Much to the displeasure of the viewer, Fitoor has two lead actors don’t give their best to a film that has everything else in perfect place. Right, Aditya Roy Kapur and Katrina Kaif reduce a probably wonderful to a mere decent film.
Fitoor is Abhishek Kapoor’s third film after back-to-back landmark films like Rock-On and Kai Po Che. Like Kai Po Che, this film is also an adaptation of a book. This time it’s Charles Dickenson’s Great Expectations. I haven’t read the book so I cannot comment on how good was the adaptation but as a standalone, the movie is just beautiful. A better-phrase would be Mashah Allah.
The movie unwinds in Kashmir with the childhood love story of Noor and Firdaus. Noor belongs to an artisan family and Firdaus is an heiress. The child actors who played them were too adorable with their incredible acting skills. It would be an understatement to say they brought the characters alive. Thankfully, the childhood love story is given enough screen time and they almost put their respective adult actors to shame. Their chemistry is pious. Firdaus is sent abroad for schooling. 15 years pass by and Noor’s (Aditya Roy) longing and love for Firdaus(Katrina) doesn’t even decrease an iota even after 15 years. However, Firdaus is now a practical woman who has moved on ages back and is in fact engaged to a Pakistani Minister. How will the love story culminate is the rest of the film.
It would be apt if we say that the ‘hero’ of the film is the photography and music the ‘heroine’. These two factors carry the movie on its shoulders making a feast to the eyes and ears. The production design especially deserves an applause for being the backbone. The frames are fantastic and the background score soothing and suitable. Probably one of the finest works of Amit Trivedi. The screenplay and the dialogues were no doubt up to the mark.
Keeping the lead actors aside, every other actor shines. Unsurprisingly, Tabu has a fantastic screen presence and she sparkles in every scene right from her introduction scene having a hookah. The child actors were impeccable. There were also some new faces who appeared very convincing.
The movie never seems lethargic and also finishes in roughly 2 hours. There is always a progress in some or the other way. The second half however lacks the required emotion, especially the climax which is supposed to be heart-touching. With such a beautiful setup and everything in place you would expect a great reaction within you when two lovers unite. Alas, that didn’t happen. Aditya Roy Kapur towards the end starts makes us recall his Aashiqui-2 and Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani drunken acts, and Katrina of her zero-acting films during her initial days.
Fitoor is a great film with its unmistakable technical aspects but missed the chance of becoming one of the greatest films because of the lead cast.
