Director Shaad Ali's last effort was the thoroughly entertaining Bunty Aur Babli. The tone of that film was so purposely tongue-in-cheek and so purposely over the top that you had to applaud the filmmaker for persevering with the promise of his screenplay till the end credits. The film was very deservingly, a commercial hit.
This time around Mr. Ali and producer Aditya Chopra have once again come up with a very interesting premise that you can do so much with. And just like BAB, the soundtrack courtesy of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Gulzar is so in sync with the tone of the film. The title track is one of the best songs of this decade.
But everything else is like an experiment gone wrong. The screenplay seems to be a very rough draft which was never proof read or updated - the film has major momentum issues. It would be very easy to blame the editor for this but that is like blaming a doctor for not being able to save a patient with a terminal illness.
The film is majorly miscast - besides Abhishek Bachan, all the other three leads are a total let down. Shaad Ali's film making is not your typical loud Bollywood film making. He does not overdo the gloss or the background score. This exposes the actors in every scene for what they really are - good or bad, sincere or insincere. I wonder if Bobby Deol will ever come to the realization that he is in the wrong profession. Lara Dutta's beautiful legs do not make up for her poor performance. And Preity Zinta - I don't think she gets Shaad Ali or his sense of humor. She never really bought into the film. And Abhishek alone could not get us to buy into it either.
Perhaps the makers were still so enamored with their previous success that the focus and conviction that should have shone through never did. Maybe the hunger was missing. Entertaining commercial films have to walk the fine line between proposal and content - this one tripped.
This time around Mr. Ali and producer Aditya Chopra have once again come up with a very interesting premise that you can do so much with. And just like BAB, the soundtrack courtesy of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Gulzar is so in sync with the tone of the film. The title track is one of the best songs of this decade.
But everything else is like an experiment gone wrong. The screenplay seems to be a very rough draft which was never proof read or updated - the film has major momentum issues. It would be very easy to blame the editor for this but that is like blaming a doctor for not being able to save a patient with a terminal illness.
The film is majorly miscast - besides Abhishek Bachan, all the other three leads are a total let down. Shaad Ali's film making is not your typical loud Bollywood film making. He does not overdo the gloss or the background score. This exposes the actors in every scene for what they really are - good or bad, sincere or insincere. I wonder if Bobby Deol will ever come to the realization that he is in the wrong profession. Lara Dutta's beautiful legs do not make up for her poor performance. And Preity Zinta - I don't think she gets Shaad Ali or his sense of humor. She never really bought into the film. And Abhishek alone could not get us to buy into it either.
Perhaps the makers were still so enamored with their previous success that the focus and conviction that should have shone through never did. Maybe the hunger was missing. Entertaining commercial films have to walk the fine line between proposal and content - this one tripped.