Which sleeping with the enemy remake I prefer???

[jahangir...@yahoo.com]

In the mid 1990s, bollywood was bombarded with the Julia roberts
starrer Hollywood flick called sleeping with the enemy. yes, there
were 3 bollywood films which used SWTE as their inspirations. they
were Yaarana (starring Rishi Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit), Daraar
(starring Rishi Kapoor (again) and Juhi Chawla) and last but not
least, Agnisakshi (starring Nana Patekar and Manisha Koirala).

Amongst these three SWTE remakes, I liked Agnisakshi the most. You
can't deny the fact that Nana Patekar has turned in his career-best
performance in it. He was absolutely convincing as the psychologically
impaired abusive husband. he walked away with flying colours and also
a National award for his performance in 1997. Manisha should also be
given her dues. Because she portrayed the abused wife to perfection.
Her fears, confidence and expressions were all perfect. The only minus
points were the songs and the unnecessary love plot of Ravi Behl and
Divya dutta (who plays Manisha's cousin Agnisakshi). Jackie shroff
does his part well and nothing more can be expected of him because he
pretty much plays the conventional hero whose sole purpose is to save
his girl from the villain.

Talking about Agnisakshi's counterparts: Yaarana and Daraar. Let's
start off with Madhuri Dixit's Yaarana. Honestly, I expected a much
better story from a film which starred the magnificent Madhuri. She is
an actress of high caliber and Yaarana did nothing great for her
career. The film contains unnecessary comedy and little substance. I
mean in a heroine-oriented film, too much light moments mars the
impact. And what else can be expected from David Dhawan. he's a comedy
director who first made his mark with the slapstick comedy-cum action
thriller Shola Aur Shabnam. Yaarana was pretty much a thriller but it
loses its way in the post-interval portions. It becomes the most
annoying Bollywood thriller which tries to balance suspense with some
laugh-out-loud scenes, especially with Madhuri trying to tickle our
funny bones by disguising herself as a modern angrezi woman. These
scenes do nothing substantial for the plot. the climax is equally
disappointing and leaves too much to be desired.
On the bright side, the songs of this film were soul-soothing. 'Mera
Piya Ghar Aaya' must be mentioned first because that was the song
which pulled the crowd to the theaters, otherwise the theatres
would've been empty. Madhuri's swaying dance moves and Kavita
Krishnamurthy's amazing vocals were appreciating. 'Rabi re rali' was
good too. It's my second favorite track in this film.

Now, the last counterpart: Daraar. Well, Daraar could've been a much
better thriller. It tries to preach a lot about the plight of abused
women but the climax is so badly crafted that it leaves too much to be
desired. Juhi Chawla is an excellent actress but she ends up wasting
her talent in Daraar. She does have her moments when we see her
getting beaten by her cruel husband played by Arbaaz Khan. but these
scenes are not enough for us to sympathize with her. I thought Daraar
had a much better script than its counterparts but the director's lack
of creative vision couldn't get it to be accepted by the masses. Also
the Rishi-Juhi jodi was sickening to the stomach just like the Rishi-
Madhuri jodi in Yaarana.