Raincoat is a 2004 Hindi film directed by Rituparno Ghosh, and starring Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai. It tells the story of two lovers, separated by destiny, who meet again one day. This encounter allows each to realize the truth about the lives they are living. It is an adaptation of the short story The Gift of the Magi by O Henry and is the inspiration of Mithaq Kazimi's short film, Through Her Eyes.

The film was nominated for the Crystal Globe for Best Feature Film at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Rai also won the Zee Cine Award for Critics' Choice Best Actress and was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award.^[1]

[edit] Synopsis

The story begins with unemployed Manu (Ajay Devgan), in search of money to finance his new business as he has lost his earlier job at a jute mill. On his quest, he visits his former intimate friend Neeru (Aishwarya Rai) in Calcutta, to whom he was once engaged six years ago. During the rainy evening, the couple reminisce about their former love and how each ended up in their current situation.

The story goes along the girl who pretends to be in happy and prosperous situation. The gestures made by her to former lover has many interesting instances, particularly when the door bell rings and she persuades Manu not to open the door. They go on talking about their past and present with director skillfully transcends in flashback to get the clearer picture.

The raincoat comes to role when Neeru adorning it goes to fetch some food. The landlord speaks of the real situation of the household, and prompts Manu to give his borrowed money as outstanding rent for the house. Manu left a letter under the bed sheet explaining things. Meanwhile, when Neeru returns he does not say anything about his encounter with her landlord. After some time Manu leaves. Later, when he puts his hand inside the pocket of his raincoat, he finds a pair of gold bangles that belonged to Neeru, along with a letter saying that she had a lot of money and he should have told her about his financial situation. She had actually read a letter that was inside the raincoat that informed her about Manu's condition.

[edit] Cast

• Aishwarya Rai ... Neeru
• Ajay Devgan ... Manu
• Surekha Sikri ... Manu's mother
• Annu Kapoor ... Landlord
• Mauli Ganguly ... Manu's friend wife
• Pradip Adhikari
• Kailash Koppikar
• Kameshwar Mishra
• Dilip Patra
• Sameer Dharmadhikari ... Alok (as Sammeer)
• Sampooran Singh Gulzar ... Poetry (voice) (as Gulzar)

[edit] Music

Debajyoti Mishra experimented with the music of the film and it paid off. The film had 2-3 songs, all being background numbers. Famous classical singer, Shubha Mudgal lends her voice for the title track. Songs are listed below.

• Mathura Nagar Pati, kahen tum gokul jaao - Sung by Shubha Mudgal
• Piya tora kaisa abhimaan? - Sung by Shubha Mudgal and poetic commentary by Gulzar
• Piya tora kaisa abhimaan? - Male rendition by Hariharan

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Raincoat at the Internet Movie Database

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