Zor Lagaa Ke... Haiya! Movie Review: Well Meaning But Poorly Executed

There are many films which mean well, have great ideas but fail to have any impact because they have been executed very poorly. Zor Lagaa Ke?Haiya is one of those films which fails to exploit its excellent premise. The film, which was originally planned for a release to coincide with the World Environment Day, has a pertinent message to give but one really does not go to watch a movie just for a moral lesson. One could easily read a book for that. A film, no matter what its subject, has to be compelling enough to make the audience want to sit through it. Unfortunately for Girish Girija Joshi, the director, the film Zor Lagaa Ke does not turn out to be worthy of the cause it espouses.

It is rare in our movie for directors to make films on such meaningful causes as the environment and the general apathy that the public, generally has towards such worthy causes. Ironically, in our country, most films about such causes are generally reserved for the so called children's films. Even in this movie, Joshi examines the premise through the eyes of children, who are the main protagonist of Zor Lagaa Ke. In one line, the film tells the story of a group of children who rally around, with the help of a vagabond, to save a tree from being razed down by land sharks and contractors. It also depicts the apathy of adults towards such worthy causes, in the bargain.

But unfortunately again, the director of the film makes a film for children, which fails to treat children as individuals in their own right and persists in talking down to them. A little less of preaching and a little more fun could have made for a more entertaining movie, leaving the message intact as well.

The tree, which is also a primary protagonist in the movie, is a very important tree for the children who live in apartment close to it. The kids have a tree house on it, which they use to spy upon the vagabond who lives across the street, played competently by veteran Mithiun Chakraborty. The kids rally around to confront the greedy contractor played by Gulshan Grover and his bumbling assistant, Mahesh Manjrekar, to save their precious tree.

The kids, Meghan Jadhav, Ayesha Kaduskar, Hardik Thakkar, Ritwik Tyagi and Ashwin Chitale, all belong to upper class families, except for the last who is labourer's son. The kids' zero in on the tree following a project in school for which they decide to build a tree house. Ashwin helps them with the project and becomes their friend. But their idyll is shortlived as the corrupt builder enters the picture. However, with the help of the vagabond, the children set off on their mission to save the tree and their tree house.

The film's screenplay really goes haywire till the last half hour or so when it al kind of falls into place. But the meanderings prove to be quite tiresome as does the preaching. The kids are a saving grace and put up a great performance, specially, Ashwin, Hardik and Ayesha. Of the adults, Manjrekar and Mithun are a oar above the rest. Gulshan Grover is just about okay and so is Riya Sen. The highlight of the film is the tree and the fact that Amitabh Bachchan lends his voice to it.

A flawed screenplay and bad music further add to the movie's list of problems. The kids and the tree are the redeeming features of the movie. But the entire film could have been so much more audience friendly if the right dose of fun was injected into the proceedings. Joshi's idea and concept was and is great but he bungles in the manner in which he handles the movie.