Notebook (2019 film)

Notebook is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film produced by Salman Khan under Salman Khan Films and directed by Nitin Kakkar. It stars Zaheer Iqbal and Pranutan Bahl in the lead roles. It is the debut film of both Zaheer Iqbal and Pranutan Bahl. The film is a remake of the 2014 Thai film Teacher's Diary. It tells the story of a young retired army officer who teaches in his father's school to save it from closure. He falls in love with the previous teacher by reading her diary left in drawer. The film was released on 29 March 2019 and has received mixed response from critics.

Plot
Kabir Kaul, a young retired Army officer, decides to teach in his late father's school, the Wular Public School. He has no teaching experience still goes to that school as the school will be closed if there is no teacher to teach and children to study. At the school, he finds a diary that is left behind in the desk drawer by the previous teacher, Firdaus. The children start coming to school after learning that a new teacher has arrived to teach them. He tries to teach the children but they disobey him which leads him to thinking that he cannot teach but after reading Firdaus's diary, he gets confidence and decides to try teaching again.

On the other hand, his girlfriend is having affair with someone else with whom Kabir fights at night. He talks with his girlfriend who says that she will not be happy if married to him as he has left his service in Army. Kabir is heart broken and returns to the school where he wins the heart of five children studying in that school. He continues reading Firdaus's diary. One day, a heavy storm worsens the condition of the school. The diary falls in the lake. However, Kabir, with the help of those five children, manages to repair the school and gets back the diary.

Kabir starts thinking about Firdaus and writes comments in her diary. He comes to know about Imran, a student of that school, whose father wants him to get engaged in household activities rather than going to school. After reading the entry from Firdaus's diary, he succeeds in bringing him back to school. The children are happy to see Imran back in the school. Kabir decides to burn Firdaus's diary after learning she was getting married. The children don't score good marks in their exams so the principal decides to exchange Firdaus with Kabir. Firdous, on her wedding day, finds out that her husband was cheating on her and that he is having affairs with a woman and she is carrying his child. She calls off the marriage. Firdaus, who had loved the children and the school, returns back to Wular Public School. The children are happy to see her back again while Kabir is gone. Firdaus sees Imran again in the school and is happy. Happily, she asks him that who brought him back and he replies "Kabir Sir". Firdaus finds her diary in the same desk drawer where she had left it one year before. She reads the comments written by Kabir who had written that he was in love with the writer and has learned lessons from reading the diary. Kabir even wrote the reason of him leaving Indian Army. Firdaus now wants to know more about Kabir and asks the principal the same question that Kabir had asked about her. The principal laughs and tells her that he has gone to take a teaching course. Firdaus one day, confronts Imran's father who wants to take him back but Imran doesn't want to go. Imrans sees Kabir and runs to him and hugs him while saying he doesn't want to leave the school. Kabir holds Imran's father's hands because he doesn't want him to take Imran back to home against his wishes. Imran's father takes his gun out and hits Kabir on his face. He drops the gun and asks Imran to give it back to him while Imran, now realising that if he won't stop his father, he would kill his Kabir sir, refuses to return the gun and is about to shoot his father but Kabir requests him not to do so. Imran's father realises his mistake and leaves while Kabir and Firdaus talk to each other. At the end of the film, it is shown that Firdaus has sent the children back to home so that she will get time to talk to Kabir with whom even she has fallen in love with.

Cast

 * Zaheer Iqbal as Kabir Kaul
 * Pranutan Bahl as Firdaus
 * Mir Sarwar as Yakub
 * Farhana Bhat as Dolly
 * Mozim Bhatt as Junaid
 * Mir Mehrooz as Imran
 * Mir Zayaan as Tariq
 * Baba Hatim as Waqar
 * Adiba Bhatt as Dua
 * Soliha Maqbool as Shama

Marketing and release
Salman Khan unveils the first poster of film on Valentine's Day. The official trailer of the film was released on 22 February 2019. A special screening of the film was held for Bollywood stars and family on 28 March 2019.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has scored 25% based on 8 reviews with average rating of 4.6/10. 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 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
The music of the film is composed by Vishal Mishra while the lyrics are penned by Manoj Muntashir, Kaushal Kishore, Akshay Tripathi, Abhendra Upadhyay and Vishal Mishra.