A much-talked-about directorial debut, a formidable lineage, but, unfortunately, Meghna Gulzar fails to deliver. Frankly, no one expected Filhaal to be an Aandhi, but sadly, it isn't even a Dil Chahta Hai, another directorial debut from an offspring of well-known parents, Farhan Akhtar, the son of Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, says Prerana Trehan

SHORT-changed, that is how one feels when Sia (Sushmita Sen) and her boyfriend Sahil (Palash Sen) walk into the proverbial sunset. A storyline so thin, it would give Kate Moss a complex. But most of all, a total lack of conviction that shows in frame after frame. The director, the actors, the characters, everyone seems at sea. A film that purports to deal with sensitive issues like surrogate motherhood, female bonding, lives and relationships of new-age men and women and difficult choices, fails to make even an attempt at going beyond the surface. Reva (Tabu) and her husband Dhruv's (Sanjay Suri) yearning for parenthood, her miscarriage and the trauma that comes in its wake have been conveyed convincingly, but that is where the party ends. What comes later requires a willing suspension of disbelief. Why does an extremely career conscious Sia, who has been refusing to accept Sahil's marriage proposal because she doesn't want marriage or babies to come in the way of her career, suddenly decide without a moment's hesitation to be a surrogate mother for her friend Reva's child, is anyone's guess. What has particularly thrilled the feminist brigade is the fact that she takes this decision without caring to consult her boyfriend. A modern woman who knows her mind or an insensitive, irresponsible one who doesn't care what the news of her pregnancy does to the man who loves her? Take your pick.

Meghna certainly deserves credit for treating the whole subject of pregnancy without the melodrama that is usually associated with it in Hindi cinema and showing pregnant women as normal, functioning human beings as opposed to women who do little other than sing bhajans and gaze wistfully at baby posters throughtout the nine months of their pregnancy. So far so good, but, as they say too much of even a good thing is bad. So as a viewer how do you react when someone or the other is pregnant for the entire duration of the movie? If the screenplay revolves around Reva's pregnancy, its trials and traumas during the first half, it concentrates around Sia's pregnancy and its impact on her life and relationships in the second half. As a result one or the other female lead is pregnant from almost the first frame to the last. An overdose to say the least and of little interest to all those who expect to get something more from a movie than a low-down on the finer details of pregnancy.

For all those who thought that models couldn't act, here's more: Singers can't either. Watch Palash Sen in what must rank as an extreme example of a dispassionate, bloodless performance. Casting him opposite Sushmita seems to be an error of judgement. It isn't surprising that he can't hold his own against the towering screen presence of Sushmita, it would be a wonder if he could hold his own against a block of wood. His character spends his time looking unhappy and resentful at being pushed around and/or rejected by his girlfriend. The female-dominated world of Filhaal doesn't seem to be a very happy place for the male leads. A telling exchange between Dhruv and Sahil illustrates that they have little say in what goes on in their women's lives. New-age relationships, it seems, are not so much about balance or equal partnerships as they are about role reversal. The women are bold and decisive and the men clueless. Did I hear someone say mature relationships?

The friendship between the two female protagonists which is the main theme of the film has also not been fully delved into. The unforeseen insecurities and jealousies that creep into Reva's friendship with Sia following the latter's pregnancy are not resolved. At no point do the two women discuss how they can deal with the situation. The birth of the child miraculously makes everything okay.

Tabu is good in parts, but her single-minded obsession with being a mother does tend to be a bit of a drag. Sanjay Suri tries his best to appear useful in a set-up where, frankly, men are redundant.

The songs are at best intrusive and at worst insufferable, especially a number picturised on a frustrated-looking Palash Sen.

Filhaal's only claim to exclusivity is that it is different. Meghna Gulzar has no doubt spared viewers the unending melodrama that mainstream Hindi movies often mean. There is no maar-kaat, no desh ke or pyar ke dushman, no rona-dhona and best of all no silk sarees or mangalsutras. Unfortunately, there isn't much else either. Meghna Gulzar has substituted three hours of melodrama with two and a half hours of…well, ennui. Short changed, like I said.