Bollywood Film Of The Week

  • IndiaGlitz, [Friday,August 20 2004]

KYUN! HO GAYA NA: Producer: Boney Kapoor; Director: Samir Karnik;

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy; Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, Rati Agnihotri,Tinnu Anand, Samir Karnik, and (friendly) Suniel Shetty and Diya Mirza

Aimed at being a situational comedy, this film suffers from a bad script that appears to move in fits and starts. The attempt to make a family film of the ‘Hum Aapke hain Koun’ variety clearly proves disastrous for Samir who is making his directorial debut. Amitabh’s role is unnecessary. Vivek is very good and Aishwarya is her normal self, but the chemistry one has read about off-screen is missing on-screen. Only 'Pyaar Mein Sau Uljhane Hain' and 'Aao Na' have some lilt.

Diya is a sensitive girl whose childhood was spent in the coffee plantation town of Coorg where her father Malhotra brought her up single-handedly after his wife passed away. Malhotra has a friend, Raj Chauhan, who has dedicated his life to a small orphanage he runs at his home. Diya has been involved with the work there and is committed to social work. She comes to Mumbai to appear for her exams in Social Work. In Mumbai,Diya stays at the house of her father’s friend Khanna and his wife, and meets their son Arjun who is a fun-loving guy and whom she had seen earlier vending tea in a train as he had lost his money. Friendship develops between Diya and Arjun but they consequently realize that they hold opposing views on love and marriage: he believes strongly in arranged marriages despite his modern outlook whereas she is convinced about love marriages. Ultimately the mysterious uncle who runs the orphanage has to step in to bring the lovers together.

KAUN HAI JO SAPNO MEIN AAYA: Producer: Spice Team Entertainments;

Director: Rajesh Bhatt; Music: Nikhil Vinay; Lyrics: Sameer;

Cast: Rakesh Bapat, Richa Pallod, Vinita Malik, Kader Khan, Navneet Nishan, Saeed Jaffrey, Zohra Sehgal, Anupam Kher, Surjit Singh Pandher, Rana Jung Bahadur, Usha Bachani, Sheela Sharma, Suraj Thapar

Heavily inspired some of the early Rajshri pictures of the seventies, this film suffers from a very predictable story which falls flat because it offers no novelty. Rakesh proves he can do well if given a good role and Richa carries the film on her shoulders. The photography is visually pleasing, but fails to evoke interest. The title song is catchy.

The film revolves around a Punjabi family settled in United Kingdom and generally adapted to a western lifestyle. Kuldeep Khanna has a large family: his wife, Dadi Maa, sons Harry and Sunny, daughter Dolly ,daughter-in-law Pramila and grand-daughter Sweety. Mahek comes to live with the Khanna family for a month since her uncle Dr Verma, a good friend of Kuldeep, has to visit the United States for an important conference. Mahek is disturbed by the fragmented family and tries to bring the family together. But she is accused of causing Dadi Maa's death. After Mahek's departure, the Khannas discover that the orphaned Mahek has a serious heart ailment and had actually come to the United Kingdom for a final attempt at treatment. They attempt to bring her back, but she refuses. Matters get complicated when Sunny realizes he loves Mahek, though he knows she may die soon.