclaim across the country.

The song has a sort of prognostication written all over it for the leading lady Karisma Kapoor.

Yes, happy days are indeed here for Karisma, who was once ripped apart by the same critics for salacity in films like ``Raja Babu'' and ``Khuddar'' and is now being hailed as one of the actresses to have bridged the divide between commercial and parallel cinema.

First came Khalid Mohammed's ``Fiza'' and now ``Zubeidaa''. While neither film falls strictly in the straitjacket of parallel cinema, they are at least off the mainstream and have been hailed for as much.

``Zubeidaa'', which has lilting music by A.R. Rehman, is the story of a rebel without a cause. Karisma essaying the title role, is the daughter of a film-maker (Amrish Puri) who refuses to fall in line with the dictates of a patriarchal set-up.

Beginning with the stigma of a divorce, she proceeds to marry a Rajput prince (Manoj Bajpai in a not-so-convincing portrayal of a royal scion) before realising that things are not exactly better in the new household.

Life as a second partner is hardly fulfilling. And then...

Karisma invests her role with a rare dignity and understatement nobody suspected her to be capable of. Rekha is, as usual, in her elements in the role of the distaff side of royalty. Watch it.

It is among the better offerings of Benegal, who had earlier opened a window to the world of Muslims in ``Mammo'' and ``Sardari Begum''.

It may not be the turn of the millennium film but is likely to be among the better ones to come from the Bollywood stable in the year 2001.

ZIYA US SALAM

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Section  : Entertainment
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