Fitoor earns 3.61 Crores at the Indian Box Office on Friday. It was released alongside Sanam Re and Deadpool which has affected business of all the movies actually. This being the Valentine weekend, we expect all the movies to do well.
Fitoor ticks the first two boxes emphatically. It is packaged brilliantly. It also has epic sweep. But in respect of context, it falls well shy of perfection.
The screenplay sets the classic Dickensian tale in captivating Kashmir but is unable to justify the choice of location beyond projecting the hauntingly desirable heroine as a metaphor for a paradise torn between conflicting forces.
Despite that failing, Fitoor succeeds in turning a literary classic into a contemporary cinematic feast for the eyes and the senses.
It alternates between the dark and shadowy and the bright and painterly as it captures the many moods of nature in Kashmir.
The timeless plot of an orphan who makes it big thanks to a mysterious benefactor is, of course, too well known to deliver surprises. It is the treatment that holds the key.
Fitoor gives Firdaus a Pakistani suitor (played by Rahul Bhat, in a special appearance), and “doodh maangoge toh kheer denge/Kashmir maangoge toh cheer denge” creeps into the story without much apparent logic.
In another scene, Noor declares that politics and art can never be separated. But the film shows no further inclination to take the story beyond the particular and into the universal.
But these are but minor hiccups in what is a highly watchable film shot with impressive flair by cinematographer Anay Goswamy.
Both the editing (Deepa Bhatia) and the production design are also of the highest order.
Lyricist Swanand Kirkire and music composer Amit Trivedi combine to deliver wonderful numbers. The director uses the songs imaginatively to heighten emotions, and not as routine set pieces.
There is so much to admire in Fitoor that it is easy not to be put off by its ponderous pace and lack of contextual detailing.
Go for it because there might not be too many better films than Fitoor this year.
