Plain tale on a stunning canvas

Fitoor
Hindi (U/A) Cast: Tabu, Aditya Roy Kapur, Katrina Kaif
Director: Abhishek Kapoor

Aditya Roy Kapur has every right to stare at Katrina Kaif. She is jaw-droppingly beautiful — just as the snowy, dreamy Kashmir where Fitoor is set in.

Tsk tsk, Kaif is mind-numbingly blank, too! So there goes the romantic charm of a visually rich film inspired by Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

Director Abhishek Kapoor spreads out a beautiful canvas as he revisits the English classic where love, rejection and hope fuel the aspirations of its protagonists.

While the little Kashmiri boy displayed a better grip on his feelings for the haughty girl in the mansion, a grown-up Aditya Roy Kapur manages to bring out just the physical urges of a smitten hero. So, the lead pair’s longing for each other comes out so plastic that even when they make love, it’s the aesthetic appeal that catches one’s attention, and not the passion.

Some expectations are met though. Tabu, as the hysterical heiress in ornate attire, adds some contours to the plain tale.

Abhishek Kapoor keeps politics mostly out, with just one explosion (a very effective one at that) and a side-plot involving a Pakistan minister, offering fleeting references to the turmoil on border.

The beauty of Kashmir, at times airbrushed though, gives an ethereal feel to the flawed drama. Even the falling chinar leaves lend a melancholic crimson shade to the proceedings. Wish the red-haired Kaif did at least half the job.