The magnificent Yashraj banner montage rolls, some credits appear….. and the the screen gets lits up…. not with lights… but because against the dark background…. there is madhuri… slim, fit, sexy with her 1000 watt smile…. dancing on the western number…. uhhhh… aahhh….

Maaaaadhuri!

The first opening shot sets the tone of the movie… its about dance, music, art and also it is about happiness, love, culture, goodness in human beings. If you apply the first 15 min formula (word courtesy my friend, raj), you know that this movie rocks! It grips you from the first scene till the last scene.

The story starts in flashback which madhuri tells to her daughter. Its about shamali. Its about shamali when it was alive. Shamali is a town where there is an ancient theater called ajant theater. Makarand (Darshan Zariwala) is a teacher who teaches dance and music to the young girls and boys of shamali. Parents are inhibited to send them their but are not opposed. The kids have all the fun while learning there. Dia (Madhuri Dixit) is the best student of makarand and have great rapport with each other.

One day a national geographic reporter visits to cover Ajanta theater. Dia falls in love with him and flies to America against the will of her parents and the society and everyone in shamali. This event defames the theater and the town is against it. No one sends their children’s to makarand assuming that he had spoiled dia.

Dia faces her destiny in America and gets divorced eventually to be own her own and successful as a dance teacher. She had decided to never return to shamali.

11 years later, as fate had in its mind, she had to come to shamali for her teacher who is on deathbed. He tells dia that the town is going to demolish her loved Ajanta theater for a shopping mall. He hands over the responsibility of saving the theater to dia. Dia take it as a challenge and strives for it.

She meets the MP who is behind the decision. After a small tussle, they have a deal between them. If dia is able to do a show at ajanta in 2 months, he would cancel the orders to demolish the theater. The only condition is, she has to use all the local people as her cast and crew.

Dia is determined to do this and finally achieves it with her efforts. In the process, she makes shamali realizes that its not dead. Music and dance is in the blood of everyone in shamali. Her triumph units the shamali people and brings light in their doomed life. Her show is a grand success and the MP cancels the order. How all this happens is worth watching and treat to our eyes and ears.

This is an interesting story to tell and the screenplay, script writing (jaideep sahani) is first rate. The film has a very good speed and keeps the entertainment quotient high. Kudos to the cinematographer turned director anil mehata who narrates the story smoothly. He zips through the story without harming any aspect of the story telling. He is able to sketch the characters swiftly while keeping the pace. He is able to connect people quickly with so many characters in the movie (are u listening vivek agnihotri of Goal? Learn this!). His direction is magical. It does not appear as his first movie at all. Being a cinematographer, he sure knows the value of the raw film stock and does not waste it at all. He must have used the shoot to edit method and hence the movie is crisp and entertaining.

All the actors and actresses in the movie are perfectly cast. Everyone does their job best. To mention the few are Kunal Kapoor as Imraan who acts as Majnoo in dia’s show. Shushmita Mukherjee, as Mrs Chojar is good. Mr. Chojar, a boring government offices played by Vinay Kapoor is hilarious. His friend, Ranbir shorey, plays mohan, the hotel owner. He is silent lover of madhuri. Her real life majnoo (in the film). Also the child artist who plays the role of dia’s daughter is also good.

The most standout performance is by Akshaye Khanna as a young generation MP. He acts the role with elan and style. He brightens up the screen every time he is there. His character is most contemporary political character we have ever seen in bollywood movies. Both the role and the actors deserves applause.

Irfaan khan as the businessman behind the demolition idea of Ajanata Theatre. He is a such a great actor we have. He is real asset to the today’s film industry. We are also fortunate to have another great actress with us i.e. Konkana Sen Sharma. She is very etheral and moulds herself to any character. He breaths life in the character of Anokhi. She essays her role with perfection. Hats off to her.

After all these discussions, we can not stop without talking about the one and only madhuri. She looks gorgeous, she dances like a dream, she acts like a mastro and she infuses her own bright personality in the role she plays. She is almost in every frame of the movie and still we keep asking for more. This movie belongs to madhuri. The tailer made story for her suits her perfectly. We can certainly say that there can not be better comeback movie for madhuri than this. All we can say is:

Madhuri is back… and how!

BR Rating: ****

BR Verdict: Very Good!

BR Advise: Go Watch it! How can you miss a madhuri movie?

- Reviewed By : Prashen H. Kyawal