Masand's verdict: Bas Ek Pal

Cast: Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla, Urmila Matondkar and Jimmy Shergil.

Direction: Onir

Also at the cinemas this week is Bas Ek Pal, a drama about complex adult relationships between a group of friends whose lives change irrevocably due to one tragic incident.

The film is directed by Onir, who helmed last year's delicate and heart-stirring AIDS-themed drama My Brother Nikhil, but the new film is different in tone, in style and in substance.

In Bas Ek Pal, Sanjay Suri plays a US-returned yuppie who finds himself insanely attracted to Urmila Matondkar, a nameless face he runs into a club one day.

We discover the lady herself is curious about her admirer, but she's playing hard to get. Meanwhile, Sanjay visits the club repeatedly hoping to find her there, but mostly goes back unrewarded.

On one evening that he lands up with his friends Jimmy Shergill and Rehaan Engineer, he's pleasantly surprised to discover Urmila there with her friends.

But what transpires is far from pleasant. Sanjay gets into a scuffle with one of Urmila's friends and a gun is fired. It is that moment that changes the lives of five people, who incidentally cross paths again some three years later.

Borrowed generously from Spanish maestro Pedro Almodovar's sumptuous thriller Live Flesh, Onir's Bas Ek Pal pretty much recreates the same plot, but with a few diversions.

Now sexual attraction between the film's two main leads was an important thematic element in Almodovar's film, but Onir only briefly flirts with that detail.

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What makes Bas Ek Pal such engaging viewing is the fact that its got a plot that's hard to predict. And that, as we all know, is a rare find in Bollywood.

What might work against Bas Ek Pal is the fact that it doesn't offer any easy answers, but truth be told that's what I like best about the film. Now it's a film that's meant clearly for a mature audience who is excited by unsettling themes. And although it does run the risk of becoming too talk-heavy, do remember that in the end it is a film about people whose lives intertwine, about people searching for different things.

Of the cast, Juhi Chawla walks a tightrope as she takes on a role that is likely to evoke a mixture of sympathy and resentment. She does it right, but seems a tad uncomfortable letting go of her goody-two-shoes image.

Jimmy Shergill is competent as the insecure lover, but the same can't be said of Rehaan Engineer who's miscast as Juhi's abusive husband. The film's toughest roles go to Sanjay Suri and Urmila Matondkar who go through a gamut of emotions with such polish that they inject believability into characters that are complexed, to say the least.

So Bas Ek Pal is not your typical Bollywood film although it has all the elements of one. I suspect it's a film you'll either love or one that you will hate. Either way, it's a film that will urge you to think.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)