Powerful

Perfect cast and a good story

A Disappointing Continuation

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Aashayein- one of the best John movie i have ever seen ..everytime I cried when I watched this movie... one of the best John movie... love songs too.no words..The movie sends a strong message of living life with a meaning.treat to watch..This is a very touchy and sensitive subject and the way it was portrayed in the movie is the brilliance of the Production team. No fun intended, no typical Bollywood happy-happy moments, Its a movie with hard facts and human emotions and PAIN. It's a difficult movie to watch because of the pain and hopelessness it carry.Excellent work by John & Nagesh. No words...!!!

Movie seems to be a low budget movie.But i like the fact that there are no villains in this movies, at least physically. This movies is a great example to show how much fragile life is. Here 'Indy' get struck by fortune and disaster at the same time.Whole movie is an emotional roller coaster while the main character struggles through his own illness and also struggle to cope with the deaths of his fellow mates. Movie has a good ending which make the audience think about life in a different prospective.For me character 'Padma' was the main attraction where she enlighten the sad mood in the movie with her stubborn and obnoxious behavior.I think everyone should watch this movies to understand life on prospective of people who already try to live while they are obviously dying. thank you!

It was Iqbal that got Nagesh Kukunoor noticed though he did quality work prior to it like 3 Deewarein and Hyderabad Blues. In between Nagesh made Tasveer which was a disaster Aashayein was stuck for 2 years and released in 2010, The film may have released just after No Smoking(2007) when John was trying experimental stuff. In the film again John plays a chain smoker who gets lung cancer Though the hospital shown is hardly authentic but yet the moments he shares with Anaitha Nair are warm and welcoming, however the put off is the Indiana Jones chapter, Donno why Nagesh chose to focus so much on it? Otherwise the film is well made though it went unnoticed.Direction by Kukunoor is fab though the writing could be better Music is okayJohn Abraham often known as a one dimensional actor however he has proved earlier in No Smoking and several films that he has lot of untapped talent, here he takes full advantage and delivers a fantastic performance, he also lost weight(16 kilos) and it shows Sonal Sehgal is good, Anaitha Nair is perfect and simply mindblowing Farida Jalal is good, Girish Karnad after Iqbal is fab, rest are decentFor trivia buffs, There is also a reference to Hyderabad Blues, A band is shown with that name.

Terminal illness is a depressing subject. Venturing into that territory is generally abstained. On that note, Hrishida's "Anand" and Mani Rathnam's "Geetanjali" feature in my top-of-mind-recall. Though both depressing but great writing pushed it high on entertainment quotient. Of course fantastic performances, sub-plots, auxiliary characters and the rich music add flesh to the bones. "Aashayein" is is Mr. Kukunoor's ode to both classics (and very subtly he fits in the "Anand" bit into the story). ☼ John Abraham:: Perhaps his best performance till date. This time around you will certainly see an actor behind the good looks and the dimpled cheeks. About the character, I wasn't completely convinced with the compulsive gambler bit. He could have simply been rich carefree and cool character. ☼ Anaitha Nair:: Every terminal illness story warrants a character depicting "live life kingsize". This time around it is Anaitha Nair. She pours her heart out to breathe life into the character of Padma (paradoxical statement indeed!). The writing deserves a special mention. ☼ Sonal Sehgal:: Doesn't get enough scope as Anaitha Nair steals the thunder practically right under everyone's noses. Nearly gets relegated to "miss-goody-two-shoes" had her character was not resurrected in the penultimate moments. ☼ Girish Karnad:: Under-utilised.☼ Farida Jalal:: Under-utilised again. And perhaps a younger actress should have been chosen for the role in question. ☼ Prateekha Lonkar:: Not enough meat in the role. ☼ Vikram Inamdar:: Nagya's lucky mascot from "Hyderabad Blues" gets a compassionate but short role. ☼ Elahe:: Another lucky mascot in a blink-and-miss role. I particularly found that the sub-plots did not get enough screen time to be fleshed out (reference to Girish Karnad & Farida Jalal).Music was not promoted adequately. Shreyas Talpade's special appearance was not warranted, in fact John Abraham should have done it for greater impact. Though the response was a mixed bag, I particularly found the "Indiana Jones" layer complimenting neatly to the character of John Abraham. "Aashayein" has suffered a great deal owing to the rift between the makers. Lack of promotions marred the recognition it rightfully deserves. And last but not the least, Nagesh is a well-rounded entertainer and no questions to that. Having said that, it is my opinion that he should let go the writing department and channel his creative abilities to deliver goods of his standards on a more frequent basis.