Mehbooba is an emotional love story set on a huge canvas and shot across three continents, America, Europe and Asia as the story’s backdrop, with New York, Budapest, Austria, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Mumbai as the key locations.
Shravan Dhariwal (Sanjay Dutt), a dynamic and successful business tycoon based in New York, has it all. A winner all the way with an envious lifestyle, Shravan is one of the most eligible bachelors around. Whether it’s wealth or women, he always gets what he wants. He leads a charmed life till one day his pride leads him to make the biggest mistake of his life.
In sharp contrast, Karan (Ajay Devgan) is a dreamer, the ultimate romantic, who puts brush to canvas every time a dream captures his imagination. One fascinating woman becomes the constant and recurring theme in all his paintings and wins his heart. When this woman from his dreams actually comes before him, he realizes she is ‘The One’.
However, fate has planned a rather unpleasant surprise… and a strange chain of events brings him to the crossroads of life, where he is tested to make the ultimate sacrifice.
The woman in their lives is Varsha (Manisha Koirala), a true woman of substance, who lives by her strong Indian values. Nothing can shake her faith in herself and her beliefs. Till one day, a grave error of judgment leaves her totally shattered and heartbroken.
New York based casanova and stylish lady killer Shravan’s advances are rejected by his beautiful employee Varsha as she lives by her strong Indian values and ends up slapping him in a party! He apologizes to Varsha and woos her in all earnestness. She relents only to find that he was avenging his public insult. He slaps her tight and humiliates her publicly to his contentment.
Once shattered in love, Varsha now migrates to Budapest and has turned her back on the very word. She leads a new life as Payal, again to be wooed by a passionate painter Karan. He calls her as the woman of his dreams and even worships her.
Finally the two get back to Karan’s sprawling haveli in Rajasthan. We have colourful dancers, showers of roses and marigold petals and aartis and all those needed in an extended family.
She doesn’t realize that her past threatens her happiness and their future. On the day of her engagement, Payal comes to know that Karan’s older brother is none other than Shravan.
Mehbooba has the same old love triangle of the 90s – two guys falling in love with the same girl, an extended family and so on. It is lavishly shot in Budapest, Austria NewYork and exotic Bikaner in India. There are lavish interiors, large houses, expensive costumes, impressive train and car chases and even brilliant cinematography by Ashok Mehta. Still, this movie drags towards the end, Ismail Darbar’s music too is average, yet the film belongs to Manisha Koirala who looks very pretty and is impressive in her performance.
To sum it up, Mehbooba, the film launched in the `90s with a feel of the `80s is improperly released in the times where we have fresh faces, fresh romantic films.
CAST of Mehbooba:
Karan – Ajay Devgan
Shravan Dhariwal – Sanjay Dutt
Varsha – Manisha Koirala
Malik – Tirlok Malik
Kader Khan
Anu Kapoor
Reema Lagoo
Bindu
Himani Shivpuri
CREDITS of Mehbooba:
Produced by Afzal Khan
Screenplay & Directed by Afzal Khan
Original Music by Ismail Darbar
Lyrics – Anand Bakshi
CREW of Mehbooba:
Co-producer – Shabina Afzal Khan
Story Idea – Rumi Jaffery
Choreography – Saroj Khan, Raju Khan, Ganesh Acharya, Baba Yadav
Production Design – Nitin Chandrakant Desai
Action – Bhiku Verma
Dialogues – Javed Siddique
Editor – Ballu Saluja
Director of Photography – Ashok Mehta
Line Producer USA – Tirlok Malik
Mehbooba, movie review