Taal

Plot synopsis:
Manav (Akshaye Khanna) comes to visit India with his wealthy father Jagmohan Mehta (Amrish Puri), his aunt and uncle, and his father's employees. In Chamba he meets Mansi (Aishwarya Rai), the beautiful daughter of a spiritual singer named Tara Babu (Alok Nath); Jagmohan Mehta owns the Mehta & Mehta group and is into investing in Chamba; their families meet, and Jagmohan and Tara Babu become acquainted and friendly toward each other.
Manav and Mansi fall in love, but when Jagmohan learns of this he packs the family up and moves them to their house in Mumbai, with the excuse that Mansi and her father are of low social status. However, he is nice to Tara Babu's face and invites him to come and stay with him in Mumbai if he, Tara Babu, ever happens to be visiting there. Mansi is distressed by Manav's departure but he assures her that he will not abandon her and that everything will be fine. She gives Manav his scarf which she modified, making it say "Manavsi", a juxtaposition of their names.
When Tara Babu learns of Manav and Mansi's affair he is at first angry but soon agrees to travel to Mumbai to visit his cousin Prabha, who is a news reporter, and to meet Manav's family. They are insulted by Jagmohan's sister-in-law, brother, and the employees and endure hostile treatment. They are forced to wait outside for 9 hours before being invited into the house. When Jagmohan finally arrives at the scene, he too insults Tara Babu, which results in Tara Babu slapping him across the face. Manav also arrives, and he rudely reprimands Tara Babu as well. Meanwhile Mansi, after witnessing Manav shout at her father, makes it clear to Manav that she wants nothing to do with him any more. She and her father then leave the Mehta household deeply hurt.
Mansi soon meets Vikrant Kapoor (Anil Kapoor), a successful and famous music producer/director, who happens to be a fan of Tara Babu's work. With the encouragement of Prabha, she signs a three-year contract with Vikrant, and Mansi performs dance numbers and remixes of Tara Babu's songs as well as some of Vikrant's productions. She wins awards and becomes a sensation in India. In the meantime Vikrant starts to fall in love with Mansi.
Matters are further complicated when Manav arrives to apologise to Mansi for what he and his family did, and she rejects him out of grief for how he treated her father. However, he tells her that he knows she still loves him, and that he will wait for her. Vikrant learns of what happened between Manav and Mansi, but he chooses to ignore it. He has a few encounters with Manav but takes them lightly.
Vikrant proposes to Mansi soon afterwards, and her father and aunt encourage her to accept it, with the hope that it will help her forget Manav. She accepts the proposal even though she is not in love with Vikrant. After winning an International MTV Award in Canada, she comes back to India to prepare for the marriage. In the meantime Jagmohan and Tara Babu patch things up after Jagmohan realises his mistake.
On the day of the marriage, Manav arrives and tells Mansi that by marrying Vikrant when she loves Manav she is deceiving both him and herself, and that marriage is not a contract but a union of two souls; he reminds her that he loves her and will never stop waiting for her. Jagmohan also comes to the wedding with Manav and Tara Babu. Vikrant soon realises, after seeing Mansi's reaction on seeing Manav, that she loves Manav. He assures her that the three of them can still be friends, and urges her to run to Manav. Jagmohan and Tara Babu give their blessings, and Manav and Mansi embrace.
One of the last scenes shows everyone taking a family picture at the Mehta household after the wedding.

Tags: romantic

Review:
a fresh feel, a fresh look, a fresh conceptTaal is a great movie.
The star of the show is Ashwaria, whose portrayal of a simple village girl coming to terms with love, hurt and pressures of modern life is excellent.
Akshaye was great in his role as Manav, a determined, strong headed, love bitten guy.
Alok Nath & Amrish Puri gave good performances and really do support the movie.
Manav sees Mansi and is smitten by her and slowly she develops feelings for him (through some fab songs like Taal and Ishq Bina) and then he goes back to the big city.
The plot of this film is the usual bollywood fare, poor girl, rich boy, disapproving family.
The overwhelming beauty of this film together with the fantastic rendering of songs makes you want to get up and dance.
This is one of my the most favorite Hindi movies and I had seen this masterpiece over 10-15 times.The main cause of that, even before the movie itself is,Aishwarya Rai.Before the movie released I saw Aish in couple of movies like-Aa Ab Laut Chalen and Aur Pyar Ho Gaya...but I have to admit,i was disappointed with her acting and the roles she played.To my opinion that time she was all beauty no talent.But all of my opinions and likes/dislikes about her changes upside down after I saw this movie-I was stunned!She gave a groundbreaking performance which easily topped over last few years' almost every performance.She looked SO Beautiful and Wonderful and Glamorous and....I have no words for that!She blend her character Mansi so well that I had hard times to remind me that this is only a movie character,not a real person.Her acting was simply natural,as though she had acted like this for years.I was very sad when she didn't get the filmfare award for Taal the next year(though she got the award for another film 'Hum De Chuke Sanam' that year from two nominations).This film was a total turnaround for her career.Besides Aishwarya,Anil Kapoor was also simply brilliant with his arrogant and egoistic character and delivered a knockout performance(he won the best supporting actor filmfare award for this film).
Akshaye Khanna also gave a good performance,though I think he is been batter in his later movies like Humraaz,Deewangee,Dil ChahtaHai ...I wish he worked out his hairstyle in this film,his hair looked horrible.About the direction,the cinematography,the music,the choreography,the editing all are simply perfect...too perfect.The director is none other than Subhash Ghai,that name speaks all.The best thing about this movie(besides the acting)is it's award winning cinematography.The parts in village (including the rain song and wedding song)are fabulous!The music direction was given by the maestro A.R. Rahman and the lyrics were written by the living legend Javed Akhter(both won filmfare in their categories),together they made some unforgettable tune and songs that will lasted forever.Oh, and also about the choreography...which name would you think can only match with these two?Saroj Khan.So,this is in my opinion, one of the most romantic movies of the decade and it is perfect from all angles...technical or acting.I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a truly beautiful emotional romantic movie.
I remember watching taal when i was kid , And Aishwarya Rai was everywhere owin to her two hit Movies - Hum dil de chuke sanam and Taal .Taal Is all in all a Pure musical !!
Its a journey of a girl With Music Playin a Important role in the backdrop hence the name Taal.The movie starts with AISHWARYA Rai (Mansi) a beautiful small town girl with great voice who meets AKSHAYE KHANA (Manav) a Rich down to earth guy .
Mansi Is approached to be a lead singer by A Leading music Composer ANIL KAPOOR (Vikrant) who also owns a Music company .
Will She Marry Vikrant and Kill her love for MANAV OR Will she Get back to Manav is the basic plot of the movie ?
This movie has been made amazingly well it is possibly Subash Ghai's Best Work .
The music by A.R REHMAN is the best part of the Movie .
Aishwarya Steals the show completely its her movie all the way , Akshay khanna is great Too , Anil kapoor is funny and goofy and plays his part exceedingly well.Taal is a simple story which looks so pure on the screen and even the cinematography Is not over the top grand its just about perfect .A must watch for People who think Bollywood is all about stupid Dance - Around - The - Three Flick ..
One of the better films i have seen.And definitely one of the better by Subaash Ghai.Though having seen Saudagar and Pardes surely Ghai has a lot of better efforts .Truly not as good as Pardes.Story is same old and the screenplay is utterly predictable.Story is just the typical old triangle boy meets girl falls in love and sons dump of girl falls in love with another guy and guy 1 returns.Climax brings every thing.The movie is not that excellent but still a well made movieThis movie is enjoyable mainly because of the songs.Songs are excellent.The best songs are Kahin Aag Laage and Ramta Jogi.And the performances are excellent.Aishwarya shines in the role of Mansi and is so easy on the eyes in the emotional and dramatic scenes unlike ones like Sushmitha.Who also happens to be a fine actress.Her dancing is amazing.Akshaye was also good.Though this is the only performance that i liked of his.Anil Kapoor superbly stands out and gives a knock out performance.Overall a simple and yet a very entertaining film.
Akshaye Khanna was good in his role, perhaps lacking a bit of conviction, but a more than decent performance.So the plot?
I am not a great fan of love at first sight, but in this case simplicity of characters and naturalism of dialogues/thoughts will force you to digest that.
Apart from being wonderfully musical it seems to me the most romantic movie of the decade, rich in family values, close to reality in many aspects.
If the movie had finished 40 minutes earlier, I would give a rating of 9 for its stunning music & lyrics, original presentation and the brilliant performance of Anil Kapoor.
The script writers are doomed for wasting great talents of veteran actors and the shinning beauty in the eyes of Aishwarya Rai.Rating 2 of 10, 1 for the music and 1 for Anil Kapoor..
You haven't lived till you've seen Taal :-) This one is a top classical no nonsense hindi movie.
For all fans of Aishwarya this is a must but also for people who like a good movie w/o the usual tragic/poverty scenes.I really like the movie and the music is awesome!.
Early in the film, Akshaye Khanna is shown basically stalking Aishwaria Rai and secretly taking photos of her while she's bathing and undressing, and then hangs all the photos on his wall and sits there and looks at them.
But then my wife explained to me that in Indian movies, the standard way of developing a romantic story is to show the man stalking the woman and obsessing over her in a fashion which might, in other cultures, be considered criminal behavior.
The music of A.R. Rahman, who appears to carry the burden of creating the music for every one of the 400 movies to come out of Bombay every year, is catchy and the stars look good..
The music of A.R. Rahman with lyrics by legendary Anand Bakshi is the best I have heard in the last 5 years.The acting is clearly lacking.
Amrish Puri again plays his usual stern self.Overall, the cinematography, music and lyrics overshadow the acting and it delights the senses.
With slightly above average music in the generic mould of A R Rahman.Subhash Ghai's extensive use of Coke jars throughout the movie, and the hotchpotch of scenes and plotlines stolen from other Hindi movies makes for jarring viewing.Some very strange things go on in the movie, starting with the casting.
Though of course the alternative would mean audiences would have little to whistle at, so perhaps it is best to let that pass.Akshaye Khanna's acting seems to consist of making weird faces - an absolute ham, if there ever was one.
Subhash Ghai's guest appearance jars more than an ST bus on the road to Pune.The only saving grace is Anil Kapoor's acting.
Akshaye Kumar would do well to take lessons from him - just the right amount of hamming for the most part (although the sentimental drivel being pushed across as acting by the others seems to affect him too in the end).To summarize: this movie should never have been made.
Not that the result would be any better.Also, the concept of using the Coke bottle for indirect kisses is lifted from Salman Rushdie's book, 'The Moor's Last Sigh.'The problem is, audiences in India have become so used to worse films that rotten pig-kidneys like this movie become hits and the standards stay low all the time..
Taal movie was a 1999 Bollywood musical romantic movie directed by Subhash Ghai.The film stars Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Amrish Puri and Alok Nath.This movie shows the effects of true love.
Some sets are just amazing.end part of the movie creates suspense according to the views.Moreover, the song 'hum dil de chuke sanam' is fantastic song.
R. Rahman with lyrics written by Anand Bakshi.Finally i rated this movie with 5 stars..
The specialities of movies made by Subash Ghai remain the camera work and music though the stories he takes are quite familiar.
"Taal" is simply a love story with a wafer thin plot, but the flow and the beauty with which the film proceeds is pretty attractive.
There are certain flaws, but the film is still refreshing for the music of AR Rehman, brilliant sets, and a beautiful cinematography.
Perhaps in her earlier roles, Aishwarya Rai looks beautiful and acts well.
Akshaye Khanna and Anil Kapoor look quite familiar.
Anyway, this might not be the best film from Subash Ghai; but it indeed is a good effort from him, which should get a special mention.Rating: 2 stars out of 4.
Taal is one Boring movie and is given the nick name Lucky Hit. The songs were a Great Hit, which is why the movie had a head start.
Subash Ghai has given us many great Hits, but he has disappointed this time.
Anil Kapoor is responsible for fabulous movies in the past.
Aishwarya Rai is overrated as it is, gives a boring and stupid character once again.
the best bollywood movie i have ever watched.
its been a long time since i saw this movie , you can say i was a kid then and so far i have seen this movie so many times which i haven't even counted , every time i watch this movie i just say "wow" ..every aspect of the movie is great though there are some minor drawbacks which are always there in bollywood movies but i won't count any of them in this case .
music of the movie is just great as its been almost 10 years but i still like them and ..
one thing i noted in the choreography was that , it would have been better if ghai would have hired some professional orchestra people to train anil kapoor as it feels odd at times if you disagree to what i have said then care to name a better musical love story then this one @ kashif99048@msn.comhope you people like my tiny review.
This film is lush in its use of colour, music, location and good acting.
The story is predictable but welcome and the musical segments hold your attention like a vice.
Good movie with memorable music..
I am a big fan of the work of Mr Subhash Ghai,a very talented director who makes meaningful films with wonderful music time after time.
Akshaye's role wasn't for him; someone like Salman Khan or SRK could've made it a great movie.
Anil Kapoor is superb; his performance is great.
The unique selling points of this movie are: the music, screenplay, cinematography and acting by Ash and Anil.
Speaking of music, the music of this film is great; the lyrics by Anand Bakshi are really good.Verdict: you don't want to miss this one.
Akshay Khanna was there to spoil the fun but Aishwarya Rai made me watch the whole movie.
Anil Kapoor did some good acting but then again Akshay showed up in the end to spoil the fun..
AR Rahaman, as usual has composed a set of brilliant songs, which was the primary reason I watched the movie.
But beside the music, the movie left me shocked--it was a long, boring, and never ending childish play with horrible acting--while watching the movie I was wondering who buys such crap?
I created an IMDb account just to comment on the movie and warn people not to waste their time watching this crap.
Taal felt like a movie written by an 8 years old girl who is going through a pre-puberty hormonal ups and downs--who is overly vulnerable and is riding an "emotional roller coaster" and believes that she will be living rest of her live with her school crush.
I have loved Subhash Ghai's movies since I was a young child, Saudagar and Ram Lakhan being my favourites from him.
Yaadein was his worst but in my opinion his work was starting to get strained way before then,Pardes I found average at best but Taal is a bore and very overrated.
The story is very unoriginal, boy and girl fall in love, then he jilts her and she finds someone else but then in a strange twist of fate they meet again.
I have a feeling that the only reason Taal is so highly regarded is because of the songs but take the songs out and what you're left with a mediocre movie..
This is a long film with a very clichéd plot (rich boy loves poor girl but snooty parents object).
The only reason to see this film is some decent acting by Amrish Puri and Akshaye Khanna, as well as some sweet songs, scored by AR Rehman.
The lovely Aishwarya Rai is beautifully choreographed dancing to melodious tracks.
Anil Kapoor overacts his way as the third lead, a hyperactive music producer who's obsessed with money and success.
The wild thing about TAAL is that the first half hour or so is like an Indian OKLAHOMA, where girl meets rich boy in a mountain village.But then the girl gets a recording contract and suddenly the movie is lycra, dance rehearsals, and MTV parties.The montage sequence in the center is worth the price alone, it's like a Bollywood FLASHDANCE-- the stunning Aish Rai proceeds through a montage sequence of the aforementioned rehearsals, an AMAZING combo of elegant gowns and modern choreography slashed with what we anglos think of as, what, Indian arm ballet?
This movie is certainly what is claims to be, a good musical, and is definitely worth watching, even if it lacks a sound and substantive story-line, as some people claim.As far as the distinction between purely art-films and purely commercial-films goes, there can be hopelessly bad art movies and critically acclaimed commercial ones.
Anil Kapoor (Vikrant) was great and his role is more sympathetic that of Manav.
If the movie ended with Mansi (Aishwaria Rai) walking off it would have been closer to Hollywood's standard and then a Sequel could have been done with Mansi confused as she develops a love for Vikrant who defended her virtue by not acceding to Manav's uncle to besmirch Mansi by trying to bribe Vikrant to have her model a bikini for half a million dollars or so.
A pretty good movie.
This movie is pretty good but I don't think it lived upto it's expectations.
There was a really big hype about this movie so I expected it to be better especially considering that it's a Subhash Ghai movie.
But as usual, Aishwarya did an excellent job of acting and she looked glamorous in the movie.
Akshaye Khanna did an OK job but the character I liked most was Anil Kapoor's one.
The story's about Manav (Akshaye) who's been brought up in England, who comes to Himachel Pradesh with his dad (Amrish Puri) who's a millionaire to look at some land.
There, Manav meets and falls in love with Mansi(Aishwarya Rai) who's the daughter of a local folk singer.
They then meet Vikrant (Anil) who's a remix director who thinks Mansi has the potential to be a big star.
It's a movie worth watching.
Subhash Ghai has done a pretty decent job with this movie.
As typical Bollywood movies, the film contains Part 1 (growing love and broken promises) and Part 2 (revenge, faith and redemption), each about the length of a regular movie.In other words, Taal is your typical big budget Bollywood movie, along with Om Shanti Om and the likes.
In this sense, it is Bollywood at its best since the big budget allows for truly over-the-top dance sequences and fantastic music.Quite frankly, if you are not a fan of kitsch nor Pride and Prejudice, this movie is not for you.
Great Music Video, so-so movie.
But it's the music, singing, and dancing that makes this movie work.
Certainly you could see a lot of money on the screen in sets, costumes, and stage effects; that was impressive.I watch these films for the music, dancing, and beautiful women, and this film has these in abundance.
Aishwarya Rai is stunning as a mountain girl!
It just seemed like Khanna's character felt that Rai's character was only worth fighting for after she became a big and successful star!
Also, what man in their right sense of mind would give up Aishwarya Rai?
Especially one as big-headed as Anil Kapoor's character was in the film?
This film was saved strictly by the songs and Aishwarya, and that's the only reason why you should see it!