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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Saawariya

    Featured In Issue 132, June 2008

    Picture4.5
    SoundNR
    WSR Score3
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    24448
    (MPAA Rating):
    PG
    (Rating Reason):
    For thematic elements, Brief Nudity, some language and incidental smoking
    (Retail Price):
    $38.96
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    138
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    A
    (Theatrical Year):
    2007
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    05/06/08
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Sanjay Leela Bhansali
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    In Saawariya a dreamer and poet named Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) sees a beautiful young lady waiting on a bridge one evening, and he strikes up a conversation with her. The pretty girl's name is Sakina (Sonam Kapoor), and before the end of the evening Raj will fall madly in love with her. They meet again the next night when Sakina discloses that she comes to the bridge each night to wait for her lover to return. Poor Raj is heartbroken but determined to win Sakina's heart before her boyfriend returns. Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story "White Nights." (Stacey Pendry)

    Special features include the 20-minute Making The Music featurette, 22 minutes of Premiere Night footage, and trailers.

    The anamorphically enhanced 2.40:1 DVD shows deep blacks and incredibly saturated colors that really pop from the screen. Resolution is quite good, although there are times when pixel breakup can be recognized. Shadow delineation is poor, which causes the imagery to look flat and unnatural. Edge enhancement is very minor and generally isn't recognizable, and while film grain is subtle, it is somewhat distracting on flat expanses of solid colors. The H.264 AVC-encoded Blu-ray Disc features inky blacks and eye-popping vibrancy in the colors. Shadow delineation is still lacking, which causes the picture to look unnaturally flat. (Danny Richelieu)

    The Hindi Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack features a broad front stage, very good surround integration, and fairly impressive fidelity. Dialogue and vocals in music match up well tonally, although spatial integration is lacking at times. Phantom imaging is nicely crafted, creating a soundfield that seems to extend beyond the physical constraints of the room. Dialogue is consistently given an echo-like reverberation, even outdoors, which often seems unnatural. Music fidelity is pristine, and the score is superb, although there are times when it sounds distorted at high levels. The Blu-ray Disc's Dolby TrueHD encoding provides a noticeable improvement in fidelity and dynamic range, with the subtilties in the encoding much easier to make out, and tighter, more impactful bass. Dialogue still has its problems, sounding even brighter than in the DVD's encoding. (Danny Richelieu)

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