Henna (1991, Randhir Kapoor)
A retrospective review by David M. Arnold
My second foray into the exotic realm of Indian cinema yielded up a film that really connected with me. "Henna" is a story of love, human goodness and sacrifice. It is also a powerful plea for tolerance, peace and understanding between nations, and it is one of the most beautiful specimens of cinematic art to have been produced anywhere in the world.
The story, set on the border between India and Pakistan, follows Chander Prakash (Rishi Kapoor), a young businessman engaged to Chandni (Ashwini Bhave). On the eve of their engagement party, Chander is called to his company to aid a worker injured in an industrial accident. Hurrying to his party afterward, Chander suffers an automobile accident during a violent rainstorm, and is swept into the river. He is found, half dead, by a tribe of Pakistani peasants.
The tribe is lead by Kahn baba (Saeed Jaffey), a devout Muslim who guides his life by the words of the Koran, and who believes that Allah's judgement holds more weight than that of any worldly court. The peasants nurse Chander back to health only to discover that he has lost his memory. Sensing goodness in him, they adopt him into the tribe. Kahn baba has a beautiful young daughter, Henna (Zeba Bakhtiar), who falls in love with the mysterious stranger. As the months pass, Chander settles into a simple and idyllic pastoral lifestyle, and he proves himself to be a decent and loyal member of their community. Soon, Henna and Chander are to be wed.
On the eve of their nuptials, Chander suddenly recovers his memory. Henna and her family resolve to return Chander across the border to India. The determination and sacrifice that these noble peasants exhibit in their attempt to send Chander home build to a conclusion that really packs a whallop.
"Henna" is produced by RK Films, and was the last project of the great Raj Kapoor, who died in 1988. The film was completed by his family and is a fitting tribute to one of the great figures in Indian filmmaking. Shot on location, the film is confidently and competently directed by Randhir Kapoor. The piedmont of the western Himalayas (with majestic peaks in the background) provides the setting for powerful and absolutely convincing performances. The sequences in which Henna's love for Chander buds and blossoms are on par with the best that film can offer, and compare well with, for example, the ball masque scene in Zefferelli's "Romeo and Juliet" as filmic realizations of young love. Add to this fluid and subtle tracking camerwork and the result is a film that is much more than the sum of its parts.
The film conforms to the Indian cinematic tradition of the lengthy (175 minutes) musical, and contains the obligatory half-dozen or so musical numbers. The songs are well woven into the fabric of the story. And, the film captures the color and texture of both Indian upper-class and Pakistani peasant lifestyles. It accomplishes that goal that I require in order to consider any film really good: It is evocative, it transports the viewer into another realm.
"Henna" is available to Western audiences on DVD from DEI. The disc is letterboxed to a 1.85:1 aspect ratio (I am convinced the original film was shot using a 2.35:1 'Scope process and cropped down to 1.85:1). The image is exceptionally crisp, clear and vivid, and looks better than some domestic transfers I have seen. The only problem with the disc is a very harsh, clipped and over-driven monaural soundtrack that really spoiled for me some of the musical numbers, inducing the same visceral reaction as fingernails on a chalkboard. That was a great disappointment to me, since I ENJOY Indian music. The dialogue is in Hindi, with optional English subtitles, except during the musical numbers which are not subtitled (this is a very minor handicap to the non-Hindi speaking viewer's understanding or enjoyment of the film).
On the whole, I would give "Henna" my strongest recommendation. For anyone interested in exploring the Hindi movie scene, "Henna" would be an excellent introduction.
Essay copyright (C) 2000 David M. Arnold. All rights reserved.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews