Amol Palekar as a director has given us some rare offbeat gems in the past like Ankahee (1985), Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jayen (1990), Daayra (1996), Kairee (2000), Anaahat (2003) and more. Keeping his track record in mind, his latest “And Once Again” in English, was also expected to be another thought provoking and worth watching gem from the thinking director.
But unfortunately the film falls way below the expectations and just remains on the periphery without any kind of emotional depth and feel as required by the subject chosen by the master film-maker. In fact, I would like to add that the movie frankly fits no-where in the list of all the other notable achievements made by the director in his illustrious career.
Revolving around Rajat Kapoor & Rituparna Sengupta a newly-wed couple visiting Sikkim on a business cum pleasure tour, the film actually begins when out of a sudden Rajat Kapoor faints in a Buddhist temple seeing a lady monk saying her prayers, played by Antra Mali. His past has something to do with the lady which starts haunting him and he loses all his peace of mind due to that. The story then mainly deals with this love triangle between the three characters and it goes on to reveal many dark secrets of their past disturbing each one of them individually.
Truly speaking, Sandhya Gokhale’s story was fine having both the elements of love and surprise to shock the viewer. But her own screenplay ruins the idea completely as the film never pulls you in to share the trauma faced by the trio. Further, Amol Palekar’s direction also leaves you unmoved since the characters remain few fictional people moving on the screen and never give you the feeling of some real people as experienced in all the previous projects of the director.
Rajat Kapoor as the husband is fine but I couldn’t understand why he was made to speak Hindi in his few dialogues when the film was actually made in English. Rituparna Sengupta doesn’t look like a real life character as she is adjustable to simply everything happening with the couple. Due to this fact her portrayal of Rajat’s wife appears to be a fake. Antra Mali too is not able to make any kind of impact on the viewers with her bold bald getup as the lady monk. She mostly remains silent and expressionless throughout the movie. The actor playing Rituparna’s father has a great voice and fine dialogue delivery style but the girl playing their family friend has nothing much to in the film.
Musically, the project should have been a song less venture for sure. Still Amol very strangely puts in few songs (in English), having no melody in them, which were not required at all in the first place.
In all, “And Once Again” has nothing to offer either to the classes or to the masses. The movie never makes you feel even once that you are really watching a film directed by the veteran Amol Palekar. May be he had his own reasons of making it this way. But considering its skillful cinematography, the film can be more enjoyed as a visual trip to Sikkim and its monasteries than a movie made for the theaters.
Ratings : 1 / 5
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