At a press conference, back in the days before he stopped promoting the film, Salman Khan maintained that Saawariya is based not on Le Notti Blanche, the Luchino Visconti film of 1961 vintage (or, presumably, even on the 1971 French version, Quatre nuits d'un rêveur, or Four Nights of a Dreamer, helmed by Robert Bresson), but on White Nights, the 1848 short story written by Fyodor Dostoevsky (that is acknowledged also in the title credits).

(Incidentally, fans of Tamil movies will recall a 2003 film starring Arunkumar and Seema Biswas, called Iyarkai, that won for producer VR Kumar and director Jananathan the 2004 National Award for best regional feature film.)

I am glad he cleared that up - not so much for the clarification itself, as for the implicit evidence that Salman is not the muscle-bound stud everyone takes him for.

To hit the remaining high spots, it felt good to see the Torch Lady, the iconic Columbia Pictures logo, introducing an Indian film; it felt bad when the premiere began without the national anthem being played.

When the film came to an end, one member of the houseful audience clapped, another joined and then a third. Most of us whirled around to see who was making the noise -- and even those three celebrants promptly lapsed into silence. Go to enough premieres and you will realize how significant that is -- preview audiences will stand to almost any film, given the slightest excuse. That the audience didn't, here, is the best litmus test for the appeal of Bhansali's latest.

The movie reminded me of a devastating critique I once read, somewhere. Referring to a total turkey, the reviewer wrote: 'This film has a certain elusive appeal - it eluded those of us who saw it.'

Amen. Don't Miss: Showcasing Saawariya

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