Patthar Ke Phool

Balani's 'Patthar ke Phool' is sort of a mixed baggage. The good thing is that it's not as predictable as most movies of its time when young love stories were the trend in Hindi cinema. The premise is quite interesting but the story does tread on the path of clichés and the execution is poor. It may have been a more enjoyable watch had a more skilled director been behind its making. 'Patthar Ke Phool' marks one of Vinod Mehra's final performances and even though it's a small role, he is quite outstanding. Reema Lagoo is very good too. Salman Khan is passable and Raveena Tandon is very impressive in her debut film. She has great screen presence and her performance is natural and spontaneous. The movie has too many songs and I would have liked them more if someone other than S.P. Balasubramaniam sang them. He should never sing a song with English lyrics. That said, I really enjoyed the track 'Kabhi Tu Chaliya Lagta Hai' both in terms of its visualization and lyrics. It pays tribute to some of Bollywoods popular classics and both Salman and Raveena perform well in this track. Overall, 'Patthar ke Phool' is far from being a great movie but it has its moments.