Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s recent films have famously existed in a world of his own creation, a world cut off from the one we inhabit, a world where logic is often a hindrance. Guzaarish, his latest offering, may be less esoteric than his last film, Saawariya, but it’s still an unsatisfying effort because the filmmaker continues to invest more in the appearance of every frame than in the emotional truth of his characters.

It is, then, heartbreaking to watch such a defiantly ostentatious director borrow plot-points from foreign films, stultify his characters with ridiculous dialogue, and fall for painfully mainstream trappings, like a hackneyed, obligatory revenge/redemption subplot that makes a most unnecessary appearance towards the film’s end.

Magic tricks are performed with a flourish borrowed both from Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in The Prestige. Costumes are snatched from an Edwardian era and set in a house from a horror film. There are singing nuns; servants who stir, chop and slice with vigour; women who weep beatifically; and a model who appears to be in the middle of a Vogue cover shoot. Yet the only one crying in this marathon tug-at-the-heart is the producer, who has spent Rs 60 crore on red roses, red scarves and red ties.

Bhansali’s love story doesn?t move you the way it is intended to. It’s unique, but not necessarily special. That pretty much sums up the film as well.