Notebook (नोटबुक)

"Notebook (नोटबुक)"

Watched Hindi movie "Notebook (नोटबुक)".  Directed by Nitin Kakkar, Screenplay Darab Farooqui, Produced by Salman Khan and others,  Music Vishal Mishra, Cinematography Manoj Kumar Khatoi. It stars Pranutan Bahl and Zaheer Iqbal in main roles,  supported by Muazzam Bhat, Farhana Bhat, Soliha Maqbool, Baba Hatim, Ricky Raina, Zahoor Zaidi, Mir Sarwar and Mir Mohammed Mehroos. The film runs for about 1 hour 58 min and was released in 2019. I watched it with Siddhant.

A young man decides to go to his homeland, Kashmir, to teach in a school located in a very remote area. Here he finds diary of teacher Firdaus, who taught previous year. He comes to know Firdaus through the diary and falls in love without even seeing her. 

How was Firdaus? Can one fall in love by reading a diary? Will they ever meet?

This movie is a remake of Thai film 'The teacher's diary'.

The story is good. The idea of diary love is interesting. While Indianizing the story, they have given it a Kashmir backdrop. It kills many birds in one stone. State of general disrepair, apathy towards education, implicit terrorism undercurrent and breathtaking beauty. All of it conducive for the movie.  

Pranutan is very good. She looks good and acts well. She plays her quiet but firm character very well. She is Mohnish Bahl's daughter and granddaughter of legendary Nutan. Zaheer Iqbal is handsome, but needs to learn acting. His eyes lack any expression and look glazed. Supporting actors are good. Special mention of Rocky Raina, who sparkles in his cameo, and Mir Mohammed Mehroos, the sweet boy.

Direction is ok. Some issues of continuity that should not be there in a professional film. Some of the scenes appear shallow. There was opportunity to make them more meaningful, but it was lost. Normally when you do remake, it's expected that you improve or not make mistakes. Interesting thing is that she writes the notebook in hindi but in Roman script. 

Music is ok. Song to remember is remix of Bumro. How much credit should music director get for a remix?

Cinematography is awesome. Cinematographer captures breathtaking and serene beauty of Kashmir very well. It's a pity such a beautiful land is troubled for so many years. 

This movie was not commercially successful. 

Watch for Pranutan and Kashmir.