It is difficult to fathom the minds of Indian directors - what drives them to create period movies with stories that are still relevant in 21st century. Whether it is Vidhu Chopra's "1942 - A Love Story" or Sudhir Mishra's "Khoya Khoya Chand". With too much focus on recreating the past, the story takes a back seat and as a result, the movie fails to impress.Time to time, Bollywood keeps making movies about itself - mainly the struggle for new comers and its dirty ongoings, right from Guru Dutt's "Kaagaz Ke Phool" to Zoya Akhtar's "Luck By Chance" (Best among the crop being Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Guddi"). Sudhir Mishra takes one step further - he makes a movie about 1950's Bollywood. He tries to cram everything into a story - new comer struggle, casting couch, art v/s mainstream cinema, etc., etc. But while putting so much efforts to recreate that "magical era", the story, the dialogues and the character development takes a back seat. The result is just a movie that seems to be going nowhere.The movie centres around Nikhat, an actress, played by Soha Ali and Zafar, a script writer/novelist/director/producer played by Shiny Ahuja. The movie centres around the ups and downs in their relationship, and between other characters along a time period. However, crammed with corny dialogues, annoying stereotype characters and clichéd situations, the movie drags right from the start. After a while, you just don't care what happens to the characters. Inconsistencies and loopholes are galore. Since the main characters have a Muslim background, it is customary to speak "khalis Urdu" and observe that "tehzeeb". However after few scenes, all that mannerism seems to disappear in thin air. The height of ridiculousness comes when to show her alcoholism, the director shows Soha Ali in a car parked on Bombay street side and Soha enjoying a glass of hooch.The character of Shiny is supposed to be some kind of deep brooding, which he plays to an annoying extreme. It reminds me of similar character played by Akshay Khanna in "Dil Chahta hai". But speaking in a slow baritone voice doesn't make you an intellectual, it just makes you look a phony.This movie somehow reminds me of Scorsese's "The Aviator". In "Aviator" however, with emphasis on recreating past, the director did not lose focus on the basic element for a good movie - a strong solid storyline. With "Khoya Khoya Chand" however, no such hope exists,sadly. The only positive aspect that I did not spend any money to watch this drivel, a simple walk to public library is all the effort that I put in watching this movie. I still gave 4 starts to the movie, as there are still movies that are worse than this and are still popular and made big monies at box office.

Expectations that were never met - that is the sad story of Khoya Khoya Chand. Who would think that the man who gave us the mesmerizing Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi would now try to foist this film on us? This is a story of a greedy grabbing star actor, Rajat Kapoor, playing yet again an oily villainous type, the vulnerable and abused actress, Soha Ali Khan playing Nikhat, the dreamy idealistic poet, Shiny Ahuja playing the novelist/script writer. There are casting couches, there is crude (sorry, blunt) language, there is simulated sex with lots of oohing and aahing while clothes do not come off, and there are interminable scenes of films being shot. But somewhere along the line the filmmakers lose the plot and forget that in this collage of events they are also obligated to have a thread of a story. There is the thinnest of tales and unengaging at that.The movie is visually stunning, an excellent period piece, also interesting for how it hints at real life stories like Guru Dutt and Waheeda and those countless women who were sent to earn a living in the biz at a very young age. The direction is sub-par, in the multitude of bodies milling about the key elements are never really isolated well enough, and the leads are quite wooden most of the time. Rajat Kapoor is great, as is Vinay Pathak. Sonia is quite good too. But Soha and Shiny disappoint hugely. In the hands of a more experienced pair of actors this could have risen to greater heights. As is, this is no Kagaz Ke Phool, but rather Kahan Hai Phool.The music is mediocre (except the title number) and the sound is one of the most annoying parts of the film. The director wanted realism in the form of the hustle and bustle of a real set, but what we get is a background of cacophony in every scene, so much so that it is hard to hear what is going on. The story moves in fits and starts. The leading lady suddenly develops a hole in her heart, and the director has to go on blogs to tell us that the final shot is her orgasm! What the fish? Then we are told the rest of the tale in a written narrative - as if we cared by then what happened to this tepid tale.

The title "Khoya Khoya Chand" is a song which was sung in a 1950's movie "Kaala Bazaar" by the late Mohd Rafi for Dev Anand. This is an indication that this movie, by Sudhir Mishra is based during that era - 1950's to 1960's. In fact, in a recent interview, he said that this film was his way of paying a tribute to those in that era.Nikhat, daughter of a well known actress, Sharda, is keen to join the movie industry and does so by learning to dance and catches the eye of the top actor Prem Kumar with whom she falls in love with. She later finds out that he is getting married to someone else, even though he has proclaimed his love for her. This is when script writer Zaffar liberates her from the actor's stranglehold but then events take another turn for Nikhat and she's left alone again.Soha Ali Khan, sister of Saif Ali Khan and daughter of the legendary actress, who herself was a excellent actress, Sharmila Tagore and also daughter of the famous Cricketing legend, the Nawab of Pataudi, has given an excellent performance in this movie. She, also, looks gorgeous. The other cast include Shiny Ahuja, who has also performed well, Rajat Kapoor,Sushmita Mukherjee and Vinay Pathak. The music director, Shantanu Moitra, has set a very good example of recreating the music style of the 1950's and the 1960's and not to mention the jazz genre in it, which makes the songs worthwhile listening to. Finally, the director, Sudhir Mishra, no doubt has created and directed a speciality movie by recreating the 1950's and 1960's era for the screen. Also what has made this movie interesting are the songs that are being played in the background - many of which were, and still are, most memorable tunes from that era. Soha Ali Khan, recently said that her mother helped her with the dressing for the movie. This is not surprising because Sharmila Tagore was a fashion icon at the time as well being a excellent actress of the 1960's. There were rumours that this movie was based on the romance between Waheeda Rehman and the late Guru Dutt,who was married to the singer, Geeta Dutt and who directed movies such as the classical "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam" and "Pyasa". But the director, in no certain words, has denied this. However, there may be certain parts that some viewers, and especially those of the elder generation, may consider the rumour to be true.Conclusion: Those who like to watch movies from the 1950's and 1960's - a worthwhile movie to watch and enjoy. But those who do not like such movies, or are not very keen on such genres, may not find it worthwhile.

I was always excited to see classical films, showing royal and grandeur of palaces, old machines, slow pace of time, the natural way of action and the background score and hence, when I watched the trailer of Khoya Khoya Chand, by Sudhir Mishra, I got interested. Yesterday,I saw the movie.My first expression while coming out of the theater, was WOW! and it really is interesting my friends, to see something a revival of the classic without blindly copying the classic. The movie is directed by Sudhir Mishra, who has a fine taste of classical elements, and the movie shows his hard work and keen efforts to bring to us what we used to have in the past, while retaining the contemporary essence to it.The movie is set in the 1950s era, showing the events associated with stars and people associated with bollywood! It is basically about a young girl Nikhat(Soha Ali Khan), who is a junior artist in bollywood and dreams to become an actress some day and till now she has been working as a side dancer in some sequences. She has to face the dark side of film industry and is determined to do so. Prem Kumar(Rajat Kapoor) is a super star, one whom directors are willing to make movies with and actors willing to work with. Also, he has an image that no artist can stand in front of him and deliver his dialogue with retakes. However, the super star is attracted to actresses who worked with him and therefore, Nikhat who's always willing to be in limelight comes to be his new attraction. There begins Nikhat's career in the film industry, when Zaffar(Shiny Ahuja), a young, talented poet, actually a story writer, from the families of Nawabs, comes to Bombay.He does not believe in any limelight, pomp or show. Having a troubled childhood, he's a hard nut to crack, his emotions do not easily come out, but when they do, it sets the stage on fire. The fine sense of direction by Sudhir Mishra, actually takes us to that period and one, which lacks in Indian Movies normally. Last I remember, having seen Rand De Basanti, where to depict a feeling or an emotion, the director used a different set up all together and left the audience to understand what he wants to convey by the set. Its the case in Khoya Khoya Chand, rather than actually showing everything happening, the director has, in between tried to give a hint or show whats to be understood.Shamol(Vinay Pathak), a fine actor plays the role of an assistant director to big directors, and is a friend of Zaffar. He takes Zaffar, into the film industry to try his fame as a script writer, realizing Zaffar's talent of writing. He is liked by everyone and there comes his first meeting with Nikhat. They interact, chat, work with each other and eventually begin to like each other. Nikhat, however continues to work in the film industry but slowly gets frustrated with the people around. Even she had a troubled childhood, and the thougths of which, disturb her sometimes. The movie also features Ratnabala(Sonya Jehan), who's a beautiful actress and has risen up the same way as Nikhat has. The role has been played extremely well, of a greedy, jealous, young woman, however I do not remember seeing her in any of the movies before this, But she's a fine actress. Slowly Nikhat and Zaffar come close, which is not liked by some people. This gives rise to various differences in opinions, arguments. The second half of the movie is mainly focused on the relationship between Nikhat and Zaffar. Both having achieved an acceptable position in the film industry, work in somewhat different fashion according to nature and interests. Zaffar would want Nikhat to do as he tells her to, but this would not happen. There begins a cold war, a kind of separation, both Nikhat and Zaffar have to live with. However, this does not last long. Nikhat has achieved name and fame, but is she comfortable with her life, satisfied with the way things are coming to her.Is she happy without Zaffar in her life.The dark world of film industry clings to her feet, she's no longer happy and becomes a frustrated spoilt actress, her career drowning. She no longer can work properly, every time either her personal habits or her past comes in front of her, just when Zaffar comes into her life again........But its too late now, for she has now in herself something else except Zaffar and has to abide by it. Thus, the story of Nikhat, an actress who is both in the good books as well as bad records of people, is portrayed.The background score is like old movies, use of traditional musical instruments, slow music, colorful sets, classical dancing sequences, all of which makes us like Khoya Khoya Chand. However, the movie seems to be a collection of events grouped together and therefore, every scene seems to be like an act or a scene in a play. Maybe it has been done intentionally, for in movies of the past, we normally see events like stage plays. It is a complete entertaining package, one of the best movies of the year, definitely an award winning movie. I would give it an 8.5 out of 10 for excellent performance by all the actors, good music, good plot, story line and extremely well direction. Do watch the movie, you'll surely like it.