Fanaa Review

Oh, man, I loved this one. Weird awful mullety Aamir hair in the first half and all.

I went in knowing next to nothing. All I had seen was the one song sequence at the temple where she is still blind and Aamir sticks his face in the way of her hand so she'll touch him. I'd seen that music video when I played a montage music playlist on Youtube. I hadn't seen a trailer or read about the plot. I just thought - Aamir and Kajol -- looks like an interesting romantic pairing.

So, I had NO idea about the whole terrorism thing. None. Didn't even read the Netflix DVD envelope before watching. Imagine me sitting on my couch with my mouth hanging open at the mid-film bomb blast and then Aamir striding through the airport with short hair. Waaaah?! I am probably the only person in the world that didn't know that was going to happen, but I liked being so surprised.

I had thoroughly enjoyed the romantic first half, as womanizer tour guide Aamir falls for the blind naive Kajol on her first school trip to Dehli. He realizes he loves her and can't let her go home, proposes and she calls her parents to come for the wedding. Then the train station blows up! At the bomb blast, first I thought her parents had been blown up. I thought the whole rush to get her an eye operation before the wedding and the parents even get into town was weird, but then it all fell into place -- well sort of. After the interval, seven years have passed, and ruthless terrorist Aamir (thankfully with a much more flattering non-mullet short military haircut) is on a dangerous mission to get the trigger piece for a nuclear bomb. He's injured and knocks on the door of a remote house in the mountains. Duh duh duh. You can guess who answers the door.

This is a movie where there are certain set pieces and scenes that just work SO WELL because it is the great Aamir Khan and Kajol doing them. OMG Aamir tearing up realizing she is calling the little boy Rehan because it's his SON! All the feels. That is exactly what I watch Bollywood for. All the feels! All of them! And their love song seduction in the rain in the first half-- wow. Just wow.

I literally cannot think of two better actors to play these roles. Just a movie transformed by such good acting.

Now.....the plot. Well, it seemed to me that they had these great ideas and overall themes, but then some things got rushed, like her eye operation, just to get to the point where she can miraculously see and not know him when he comes back. And also, there is no real reason for him to hate India and be a terrorist other than it would make his grandpa mad if he left the family terrorist business. I mean, in Dil Se, we totally get why she is a terrorist and what drives her. Here? Not so much. We could have had a short flashback where he sees his parents get killed by Indian soldiers or something. Aamir turns from happy-go-lucky womanizing tour guide to intense lethal terrorist in the blink of an eye as only he can pull off so well. (Ha! Pun intended but accidental)

And I didn't hate the ending, because really, how could it have ended happily. I mean the real ending -- when she is cradling him and he says, "See I told you I loved you more than you loved me". The epilogue ending with Kajol and her son happily praying at his grave? Kind of odd.

The music was mostly very good, too, but the main thing to recommend this movie is seeing the great chemistry between Kajol and Aamir Khan. Even though I don't speak Hindi or Urdu, I also loved the beautiful poetry couplets they use to flirt with each other in the beginning. I'm probably going to be buying this one on DVD, despite Aamir's awful hair in the first half!