Notebook (2019 film)

Notebook
File:Notebook film poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nitin Kakkar
Produced by	Salman Khan Murad Khetani Ashwin Varde
Written by	Dialogues: Payal Ashar Sharib Hashmi
Screenplay by	Darab Farooqui
Based on	The Teacher's Diary by Nithiwat Tharathorn
Starring	Zaheer Iqbal Pranutan Bahl
Music by	Vishal Mishra
Cinematography	Manoj Kumar Khatoi
Edited by	Sachindra Vats
Production company	Salman Khan Films Cine1 Studios
Distributed by	Domestic: Salman Khan Films International: Yash Raj Films
Release date	29 March 2019 (2019-03-29)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹15 crore
Box office	est. ₹3.2 Crores

Notebook is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced by Salman Khan under Salman Khan Films and Murad Khetani and Ashwin Varde under Cine1 Studios and directed by Nitin Kakkar. A remake of the 2014 Thai film The Teacher's Diary, it stars debutantes Zaheer Iqbal and Pranutan Bahl, daughter of actor Mohnish Bahl, in the lead roles, and tells the story of a young retired army officer who joins his father's school as a teacher to save it from closure, and falls in love with the previous teacher after reading through her memorabilia left behind in the drawers. The film was released on 29 March 2019 and received mixed response from critics with praises for leads performances.

Plot

Captain Kabir Kaul, a young retired army officer, decides to teach in his late father's school, the Wular Public School as the school will be closed if there is no teacher to teach. At the school, he finds a diary left behind in the desk drawer by the previous teacher, Firdaus Quadri. Children start coming to school after learning that a new teacher has arrived. However, they disobey Kabir, leading him to think that he cannot teach, but after reading Firdaus's diary, he gains confidence and decides to try.

Kabir's girlfriend breaks up with him, as she is cheating an affair and believes that Kabir is now unfit to marry her as he has left the army. He is heartbroken but takes solace in the schoolchildren and Firdaus's diary, writing comments in it. He learns about Imran, one of the schoolchildren, whose father, Yakub, wants him to help in the household rather than attending school. Using help from the diary, Kabir succeeds in bringing Imran back to school. He decides to burn Firdaus's diary after learning she is getting married, but retrieves it in a fit of epiphany.

On her wedding day, Firdaus finds out that her fiancé was cheating on her and the other woman is carrying his child. She calls off the marriage and returns to Wular Public School. The children are overjoyed to have her back though Kabir is gone. She finds her diary in the same drawer she had left it in a year before and reads Kabir's comments. He had written that he was in love with the writer and had learned valuable lessons from her diary. Curious, Firdaus asks the principal about Kabir the same way he had asked about her. The principal tells her that he has gone to take a teaching course.

One day, Firdaus confronts Yakub, who wants to take Imran back. Imran sees Kabir and runs to him, saying he doesn't want to leave the school. Yakub threatens Kabir with a gun and Imran, realizing Yakub might kill Kabir, takes the gun to shoot his father. Kabir stops him, asking him not to do so. Yakub realizes his mistake and lets go of the matter. At the end, it is shown that Firdaus sent the children back home so that she can talk and spend time with Kabir with whom she has fallen in love.

Cast

• Zaheer Iqbal as Captain (Retd.) Kabir Kaul
• Pranutan Bahl as Firdaus Quadri
• Farhana Bhat as Dolly
• Mir Sarwar as Yakub
• Mozim Bhatt as Junaid
• Mir Mehrooz as Imran
• Mir Zayaan as Tariq
• Baba Hatim as Waqar
• Adiba Bhatt as Dua
• Soliha Maqbool as Shama
• Kosar Chandpuri as Young Yakub
• Saniya Mir as Pregnant girl
• Mallik Mushtaq as Junaid's father
• Saroj Sharma as Junaid's mother
• Ahmed as Young Kabir

Marketing and release

Salman Khan unveiled the first poster of film on Valentine's Day. A special screening of the film was held for Bollywood stars and family on 28 March 2019. The makers chose not to release the film in Pakistan due to the 2019 Pulwama attack. The film was made available as VOD on Amazon Prime Video in June 2019.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film had scored Template:RT data based on Template:RT data reviews with an average rating of Template:RT data. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in writes, "Notebook has an unremarkable lead pair, an underwhelming dull love story in which the actors don't share the screen for nearly the entire duration of the narrative, some of the most ravishing views of Kashmir yet, a bunch of adorable children and a soundtrack with a few good tunes." Rachit Gupta of The Times of India rated the film with three stars out of five and says, "Notebook is an easy watch where you can appreciate the humour, drama and romance. But the film leaves you wanting for more. Perhaps with more creativity in writing, this young romantic saga could have achieved more." Writing for DNA Meena Iyer finds nothing wrong with the film but wished, "it hadn't been so antiseptic." She rates the film with three stars out of five. Jyoti Sharma Bawa of Hindustan Times rates the film with two and half stars out of five and praises the cinematographer Manoj Kumar Khatoi. She opines that the cinematographer has ensured that every frame is bursting with beauty and The visual portrayal would stay with the viewers long after they forget the sub-par love story. Charu Thakur of India Today gives two and half stars out of five and concludes the review as, "If you are looking for some old-world romance this weekend, Notebook is definitely a recommended watch for you." Bollywood Hungama while rating it with three stars out of five they feel that the film would appeal only to multiplex audience. They sum up review by saying, "On the whole, NOTEBOOK boasts of exemplary performances by the debutants and is beautifully shot while stressing on the importance of education."

Soundtrack

Notebook
Soundtrack album by Vishal Mishra
Released	8 March 2019
Recorded	2018
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	26:53
Language	Hindi
Label	T-Series
External audio Audio Jukebox at YouTube
Vishal Mishra chronology
5 Weddings (2018) Notebook (2019) Kabir Singh (2019)

The music and background score of the film is composed by Vishal Mishra while the lyrics are penned by Manoj Muntashir, Kaushal Kishore, Akshay Tripathi, Abhayendra Kumar Upadhyay and Vishal Mishra. The song "Bhumro" is a recreation of the original song from the film Mission Kashmir. "Main tare" was originally sung by Atif Aslam but then removed by Salman Khan. Atif Aslam version was unofficially released on YouTube.

Track listing
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Nai Lagda"	Vishal Mishra, Asees Kaur	4:47
2.	"Laila"	Dhvani Bhanushali	4:05
3.	"Bhumro"	Kamaal Khan, Vishal Mishra	3:21
4.	"Safar"	Mohit Chauhan	5:47
5.	"Notebook Epilogue"	Vishal Mishra	4:16
6.	"Main Taare"	Salman Khan	4:37
7.	"Main Taare"	Atif Aslam	4:37
Total length:			26:53

See also

• Notebook
• The Teacher's Diary

External links

• Notebook on IMDb
• Notebook at Bollywood Hungama
• Notebook at Rotten Tomatoes