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*Yawn*
That's probably your first reaction when you hear We Are Family
is a remake. Well, I wouldn't blame you considering how Bollywood
is well known for ridiculous and senseless remakes that scare
you for a lifetime. However you can still keep high hopes from
WAF because as you all must know by now, it's the official remake
of Chris Columbus' Stepmom from 1998 starring Susan Sarandon
and Julia Roberts. What many of you might not know is that even
Stepmom wasn't original. It derived its roots from a 1950 film
No Sad Songs For Me or the 1995 American TV series The Other Woman.
 We Are Family is the story of a woman who is diagnosed with a terminal
illness and there's a stepmom in the scene. Since half of the world
and its mothers have seen Stepmom, there's no point of going into
the details of the story because it's exactly the same except with
a desi touch to it. But more than the story of Stepmom, I think
producer Karan Johar wanted to highlight how Kajol is graciously
bowing out of Bollywood and Kareena is slowly filling her place
and might I add, that has been shown well in the movie.
Debutant director, Siddharth Malhotra wins half the battle by casting
the two best leading ladies that Bollywood has to offer; Kajol
[Maya] and Kareena [Shreya] who have played their roles to perfection
even though these weren't stereotypical roles that they might have
done earlier. Kajol is flawless in the film. She has done contrasting
scenes with amazing confidence and shone throughout. Watch out
for the scenes where she discloses her illness to the kids and
how she handles them and lets another woman enter the house. Simply
amazing! While she portrays her emotional side perfectly and makes
you cry while at it, she doesn't show any less confidence in the
scenes fighting with Shreya due to her insecurities. Also, Kajol
looks elegant and her wardrobe and styling is superb. Her transformation
during the illness is also highlighted flawlessly.
While Kajol literally stuns us all with her amazing acting abilities,
Kareena is not far behind either. She has done the role of a career
oriented woman who moulds herself into a mother, quite maturely.
I think it was really wise of Siddharth to cast Kareena opposite
Kajol because she's probably the only actress who could stand up
to Kajol's level and give an equally good performance and so she
has. As far as Arjun Rampal is concerned, it seems like this is
his lucky year. With successes like Rock On, Houseful, Rajneeti
and now WAF in his pocket, what more can one say? Arjun [Aman]
is perfect as the dad and husband stuck in the crossfire.
The director has handled the emotional scenes perfectly. As expected
from Dharma Productions, WAF touches your heart instantly and makes
you feel emotional and touched by the end of the film. If the aim
of WAF was to shake our emotions and bring us near to our loved
ones it sure works. It is very high on emotion [This can be taken
as a warning too]!
While the drama and emotion will be considered a positive by most
viewers, I think the director has shown a little more than required.
He totally forgot that the audience watches a film because of its
ability to entertain and not to make them cry. [Housewives and
mothers are free to differ to my opinion].
 Talking about the second half, the film gets stagnant there. You
would expect a lot to happen and the story to move forward but
unfortunately there's not much movement in terms of the story,
which is disappointing. Also, there are quite a few questions left
unanswered in the film. For example, one appreciates the fact that
the director hasn't wasted time in showing the past life of Aman
and Maya and what led to their divorce but I couldn't understand
why they are so cordial despite the divorce. Also, since the film
is set in Australia the kids should have been well accustomed to
the idea of divorce, father having a girlfriend and remarriage.
Deepa Bhattia's editing is good enough even though climax could
have been better but that's the story's flaw. Surprisingly, WAF
doesn't run longer than two hours. Cinematography by Manmohan adds
charm to the movie as do the limited locales of Australia shown
in the film.
If you compare it to the original, one major aspect is missing,
which is the conflict between the two women. Maya and Shreya do
confront but in a very few scenes. Oh and this one has three kids
as opposed to two in the original. If you have seen Stepmom recently,
you will notice a couple of scenes copy pasted after giving the
Bollywood tadka to them but then it's a remake after all.
All in all, WAF is designed as a true family film which it absolutely
is. There's also no denying the fact that it's a tear jerker so
carry a box of tissue papers when you go to watch this one and
don't let this stop you from watching it because it's a beautiful
film which tells a lot about how we should value our loves ones
and the beauty of the most important relationship of our life;
the one with our mother.
– Hafsah Sarfraz
*CINEMATIC SUICIDE
**FORGETTABLE
***WATCHABLE
****COLLECTIBLE
*****AWARD-WORTHY |
