Paheli (2005 film)

Paheli
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAmol Palekar
Screenplay bySandhya Gokhale
Story byVijayadan Detha
Sandhya Gokhale
Amol Palekar
Based onDuvidha
by Vijayadan Detha
Produced byGauri Khan
StarringShah Rukh Khan
Rani Mukerji
Narrated byNaseeruddin Shah
Ratna Pathak
CinematographyRavi K. Chandran
Edited byAmitabh Shukla
Steven H. Bernard
Music bySongs:
M. M. Kreem
Score:
Aadesh Shrivastava
Production
company
Distributed byShree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision
Eros International
Release date
  • 24 June 2005 (2005-06-24)
Running time
141 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹140 million[1]
Box office₹320 million[1]

Paheli (translation: Riddle) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language fantasy film directed by Amol Palekar and produced by Juhi Chawla, Aziz Mirza, Sanjiv Chawla, and Shah Rukh Khan, who also portrays the male lead. The film tells the story of a wife (Rani Mukerji) whose husband (Khan) goes on a business trip and is visited by a ghost, disguised as her husband, who is in love with her and takes her husband's place. The supporting cast includes Anupam Kher, Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla and Suniel Shetty. Based on the Rajasthani short story "Duvidha" by Vijayadan Detha, it is a remake of the 1973 Hindi film Duvidha by Mani Kaul.

Paheli opened at the 9th Zimbabwe International Film Festival at the Libertie Cinema Complex in Harare. It was also screened at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival.[2] The working title of the movie was Ghost Ka Dost (translates to Friend of a Ghost ). Paheli was India's official entry to the 79th Academy Awards.[3]

Paheli was released on 24 June 2005, and proved to be a moderate commercial success at the box office, grossing ₹32 crore worldwide. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise for its production design, cinematography, costumes, and special effects; however, its story and screenplay received criticism.

At the 51st Filmfare Awards, Paheli received 2 nominations – Best Lyricist (Gulzar for "Dheere Jalna") and Best Male Playback Singer (Sonu Nigam for "Dheere Jalna"). At the 53rd National Film Awards, the film won Best Female Playback Singer (Shreya Ghoshal for "Dheere Jalna").

Detha's story, which had earlier been adapted into the 1973 film by Mani Kaul and the 1997 Kannada film Nagamandala by T. S. Nagabharana (based on a play of the same name by Girish Karnad, the 1997 film also reportedly inspired Paheli), is folkloric in origin.[4] Though Paheli diverges from its source material and the earlier adaptations in giving the plot and its lead female character a more feminist agency.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b "Paheli". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  2. ^ Mehta, Sunanda (19 November 2005). "Now showing: Bollywood to Hollywood, Paheli makes the moves". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 14 May 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2008.
  3. ^ Ashraf, Syed Firdaus. "Paheli is India's Oscar entry". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  4. ^ Martins, Constantino; Damásio, Manuel (15 August 2016). Seduction in Popular Culture, Psychology, and Philosophy. IGI Global. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-5225-0526-6. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2020. Detha's ostensibly simple folktale published in of the 1970s, with its multi-layered texture, has become a favorite for film makers: two veteran film directors - Mani Kaul (who made Duvidha in 1973) and T.S. Nagabharana (made Nagamandala in Kannada, in 1997) before Palekar-Gokhale remade it as Paheli in 2005.
  5. ^ Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism. University of Kansas. 2014. p. 66. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Top ten Kannada films to have been remade". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 April 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2020.