Mere Baap Pehle Aap - Inconsistent All Through

What happens when a naughty kid gets hold of a ball of wool? He rolls it open and swathes it around the entire house, creating a terrific mess of complicated entanglements and accident-prone tripping zones.

Quite a few of Priyadarshan's comedies resemble such a scenario. They are insanely chaotic, and, more often than not, lead to nowhere. That wouldn't really be a valid crib if one got a few laughs and entertained in the process.

Mere Baap Pehle Aap kickstarts with a bikini-clad Mumait Khan soaking in the sun and sand, in the company of a dozen other equally under-dressed nymphs providing drool material for a lustful Om Puri and his tacky wig. It's like the makers decided to pack in as much forced hotness possible, in the first five minutes of the movie itself.

The next twenty minutes involve a salacious Puri convince his dough-kneading best buddy Paresh Rawal to help him bride-hunt who hasn't reached her 'expiry date'. Predictably, the mission goes kaput and they get in trouble with She-Cop [Archana Puran Singh, who else?]. Even as you recover from Singh's volley of bawdy metaphors, Akshaye Khanna comes to the rescue. And I mean that so literally [and gratefully]. The feeling doesn't last too long. Before you know it he's mouthing his own share of 'Bhains ki bachis!'

What's worse is that this entire caught 'n' rescued sequence is repeated thrice and in quick succession. Aesthetics, clearly, have no place in Priyadarshan's latest madness, said to be inspired by Malayalam flick, Ishtam. Having said that, Mere Baap Pehle Aap isn't a complete goner, either.

There are moments when you slip into your seat, comfortably viewing the effortless and endearing chemistry between Paresh Rawal and Akshaye Khanna, playing an unconventional father-son pair. Paresh Rawal plays the perfectly adorable and compliant daddy to Akshaye's admonishing, authoritarian son. Besides exuding mutual warmth and taking well-timed cues, both the actors give each other respectful space, all of which is palpable on and off-screen.

Oddly, the significance of its title --son marrying off widower father to estranged childhood sweetheart [Shobana looking elegant as ever and clad in gorgeous saris. Too bad she's only required to frown or sob through the film] -- is realised alarmingly late in the film.

On the positive side that provides the romantic track, between Akshaye and the disarmingly lovely Genelia D'Souza, ample screen space to bloom convincingly. As evident in the super-duper Telugu rom-com, Bommarillu, Genelia, besides her apparent cuteness, brings in tons of freshness and traits to the youthful characters she chooses to play.

Speaking of characters, Om Puri is grossly miscast in a role tailor-made for Johnny Lever. The actor known for his electrifying performances takes the standard of hamming to an altogether unexplored level here. And you thought he has done it all in Buddha Mar Gaya. Also, whose idea was it to take so many unflattering close-ups of the guy?

The problem with Mere Baap Pehle Aap is its stubborn display of inconsistency.

It starts off like a B-grade version of Basu Chatterjee's Shaukeen, changes into a crazy game of Chinese Whispers, develops into a feel-good tale of a father-son and his fun-loving girlfriend, detours to do some heavy-duty Kerala tourism only to drastically meander into a old-fashioned social melodrama followed by a proverbial 'kahani mein twist'.

Summer 2007- Movie Review

If you liked Rang De Basanti, there's a chance you may like Summer 2007. The film does not pack in patriotism, nor does it boast of stars. But it has a touch of humanity, and a noble story.

Summer 2007 opens with a peasant putting himself on fire -- depicting the Vidarbha farmers' mass suicide. The scene cuts to three medical students, smoking a joint on a hill, and chatting -- they are the typically rich friends, with no big worries in life.

The gang of five friends -- Rahul Sharma (Sikander Kher), Qateel (Arjan Bajwa), Bagani (Alekh Sangal), Vishakha (Gul Panag) and Priyanka (Yuvika Chowdhary) -- are indifferent to the world around them, and remain absorbed in their lives.

After an incident in college, the five pack their bags and head to a village for their rural internship. For them, this is really a vacation. And then, reality strikes.

As soon as they reach the rural service centre, an entire family of farmers poison themselves. Rahul and his friends cannot believe what goes on in the villages. They try to escape to Goa, but instead, they're dragged further and further into the farmers' tragedies.

Like Woodstock Villa, Sikandar's acting is amateurish in Summer 2007. Gul Panag and Yuvika do well. Ashutosh Rana shows his versatility yet again.

Except for a song picturised on Sikandar and Yuvika, there aren't many songs in the film. But the music is pleasant and in sync with the film.

Debutant director Suhain Tatari does a fairly good job in making the film gripping, and laying down the hard facts. But he seems too inspired from Rang De Basanti , and should try something new next time.

Summer 2007 is a hard-hitting film, but it would have worked even better if it had a good climax.

Hum Sey Hai Jahan- Not Worth A Watch

I wonder what director Mashoor Amrohi was thinking when he made Hum Sey Hai Jahan. Only he knows. Launching himself, the grandson of Kamal Amrohi, with this film is surely a decision gone wrong. Was the film made to be a spoof of other stereotypical commercial films, or was it made to be a complete nonsensical comedy? Either ways Hum Sey Hai Jahan is bad.

Technically the camera and direction were all right. But what they failed to do was to mute the abusive language used occasionally.

Living life as a con-man in Singapore, Sameer Khanate (Mashoor Amrohi) lands up working as a 'recovery agent' for Gary Rosario (Jackie Shroff), a goon and owner of night clubs.


Earning his livelihood by cheating people of their money, Sameer's life takes a turn when his brother lands in a financial crisis and needs money. When his boss refuses to help him, Sameer makes a plan to kidnap the daughter, Esha, of a superstar, Gyaneshwar Singh (Shehzad Khan) in order to solve his problem.

He pretends to fall in love with Esha (Vishaka Singh), not knowing that he is actually gone head over heels in love. He takes her off to a romantic weekend with the motive of spending quality time with her, and letting her dad think she's been kidnapped and demand a ransom from him. Esha gets duped and agrees to elope with Sameer.

Gyaneshwar, who believes that Esha has been kidnapped, is forced to call his best friend, Gary, who happens to be Esha's godfather, for help. Gary promises to bring back Esha safe and sound and puts his best man Sameer on the job.

The film unfolds with further complications when Sameer gets involved in a drug deal and loses Esha to a gang of druglords, Dabar (Mukesh Rishi) and Pran Panwara (Kiran Kumar); the latter is also Gyaneshwar's relative.

Sameer saves Esha from Dabar and Pran in a series of dramatic escape and gunfights, the couple abscond, letting everyone assume that Esha is dead.

What happens next leads up to a confusing and tiresome climax, where all ends well. All in all a film not worth watching.

No Laughs Here

Hastey Hastey

Cast: Jimmy Shergill, Nisha Rawal, Rajpal Yadav.
Director: Ramanjit Juneja.
The film is well shot.

Poor script, ridiculous dialogues.

Number of weeks: New.
BO Verdict: Poor opening.

WoodStock Villa- Does No wonders

Woodstock Villa

Cast: Sikander Kher, Arbaaz Khan, Neha Uberoi.
Director: Hansal Mehta.
Sikander does well in his debut film.

Cliched murder mystery.

Number of weeks: New.
BO Verdict: Poor opening.