I had never read Sarat Chandra Chattopadhye's novel, nor had I watched any of the previous incarnations of Parineeta (1953 in Hindi and 1969 in Bengali), so I had very few preconceived notions about this movie. I was truly blown away by how beautiful it was. Set in early-1960s Calcutta, this romantic drama tells the story of childhood friends Lolita (Vidya Balan) and Shekhar (Saif Ali Khan) who grow up together as neighbors. Though their houses are only a few feet apart, their worlds are miles apart. He is rich, she is poor. He has parents who are prominent figures in society, she is an orphan. But shielded by their childhood innocent, they are blind to this reality and grow up to be extremely close. What they believe to be friendship slowly blossoms into love without either of them realizing it, until a wealthy, older suitor, Girish Babu (Sanjay Dutt) enters the pictures and pursues Lolita. You know what they say, sometimes you don't know what you have ... until it is gone.

Saif has come a very long way as an actor and he has quickly become one of my favorites. His performance in this movie is almost flawless, particularly in a movie genre where over-acting is not only tolerated, it is almost expected. And Vidya is a breath of fresh air with a lot of talent and I was delighted to see that not all new-comers to Indian cinema have to make a name for themselves by wearing skimpy clothes and play slutty girls opposite Bollywood heroes. The guest appearance by Rekha is also quite a treat!