Paheli

Amol Gupte's *Paheli* is a film that dares to be whimsical in an industry often afraid of its own imagination. Working from a Gulzar short story, Gupte crafts a fable that operates on dream logic—where a ghost becomes more devoted to a woman than her own flesh-and-blood husband, and we accept this not because the logic is sound, but because the film's tone is so earnestly enchanted. Shah Rukh Khan carries dual roles with surprising tenderness; as the neglectful Kishanlal, he embodies the conflict between duty and desire, while as the ghost, he unlocks a vulnerability that feels genuine. Rani Mukerji's Lachchi is the film's emotional anchor—luminous and heartbreaking in turn, she makes us feel the loneliness of a bride abandoned before the marriage truly begins. The puppet narrators frame the story like a children's tale, which is both the film's greatest strength and occasional weakness: it gives permission for magical elements, but sometimes asks us to suspend disbelief when the narrative itself wobbles.

What works is the visual poetry—the Rajasthani locations become a character themselves, dusty and golden, and the production design evokes genuine folklore. Gupte resists cynicism; there's a purity to how the film approaches its romance and the supernatural, which feels rare. What doesn't fully work is the tonal balance in the second half, where magical realism meets social commentary in ways that occasionally strain credibility even within the film's own dreamy framework.