Date:15/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/15/stories/2007091559730200.htm

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Andhra Pradesh

Kudos for the brave effort FILM REVIEW

POWERFUL PACKAGE: Dwij Yadav and Bobby Deol in the movie ‘Nanhe Jaisalmer’.

Film: Nanhe Jaisalmer

Cast: Dwij Yadav, Bobby Deol

Director: Samir Karnik

Hindi films just got younger. And bolder. One film old Samir Karnik gets audacious enough to cast a little boy – Dwij Yadav – as a ‘hero’, leaving the hero Bobby Deol to play the second fiddle. It might mean box office hara-kiri but Karnik deserves kudos for the brave effort.

He is due some brownie points for the nice, nudging story too, a tale of a little boy in Jaisalmer who lives, eats and sleeps with one fantasy: meeting his childhood idol Bobby Deol. Against all odds, he dreams that one day his hero will be in front of him. One day, the man whose posters and photographs cover all the walls of his small room, will actually be there in that room himself.

Heart warming

The way things move between Yadav and Bobby Deol is heart-warming; Yadav in particular packs in a lot of energy and enthusiasm which comes naturally to the young; and some skill into his portrayal of a boy guide in Jaisalmer. A boy who knows four languages, takes the tourists across the sand dunes in the morning and retreats into his fantasy zone soon after. So Karnik’s film is a delight that tickles the child in us and pleases the eye? Well, yes in some significant parts. In many others, Karnik sorely, bitterly disappoints. The way he incorporates literacy messages and gives elaborate shots of adult literacy classes after sundown is a crass attempt; it is likely to do more harm than good for the laudable venture. There is nothing called subtlety or even professional about these shots. Karnik is guilty of stating the obvious. He clearly is eyeing a tax free certificate and school-going crowd. Wish he had been more understated, more discrete about it all because his story had some potential, and his child artiste some skill. Sorry, the way “Nanhe Jaisalmer” turns out at the end, it leaves you more disappointed than delighted.

ZIYA US SALAM