Dharmesh Darshan repeatedly said that `Aap Ki Khatir' is a popcorn-cola film. I entered the theatre with a cola hoping that the film will live up to the intriguing hoardings and Darshan's one liner. Well, during the interval I bought a coffee and a packet of samosas (Popcorn is only when I am with my wife). As I dug my teeth in the samosa, it turned out to be soggy. So, after a listless first half, the sorry tale of love, betrayal and ring tones continued in the second half too. I just put aside the other samosa and geared myself to bear the movie. Aap Ki Khatir. Only For You..
A rip off of `The Wedding Date', `Aap Ki Khatir' is a film that promises nothing and goes nowhere. It just meanders around. Telling nothing. Conveying nothing. Why does an intelligent sales-n-marketing rich London bred girl be so dumb so as to hire an escort in Mumbai to take along with herself to UK so that she can make her ex hunky boyfriend jealous! That's Anu (Priyanka Chopra) for you. Aman Mehra, the dilwala from Lokhandwala (Akshay Khanna), the happy-punctuality-freak escort is prompt with his one-liners. Try this one: "I hate to wait, so please don't be late".
Danny boy (Dino Morea), the dashing debonair playboy had left Anu in the lurch three years ago. Now, she is back to attend the marriage of her step sister Shirani (Amisha Patel) with gujju boy-man Kunal (Suneil Shetty, considering he is much over 40, I guess manly man will be more appropriate). Oops..I forgot to tell you about Anu's family. It's a bit complicated, but nevertheless I will try. Anu's emotionally intelligent, yet sexy Mom Betty Khanna (Lilette Dubey) married jovial, ring tone friendly Arjun Khanna (Anupam Kher) after the death of Anu's father. Arjun Khanna had a daughter of his own from his earlier marriage (Of course his first wife had also passed out.sorry passed away). There's Nikky (Bhumicka Singh), but it's never really established if she is the sister of Anu and Shirani.
The happy Sooraj Barjatya joint family plays cricket in the chilly picturesque countryside of London, caricaturish spinster Pushy and Cushy aunties indulge in some baseless repartee, the fire crackles out of the logs of love and instead of doing the job that Mr Lokhandwala Aman (Poor guy is addressed by this name repeatedly as if Lokhandwala is some remote village where stupid morons live) was supposed to do, he falls in love with the bumbling-stumbling Anu. If this was not enough, dirty secrets start plunging out of the closet as Aman catches Danny urging Shirani to come back to her. The two had a brief relationship after Anu-Danny broke up and now Danny is back in thick of things as he is the best man of Kunal. Phew! Getting confusing.. I would leave it at that. You guys check it out at your own peril. Ahm.Headache rather.
Director Dharmesh Darshan lost the plot from the word go. Alright, I'll give it to him that the length of the film (2 hrs something) is a relief considering it's very slow paced anyway. I think he should stick to doing what he does best.Emotional potboilers like `Raja Hindusthani' and `Dhadkan' rather than rehashing an also-ran Hollywood film. His attempted Yash Chopra-Karan Johar mode of filmmaking doesn't work. One should stick to one's own strengths than trying-to-emulate the Box Office formula of others. He should thank Sunil Munshi's intelligently written dialogues (At Times) that make you nod at the novelty value.
Acting department has a few neat performances (Akshay Khanna, Lilette Dubey, Dino Morea, Amisha Patel) and lots of howlers (Priyanka Chopra, Anupam Kher, Suneil Shetty and a horde of ensemble NRI cast). Akshay Khanna is cool as a cucumber, plays the dude-there-for-the-damsel-in-distress to the hilt. And looks good too. One missed his histrionics though, but never mind! Priyanka's bad make up, bad dresses days from `Krrish' prolong in `Aap
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