Panoh

I actually watched this movie, WITHOUT subtitles! I don’t think English subtitles exist. I don’t even think Russian subtitles exist, although they may have dubbed the film in Russian (as I’ve noticed on YouTube with several other Uzbek films). Not that Russian subtitles would have helped me either... Despite not being able to understand the majority of the dialogue, it was a good film! Quite funny. It was interesting getting a glimpse into Uzbek culture. I recognised almost all of the formal and informal greetings they used (like, Yaxshimisiz?), and when they were apologising (kechirasiz), or saying thank you (rahmat). But it’s amazing how much of the plot and dialogue you understand, just by the gestures, expressions and actions of the leading characters. Oh, and of course, perfectly placed ominous music so you know when you’re viewing the bad guy 😉

It reminded me of loads of mid to late 90’s Bollywood films I’ve seen – overdramatic scenes and facial expressions, the re-recording of dialogue in the studio so sometimes what they’re saying doesn’t quite match up with their mouths. In one scene, they even had the piano playing the theme song from 2003 Hindi film Kal Ho Naa Ho! The only thing this Uzbek film didn’t have was the crazy and colourful song and dance numbers that Bollywood is famous for.

So overall, if you like foreign films, especially thriller-romantic-comedies that are a little bit over the top, I would recommend you watch this movie. It is available to watch online, not sure if a DVD exists, might have to travel to Uzbekistan for that! Ideally, English subtitles would be nice because there were some scenes where I desperately wanted to know what they were talking about.