PaheliPaheli

The movie is narrated by two puppets, voiced by Naseeruddin Shah and his real-life wife Ratna Pathak Shah.Enthusiastic young Lachchi (Rani Mukerji) is to be married to Kishan (Shah Rukh Khan), the son of the rich merchant Banwarlal (Anupam Kher). Kishan is a dutiful son who honors his fathers wish to start a new, far-away business on a predetermined auspicious date, which happens to be the day after the wedding ceremony. On the wedding night, Kishan turns away from his wife to finish his bookkeeping, and in the early morning hours sets off on a business trip that is to last five years. Lachchi is devastated; Gajrobai (Juhi Chawla), her husbands sister-in-law, consoles her, empathizing on the grounds that Gajrobais husband Sunderlal (Sunil Shetty) has also disappeared.

The next day, a ghost appears, having taken Kishans shape and voice because of his own attachment to Lachchi.Lachchi is thus presented a riddle (hence the title paheli) between the representation of all of her desires in the form of the ghost and her real husband. She takes this new, fond, sexual, magical, social, self-confident version of Kishan as hers. As Kishan, the ghost befriends all of the real Kishans family and keeps Bhanwarlal happy by providing him with magical, possibly illusory, gold coins. His only blunder is in his treatment of the messenger Bhoja, who is perplexed by the idea that Kishan has sent a letter from his business trip only to receive it himself in his own house and offended when the ghost (who appears as Kishan) does not offer him a drink of water.

Lachchis bliss goes on until four years later, when she is pregnant and the real Kishan returns to see if the rumours about his wifes pregnancy are true. He returns to find the ghost in his (Kishans) own form. Kishans family is unable to determine which of the doppelgangers is the real Kishan (the ghost refusing to confess). They decide to visit the king so that he can arbitrate.On the way to the king they meet an old shepherd Gadariya (Amitabh Bachchan) who helps them out.

He asks the real son of Bhanwarlal to pick up hot coals, asks the real husband to gather the sheep, and asks Lachchis real paramour to enter a water-bottle. The real Kishan is found out and everyone returns home. Lachchi is devastated over the loss of the ghost. In the very end it is revealed that the ghost has escaped the bottle and taken control of Kishans body to live with her. By now Lachchi has given birth to a daughter, Looni Ma, by whom the ghost exposes his identity to Lachchi.

The puppets close the story, remarking that the plot is an old story.Paheli was nominated as Indias official entry to the 79th Academy Awards. Paheli was critically acclaimed. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave it 4/5 stars and said: On the whole, Paheli is one of the finest films produced in the recent times. A film like this proves yet again that we dont need to seek inspiration from outsiders [read Hollywood], when the Indian literature is rich enough to provide us with captivating stories.

He also praised the acting of the two leads stating: Paheli would be incomplete without SRK and Rani. The two actors are in terrific form yet again. If you ever had an iota of doubt about SRKs versatility, it would evaporate the moment you watch Paheli. This is amongst SRKs most accomplished performances ever. He is fabulous as the ghost and equally convincing as the bewildered husband.

Rani proves yet again why shes the rani(Queen) today! The actor, who has already proved her mettle in two diametrically opposite films this year (Black, Bunty Aur Babli), delivers yet another performance that is sure to dominate the next year award ceremonies as well. Raja Sen from Rediff.com called it A breathtaking dream, and said: First things first, this is the best-looking Indian film in a very long time, and ranks up there with the finest ever. Amol Palekar has crafted a delectable fairytale that is incredibly well-shot. Ravi K Chandrans cinematography is spellbinding as he casts us into the fabulous sandscapes of Rajasthan with fluid harmony.

Each frame of the film is picture-perfect, marinated in intoxicating colour. Watching Paheli is quite an experience, and its from the very opening shot of the film that its sheer, magical palette overwhelms us. It was eventually featured in The ten best Indian films of 2005 list by Rediff.com, ranked third.