'Fitoor': Katrina Kaif is a pain; Tabu, Aditya steal the show

Bollywood director Abhishek Kapoor has upgraded from Chetan Bhagat to Charles Dickens. This gives me a reason to look forward to his romantic drama 'Fitoor' which is an adaptation of 'Great Expectation'.

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But then there are also reasons that may stop me from standing at the box office queue - we will get to that later.

The story is set in Kashmir and the (almost) 3 min long trailer gives us a glimpse of the main actors. 

Kashmir, which is any cinematographer's dream location, stood out as the lead character; everything else seems to be in supporting role.

The snowflakes kissing the screen, gorgeous Chinar leaves caressing the lens, mountains which seems heartbreakingly beautiful along with Amit Tridevi's soundtrack gives me goosebumps.

Aditya Roy Kapur (based on the orphan Pip in Dickens' novel) plays a rising artist named Noor Khan. Katrina Kaif plays Firdaus, (Estella), while Tabu plays (Miss Havisham) Begum Hazrat.

The trailer is engaging and Tabu deserves a special mention who is back in Kashmir after her magnificent performance in Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Haider.'

Tabu, as the matriarch, is formidable and terrifying in some frames. Her threat to young Noor 'Yeh ishq nahi aasaan' (love is not so easy) is menacing.

Aditya took up body sculpting for looking picture perfect in the film and he does surprise us in the trailer.

Smoldering hot, yet gloomy and downcast which is almost synonymous with him now; if you remember his performance in 'Aashique2' and 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani's' drunken fits.

He does cut out a sorry figure as a hopelessly-in-love artist.

All these good things excite me a lot about 'Fitoor'.

What worries me is Katrina Kaif as Firdaus.

This actress is the biggest potential threat to this otherwise interesting film.

Tabloids gave Katrina much attention for sporting red hair and I am yet to understand the purpose of this change of hair colour for the film.

Do all beautiful Kashmiri women sport red-hair? Probably her way of getting under the skin of a character, so what about taking few lessons in Urdu/Hindi?

She has now been in the industry for a decade but that British accent is such a spoiler and every time she delivers a dialogue it hits my eardrums hard.

She is a glam-doll and looks mesmerising in every frame but is it too much to expect some acting from an actress?

It is beyond me why Abhishek Kapoor would cast Katrina after adapting such a strong character. How will the director justify her accent (London returned?) or her lack of skills when sharing screen space with Tabu?

'Fitoor' is set to release on February 11 in the UAE and probably I will go through some agonising moments to get my answers.

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