Fitoor movie review: Katrina Kaif, Aditya Roy Kapur and Kashmir; all for your eyes only
Katrina Kaif, Aditya Roy Kapur and Tabu's Fitoor is devastatingly beautiful, thanks to director Abhishek Kapoor's portrayal of Kashmir in it. However, underneath all the surreal beauty, this adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations falls short of fulfilling the great expectations people had from it.
Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Lara Dutta, Rahul Bhat
Direction: Abhishek Kapoor
Ratings: 
Centuries ago, Amir Khusro had said 'Gar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast / hameen-ast-o, hameen-ast-o hameen-ast.' Roughly translated to English, the couplet means 'If there's a paradise on earth / It is here, it is here, it is here.' Emperor Jehangir then immortalised these two lines when Kashmir struck him numb and made him blurt them out, almost involuntarily.
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There's a strange strength in Kashmir that makes you want to swallow all of it with all your senses, all your being. It is this 'fitoor' - obsession, if you will - that director Abhishek Kapoor makes complete use of in his third film Fitoor.
Set against the backdrop of the Kashmir of autumn-winter, Fitoor lets your eyes feast on Kashmir till you no longer know what to do with such overwhelming beauty.
Based on Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, Noor (Aditya Roy Kapur) is the orphan Pip in this tale. Dickens's Estelle is Firdaus (Katrina Kaif) here, and the eccentric, mercurial Miss Havisham is Tabu's Begum Hazrat.
Noor, the Boy From Dal, is taken to the Begum's palace on one winter day by his brother-in-law. His eyes chance upon Begum's daughter Firdaus, and this pretty much changes the course of his life.
The heartbroken Begum notices Noor's talent and realises that the boy is deeply infatuated with her daughter. Hazrat pushes him to make something out of himself by saying that that's the only way he can accomplish the prize that is Firdaus.
After Srinagar is rocked by a blast to which Noor loses his sister, Firdaus is sent off to London for her studies. The Boy From Dal immerses himself in his work, in making himself 'Firdaus ke kaabil' (worthy of Firdaus).
Meanwhile, a person lands at the now-23-year-old Noor's doorstep with an offer he cannot refuse. An identity-undisclosed person wants to fund Noor's education in art. Armed with this scholarship, Noor arrives in Delhi, where his path crosses with that of Firdaus. The dormant emotions come gushing out of every pore of Noor's being and threatens to engulf Firdaus. But what use is an intense love story without the mandatory heartbreak?
Abhishek Kapoor's adaptation of the Dickens classic is laudable in parts. Along with Supratik Sen, Kapoor crafts his tale to suit the milieu of the modern-day Kashmir. Indo-Pak friendship and politics are blended in with Noor Nizami's screams of 'Doodh maangoge toh kheer denge, Kashmir maangoge toh cheer denge'.
As for the lead cast, Fitoor gets the best out of Tabu and Aditya Roy Kapur. Katrina Kaif is heartbreak personified. As Firdaus, she does a good job of capturing exactly what her character has been raised to do: break hearts. Katrina deserves applause for the scenes which require her to be cold-hearted and steely. However, that is, till the time Kaif is faced with the insurmountable task of emoting on screen. Her emotional scenes need to be swallowed with a pinch of salt.
For every frame that Tabu tears the viewer's heart apart with, there's a Katrina dampening it somewhat. Aditya puts in his heart and soul in making Noor a piece of art. His brooding demeanour and the deep eyes speak volumes. It is largely due to the sheer strength of Tabu and Aditya's acting that Fitoor rises above the ordinary.
Among the supporting cast, Rahul Bhat owns his character of Bilal. Lara Dutta is perfectly cast in her character of Leena. Ajay Devgn and Aditi Rao Hydari both make ample impact with their respective cameos.
Anay Goswamy's camera succumbs to the devastating charm of Kashmir. The valley is throbbing and alive in the red of the chinar leaves, and equally stony in the pristine, heartless white of the snow. From long shots of the Dal to Katrina's red hair in contrast with the white of the winter Kashmir, it is the scenic beauty of the place that outdoes everything else in this tale.
Fitoor, for all its spellbinding beauty, fumbles bad. The story meanders and loses way in between, and there seems a certain urgency in tying all the loose ends. Major revelations in this bildungsroman are condensed into a mere span of a few minutes, and it doesn't quite achieve the desired effect. On the other hand, several intense sequences are dulled by their prolixity.
Amit Trivedi's music is among the strongest points of Fitoor. Each song of the film is an auditory delight.
At the end of the day, Fitoor demands a lot of patience on the part of the viewer. But that is largely made up for by Kashmir. Watch the film for its sheer beauty.