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Yuva

2004, Movie, NR, 160 mins

Yuva: Review

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Madras-born director Mani Ratnam's sprawling story of modern Indian youth (yuva in Hindi) follows the intertwined destinies of three young men from dramatically different backgrounds. The movie opens as ambitious thug Lallan (Abhishek Bachchan), student activist Michael (Ajay Devgan) and yuppie Arjun (Vivek Oberoi) converge on Calcutta's traffic-clogged Howrah Bridge: Lallan shoots Michael, whose skidding motorbike nearly hits Arjun. Three lengthy flashbacks trace the circumstances that brought them to this dramatic juncture. Lallan, a product of the Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) slums, is bailed out of prison by his older brother, Gopal (Sonu Sood). Gopal provides muscle for a crooked government minister (Om Puri), who's in the thick of a contentious local re-election campaign. Although Lallan's vague aspirations to go straight are encouraged by his pregnant wife, Sashi (Rani Mukherjee), the lure of easy money and street credibility win out. Gopal recruits Lallan to discredit a student coalition dedicated to exposing the minister's corruption, and eventually orders him to kill their leader, second-generation political agitator Michael. Radhika (Esha Deol), Michael's childhood sweetheart and a recent college graduate, joins the cause to be near him. Arjun, also newly graduated, just wants to have fun and make some money. His father (Anant Nag), who holds a prestigious government job, hopes Arjun will follow in his footsteps. But Arjun has secretly applied for a visa to study in the U.S. Then he meets Mira (Kareena Kapoor) at a local discotheque: Smart, independent and practical, she's just agreed to an arranged marriage but welcomes one last flirtation. Love derails their tidy plans for the future, and Michael winds up on Howrah Bridge making a last-ditch bid for Mira's heart. Instead, he winds up pulling the gravely wounded Michael from the Hoogly River and accompanies him to the hospital. The story then moves forward as the three couples decide what to do with their futures. Ratnam, known for integrating controversial cultural and political themes into popular melodramas, bundles a multitude of coming-of-age traumas into the kind of juicy, overwrought narrative that was once a Hollywood staple. Yes, Devgan is too old to be a student and Bachchan — the son of Indian megastar Amitabh Bachchan — glowers like a storm cloud about to erupt. But the story is absorbing and the songs by A.R. Rahman and Mehboob are damnably catchy. Ratnam simultaneously shot a Tamil-language version of the film, Ayutha Ezhuthu, with an almost entirely different cast; only Deol appears in both. (In Hindi, with English subtitles.) leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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Yuva
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