Alicia I love this movie so much

PodBill Just what I expected

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

reel magic Every now and then along comes a story that touches you, a story so vivid that it takes on a life and history of its' own. In the genre of love stories, this is one of them.If I would have to sum up the main issue of the story, I would have to say the loyalty of a woman. Of a lover, a parent or a friend, of feelings.In the case of the movie I would have to add the honest belief in this piece of literature. Judging from three film adaptations, it is obviously a much admired story in India.Let me just say that I was impressed by the whole romantic setting and the subdued, peaceful quality of it, which probably serves to underscore the harmonious character, and the quiet dignity and virtue of Lolita (the irony of a name). However and more importantly, I was amazed, and gladly so, by the emotional pull between the main actors. Saif Ali Khan has shown his best (I didn't believe he had it in him to portray this type of character). And as for Vidya Balan, I believe she steals the show. Except for being radiantly beautiful, she manages to express a great subtlety of emotion, and in a debut role, at that. She understands her character, and embodies it to perfection.This film is worlds apart from your typical shallow masala entertainment which in many a case insults the intelligence of the public.I've seen Parineeta twice so far, and it's done wonders for my perception of what great Hindi cinema is. And now, excuse me, I'm off to see about the book.

daniel schut I've just seen Parineeta - and I honestly can not tell you whether I think it a good movie or not. The reason? Vidya Balan. Dearest God, what a woman! 1. She's pretty. Not in the MTV-showing-skin-think-of-me-naked pretty, but unearthly, religiously pretty. Even though she almost bears it all in this movie (in one of the best hot scenes I have ever, ever seen), she manages to keep the radiance and presence of a true angel. Even Serafs would start singing to her instead of Gods glory if she would walk past.2. She's a very good actress. And with that I mean Indian actress. She's able to convey emotions effectively, which is the core of acting of course, but there's just so many little typical Indian details in her acting: gestures she makes, the movement of her eyes and eyebrows, her body language, that shows: she took her acting lessons from Old School Indian Cinema - all the way from Meena Kumari, Nargis, Nutan, via Hema Malini, Rekha (who makes a stunning guest appearance, too!), Sridevi and, my all time favourite, Mahuri Dixit. Believe me when I say this lady is a legend in the making! So, whilst watching Parineeta I could do nothing but watch enthralled every time Vidya graced the silver screen with her radiance. For what it's worth, I did notice a few other things as well though: 1. Saif Ali Khan. After seeing him first in Kal Ho Naa Ho, I had my doubts. Sure, he's eye-candy for the ladies, but can he act? In Kal Ho Naa Ho, he couldn't - but he shows that he does have the talent here: he does a good job at portraying the anguished Shekhar, and to be honest, I think the director could have gotten more out of him: the movie does not show enough of either his or Vidya/Lolita's doubts, troubles and inner thoughts to really test their mettle. So, compliments for him.2. Sabyasachi Chakravarthy (who plays shekhars dad). He plays the guy you just love to hate very well - even so effectively that you don't even feel for him when, during the climax of the movie, his little scams and self-built empire come apart. I thought that scene was not really a good scene: he was so unlikeable that as an actor he surely felt it would have been weird to show the despair his character must have felt. But apart from that scene, he is doing such a good job at being the dislikeable $%#&@&@, that he is just worthy of praise.3. Sanjay Dutt. he was nominated for best supporting actor here, and he should have gotten it. Even though I thought he was better at supporting in, for example, Eklavya, he is so very able to give a character dimension and depth within just a few seconds, that he just deserves that award.4. I do think the plot/script could have been a bit better written. The biggest problem I had was this: why didn't Lolita at least try to tell the truth about Shekhar's dad evil scheming earlier on? Now I understand as a person, why that is difficult, but why didn't we, as viewers, at least see more of Lolita's doubts about that, and more of Shekhars confusion over Lolita's then erratic behavior? Sure, I get why we also need to buy into the eternal deep love thing to really feel the tragedy of them being separated, but the tragedy-part is equally important, and this is where it got blunted a bit: the movie focused too much first on how great they are together, and then on their confusion over possibly marrying other people in stead of each other (the arrival of Girish for Lolita and that Paris Hilton avant la lettre for Shekhar) and too little on the pains and misconceptions Shekhar's dad's manipulative moves caused directly. I didn't feel that they were 'caged' as characters need to be in a tragedy, I still felt their was room for manouvre, and I didn't really believe that they didn't take the room which they too my mind had.Or maybe I was just too happy every time I saw Vidya Balan too really be able to empathise with the lovely sad love story this ultimately is. It's just hard to feel the tragic melancholy of it all when you believe your watching a divine presence.So, come to think of it, it is a good movie, really. I think I have to watch it again, just for Vidya Ba..the good plot, of course.

Sherazade Compared to Paheli, India should probably have sent Parineeta as their Oscar selection but all is well. Parineeta is more visually stunning than the former and involves one of the most daringly dangerous tests of any film industry, which is the casting of the lead heroine as virtually unknown actress Vidya Balan. But Balan manages to hold her own and make a mountain of her film debut by turning Lolita into a force to be reckoned with. The tale revolves around a guy named Shekhar (played by a very fine and in his element Saif Ali Khan) who falls in love with Lolita from the moment she arrives in the colony as a young orphan next door. They do everything together and he even steps in to provide her with money whenever she needed it. Time goes by and they grow into young adults. Shekhar gets Lolita a job with his father's company, and one day while at work she discovers an unusual folder which she is quickly chastised for coming across. She briefly ignores this, thinking nothing of the folder and continues on with her life. She begins to think of ways to let Shekhar know that she is in love with him but even though he feels the same way, he chooses to keep his feelings under-wraps. One day, while alone with a trusted worker at the office, Lolita comes across that rare folder one more time and this time opens it to see it contents. She is bewildered to discover that it contained classified information about the secret selling of the home she lives in with her relatives behind their back. Distraught but glad that she has now come to terms with the true motives behind Shekhar's father's insincere smiles, she goes home to ask Shekhar for help. But when he ignores her pleas, she turns to a stranger (played by Sanjay Dutt) who has come to visit with their neighbours and also has feelings for Lolita. Girish(Dutt) becomes like an angel for Lolita's family and this angers Shekhar who begins to make a mountain out of a molehill about things. Several misunderstandings prolong the otherwise stellar film, and that's the advantage that Paheli has over Parineeta. Paheli doesn't insult the intelligence of its audience. The most upsetting thing to me was the premise of creating excuses for the two sex scenes in the film. I don't want to be rude, but the audience is not stupid you know? That's something I would love to have told the director.The ending is so crappy that you might want to slap yourself if you sit through it. I found very many elements of Devdas (2002) in this film, it wasn't even subtle. Don't miss Rekha's cameo as the Moulin Rouge singer which adds a much needed pizazz, style and energy to the film. The Parineeta theme is also an instant classic. Raima Sen, Sabyasachi Chakravarthy, Diya Mirza among others add light as co-stars.

golapi2002 The movie's promos and songs looked promising but I did not hope much from the film as very few films live up to it's promos. I have read the story and the movie storyline tries to be faithful as much you can expect from 'adapted screenplay' Taking the story forward in time to 1960s seemed a masterstroke as you could show opulence and beautiful things on screen. The actors suited their characters except Sanjay Dutt. He looked elderly to both the actresses in the movie(Vidya Balan and Raima Sen). Both the actresses played out their parts well(Raima as pampered younger sister and Vidya as responsible girl-woman). Saif Ali Khan oscillated between neglected son, lover and a man who misunderstands his love. Rekha looked ethereal in her 3 minute role as bar club dancer and singer. One has praises for Sabyaschi for playing the role of money-hungry father who thinks his son's marriage nothing more than a business alliance. The music, cinematography,editing and direction were fair enough and loses steam only at end scene. Thanks to Parineeta I could see Calcutta in her old world charm again and I loved it.