That was an excellent one.

Excellent, a Must See

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

After DCH,LEELA yet again explored the love of 2 people from different age groups, surprisingly both films had Dimple Kapadia who has a love track with a younger guy. The film narrates a story of immigrants, who settle in US They show 2 Indian families, One being Deepti Naval who stays with her son after divorcing her husband Gulshan Grover who loves someone else. Dimple and Vinod Khanna have an open marriage, Dimple goes to US as a teacher and slowly a young boy falls for her. The film is treated with maturity, shunning melodrama and is well handledDirection is good Music is decent, Jagjit Singh's voice gives the songs an extra touch.Vinod Khanna has a smaller role and he is excellent, Dimple Kapadia is superb in her role, Amol Mhatre as Chris/Krishna is superb, Gulshan grover is good, Deepti Naval is good too rest are okay

While cultural identity may be a key theme of Somnath Sen's 'Leela', the film presents it well without the use of clichés or at the expense of the story. For example, American Indian Krishna's clash of cultural identity is depicted in a very subtle manner. There is no Indian culture is great and American culture is bad nonsense or vice versa (which is usually the case with this kind of films that are made by Indian directors). Sen doesn't take any side here and he attempts to portray a balanced view.In addition, 'Leela' works excellently as a character-driven piece. The characters are very well-defined. The story moves slowly but this invites the viewer to get to know these people: Krishna, Leela and Chaitali: Krishna has almost completely assimilated to his American identity. Were it not for his parents, he probably would have entirely washed off his Indian identity. The growth of his character as he learns to appreciate Indian culture thanks to Leela is very convincingly demonstrated. The writer doesn't force him to give up his American identity but rather has the character realize that he is both: an Indian and an American.Fiercely independent, his lovely mother, Chaitali, has already embraced American culture without losing her connection to her Indian roots. She has managed to balance her identity and is living her life the way she wants to.Beautiful, intelligent and lonely Leela has just arrived in the country and experiences and appreciates the beauty life in America. She learns that one cannot live a happy life just by living it for someone else. In Krishna, she finds a companion and they both learn something from each other.The use of poetry and music is done delightfully. Jagjit Singh's soothing voice and Gulzar's magical lyrics breathe poetry into the story. It gives 'Leela' a very lyrical feel. The dialogues are splendid.On the technical side, the cinematography is adequate but the lighting is a little faulty.Deepti Naval and Dimple Kapadia are superb. Amol Mhatre looks a little uneasy in the more dramatic sequences but his presence adds to the innocence of Krishna. Gulshan Grover and Vinod Khanna provide good support.Poetic, subtle and engaging, 'Leela' does a fine job of telling a story about cultural identity and self discovery.

I really won't take this flick to be mere one of the kinds which come under the category of ABCD, Flavours and other contemporaries. Take it as a story and you will appreciate as how subtly it puts across a narration which is so very engrossing and emotional. Every character has been beautifully etched out. Leela (Dimple) wants to be more than a muse to her flamboyant husband. She decides to give meaning to her living and get in connection with herself. She goes to States as lecturer in one of University. Meets Kris. He may be one of those cliché characters, but wait and you'll find him having restrained sensibilities. And then there is Chaitali (Deepti Naval) estranged from her ex, having a boy friend whom she veils from her own son Kris for she does not want to be looked down upon her own son. Then there is this tumultuous relation between Naushad and Leela where latter finds solace in Kris. Kris is devastated to find hypocrisy of her mother. Chaitali embroils finding a relation between aged Leela and her son Kris. The story works on so many layers. And the lines in the beginning encapsulate every emotion entailed "once touched by fire, nothing remains same". Look for few scenes which are so mesmerizing. When Kris confronts Naushad for ill treating Leela and trying to justifying his love for Leela. And Naushad retorts back with determination in wow that he and Leela have sacred. Look for climax where Leela tries to justify herself to be neither a creation of Naushad or muse of Kris. Chaitali and Kris coming closer and redefining relationship between them. This is rare of cases that you get to see narration with beautiful songs interspersed composed by Jagjit Singh and written by Gulzar. Every composition stands out and has a depth of its own. Renditions by Subha Mudgal and Jagjit Singh bring out emotions of characters wonderfully. Direction and narration is something to look forward to. The story has this subtle content to it. The urdu diction by Vinod Khanna is perfect. He looks flamboyant and devoted husband at same time. Dimple and Deepti have such gravity to their performances. This movie heralds a new beginning where characters are more real and plausible. I hope to see more of these kinds in year to come. But then Somnath next venture was not well received at Osean's Film Festival in Delhi 2005.

One's been seeing a crass of movies made on the Indians settled abroad and how do they relate to their environment vis-a-vis their origins. Some of the movies have been downrightly funny (Bend it Like Beckham)to make any serious comment , some have been very good.. like East is East.The feeling one got after coming out of seeing Leela was that why did the director keep it so short at 97 mins.. they were so many openings ( for lack of a better word) which the director could have explored. For eg: the relationship between the son Krishna and father Jai could have been taken up, one was also not very sure on why Jai and Chaitali broke up and Jai seems to be having a good relationship with Jennifer.Having said all this, the movie is a must see, it has sensitively treated the issue of a teacher falling for her student.Also makes one think about relationships which are kind of surviving in India , breakup under a more liberal and accepting environment.Dimple Kapadia is ravishing as usual and its nice to see Deepti Naval back on screen after a while . I have always felt that she could offer more , and just needed a good director to get it all out. The kid Krishna also comes up with a good performance. The movie soundtrack is superb especially the last ghazal which has the Krishna doing a little jugalbandi with Vinod Khanna.