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News of Jan
5, 2007
Rosshan Andrrews' 'Notebook'
Disappoints
By Paresh C. Palicha
Film: "Notebook"
Cast: Roma, Maria, Parvathi, Suraj and Mejo Joseph
Director: Rosshan Andrrews
Producer: P.V. Gangadharan
Music: Mejo Joseph
Director Rosshan Andrrews' "Notebook" fails to live up to the
expectations that his hugely successful directorial debut "Udayananu
Tharam" generated.
The story of three girls and their misadventures in a boarding
school, Lord's Academy in Ooty, looks unreal. The goings-on in the
movie are far removed from reality. The audience is made to believe
that only children from rich families or broken homes go to
residential schools.
Attempts are made to characterize each of the three girls, who skip
New Year's midnight prayer to plant a sapling in the school's campus
as a symbol of their friendship.
One of them does not mind seeking help from a boy to get toiletry
for a female friend in dire need. The second girl can be an angel at
one moment and a selfish brat another. The third one is timid but
can take pleasure trips if presented with an opportunity. The traits
of these three girls are supposed to take the story forward when it
unfolds beyond their initial friendship.
But the screenplay, credited to Bobby and Sanjay, fails to involve
the audience emotionally with any of the trio. It just goes through
the motions of telling their tale without letting us into their
world.
For instance, when the timid one reveals that she may be pregnant
after a fling with a boy during a school trip, the audience is
neither amused nor shocked. They remain indifferent to her fate.
Viewers are similarly unmoved by a scene where a boy climbs the
school's clock tower to commit suicide after being wrongly charged
with cheating in an examination and the principal, a stern priest
nicknamed Draculam, only waits for him to get down and be expelled.
If the school and its inmates were presented in a more realistic
manner, the characters would have elicited greater audience empathy.
In the absence of good narration, the enthusiasm of the newcomers,
especially Roma, who has a charming screen presence, is completely
wasted.
IANS
News of Jan
5, 2007
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