Saawariya

I went to see Sawariya yesterday. Yeah, I know, inspite of having all the bad reviews and all the people complaining of headaches and depression. We missed the first 10 minutes, but the pace at which the movie actually went, I doubt we missed much.
To start off with, I had no expectations of the movie, maybe of Sanjay Leela Bhansali but not from the story, nor the actors, nor the music. SLB is good.I would go see his next movie too without thinking twice.The story is basically, boy sees seemingly-mysterious girl, strikes up a conversation with her, they become friends, he falls in love with her. Now thats night 1. Night 2 has him quitting his job to be able to talk to her, he learns of her sob-sob love story, a man who has promised to be back in one year's time to take her away. So, now we have a heart broken Hero and a Heroine who seems to be laughing at the drop of a hat and starts crying before it can be picked up again.
Night 3 has hero telling her that "Mystery-man" wont be coming back for her. She is convinced and decides to marry hero. But then... one last look at that bridge and her mystery man is standing there waiting for her, she asks him to "understand and let me go". He gives a winning smile and bows out of her way.She walks off into the night with her hero and the movie's hero is left holding her anklet.
Well, thats the story.
I admit, there were some scenes that I loved.The sets were amazing, the theme of the movie was of course night. Black and neon-ish lights. I suppose one has to understand the magic of movies, the painstaking effort that goes behind every frame.The thought/dream of one who is trying to show his vision to the world.Every scene tries to show something about shadows and light, it tries to show laughter rising in the middle of darkness, it shows something that I failed to understand.It shows the life force of water flowing right through the heart of the city where people try to make a living out of seemingly nothing.Everyone keeps talking of hard times but the only depression they seem to carry is the loss of people around them.It shows people as being basically good no matter who they are or what they do.It makes you believe in the innocence of all that exists.
It is slow and that is a no-no for most people.It shows a romance that seems to be more of a friendship with a few special moments.Every scene seems to drag.The pace could have used a helping with, the bridge and her expressions became boring.It seemed like their world was too small. Acceptable I suppose. But , what pained me the most was that I did not feel sad for the hero that his love was walking away with someone else.I did not feel moved enough.And isn't that what a love story is supposed to do? A tragedy at that. It should make you feel for the one who doesn't get the girl. I was just glad the movie was over.
I could take the first half, but the second half started a headache that lasted 17 hours.
And to think, I had looking forward to seeing this movie for over a month now.