Paheli (General, 2005)



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 Kishen (Shahrukh Khan), the son of the rich merchant Bhanwarlal (Anupam Kher). Kishen is a dutiful son who honors his father's 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, Kishen turns away from his wife to finish his bookkeeping, and in the early morning hours he sets off on a business trip that is to last five years. Lachchi is devastated; Gajrobai (Juhi Chawla), her husband's sister-in-law, consoles her, since Gajrobai's husband (Sunil Shetty) has also disappeared. The next day, a ghost appears to her, having taken Kishen's 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 Kishen as her own choice. Lachchi's bliss goes on until four years later, when she is pregnant and the real Kishen realizes he misses his wife. He returns only to find the ghost in his own form. Kishen's family is unable to determine which one the real Kishen is, therefore they decide to visit the king, so he can decide.



On the way to the king they meet an old shepherd (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 Lachchi's real paramour to enter a water-bottle. The real Kishen 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 Kishen's body in order to live with her. Kishen has therefore become a "gebbeth"; a host person that has become possessed by a personality not its own.





review by Apun Ka Choice