Imagine a wannabe film actor so mad that she blindfolds herself as an extreme form of “method acting”. This blindfold is not removed even when she is traveling by train from Delhi to Dehra Dun (!) and her companion has had to leave for personal reasons and she is left alone.
The train begins to chug and there is a chance interaction with the only other passenger in the compartment, a young man, and she still does not remove the blindfold (!!).
And does the man find this girl odd? No!! Because the guy is blind, actually.
And the girl does not even remove the whatever-she-is-wearing as eye-gear as the train goes through scenic views, has a temporary spat with him and then they become friends (!!!). The blind man describes the view to the girl with imagination and in a poetic way—he is a songwriter and singer. Mind you, he never reveals that he is blind after a childhood accident in which he also lost his parents.
By the time the train reaches Dehra Dun (both are actually on the way to Mussoorie nearby), Saba (Shanaya Kapoor) even requests Jahaan (Vikrant Massey) to let her accompany him to the hill resort, where she is going to try out her method acting for the role of a blind girl. He is going there as the place inspired him during a past visit to write good songs.
We do not know what happens with the man who was waiting at the station with a placard having her name “Saba Shergil”. He is never heard of again, and the matter never discussed between Saba and her father in subsequent phone conversations.
Saba now wants to stay in the same service apartment as Jahaan, but there is no room as it is peak season. So she decides to park herself in his living room.
Love blossoms, and soon, the lovers, who have been on walks and outings as well together (without Saba suspecting Jahaan’s ailment despite the clacking of his white stick). The phrase “Love is blind” takes on a new dimension. Saba soon tells him that at the next day’s Valentine’s Day Ball, she will remove her “mask” and will see him. But after the dance, Jahaan, who has had conversations on being visually-challenged with her, chickens out and disappears, leaving her dumbfounded, despairing and depressed.
Years pass. Saba has failed the audition, goes back to doing theater (which she did originally) and falls in love with her director Abhinav (Zain Khan Durrani). They stage their play with their troupe in a European country when Indian stage presentations are popular, and—whaddayaknow!—Jahaan, who now calls himself Kabir, is there too, a popular piano-playing musician and singer at a nearby club where—guess what!—his Hindi songs are very popular!
After a convoluted narrative, the climax comes and the game of Blind-Man’s-and-Woman’s-B(l)uff is finally done with! Phew! Sheesh! Sigh!
We are told that the film is adapted from the Mussoorie-based writer Ruskin Bond’s story, The Eyes Have It, and I am sure that an author of his stature will not write something as addlepated as this one. Lost in its translation, the movie meanders through more convolutions than the ghats (hills) leading to that resort.
Only if one wants or likes something ‘hatke’ (different) in the love story realm, this one’s for them. Also, the cinematography (Tanveer Mir), come India or overseas, has a dream-like picture-postcard luster. Joel Crasto’s background score is decent. Despite a well-written (Vishal Mishra with Kaushal Kishore) title-track, Vishal Mishra’s music sucks, and his singing is full of, as one colleague commented, his habitual “husky gasps”!
The brightest spot in this otherwise mundane melange of melodrama and metaphors (in dialogues, lyrics and the overall concept of love not being physical) is Shanaya Kapoor. She is a bright new discovery who gets every emotion and expression right, and especially when she is blindfolded, it is quite an achievement for a newcomer to depict varied emotions such as love, anger, distress, hope and longing. And she does it well.
Vikrant Massey has clearly taken on this role (as in most of his choices) for the scope of his performance rather than for the quality of the film and its script, and is expectedly good, except that in certain expressions, especially while in the train, he does not seem to be visually-challenged. Zain Khan Durrani as Abhinav is alright. The rest of the cast has nothing much to do and is functional.
If you are an inveterate romantic tale buff, and can appreciate any such stories provided they possess superficial gloss and emotions, this one’s for you.
Rating: **
Zee Studios’, Mini Films’ & Open Window Films’ Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan Produced by: Mansi Bagla, Varun Bagla & Vipin Agnihotri Directed by: Santosh Singh Written by: Ruskin Bond & Mansi Bagla Music: Vishal Mishra Starring: Vikrant Massey, Shanaya Kapoor, Zain Khan Durrani & others
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