Friday flicks: Masand's verdict

Humko Deewana Kar Gaye

In director Raj Kanwar's Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, this week's new Bollywood release, Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif fall for each other in those picture-postcard Canadian locations.

No problem there, you'd think right? Well, there is a problem - two actually. Akshay's already engaged to Bipasha Basu, and Katrina to Anil Kapoor.

The rest of the film pretty much plays out predictably as the filmmaker drills home the point that true love is a feeling that comes from within, and can't be forced or willed upon by anyone.

You have a fair idea of what to expect from a film when the opening credit sequence itself has been shamelessly plagarised - in this case from the hit British film Love Actually, where the camera captures dozens of people in loving embraces at an airport's arrival lounge.

Of course, that's not where the plagarising stops. Entire scenes have been stolen from Notting Hill and Serendepity, but in theme and in spirit, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye is really Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge meets Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

Now to be honest, you don't really know how to react to this picture - should you be relieved that Raj Kanwar has finally ditched his trademark middle-class melodramatic storytelling for a more glossy, urban, contemporary style; or then should you just want to smack him anyway for telling a story that's predictable from the word go, to the very last scene.

Of course, there's no complete escape from the director's now legendary Punjabi stereotyping, or from his crude jokes. So you have one-hit-wonder Bhagyashree playing a character that's a very pale imitation of Kajol's maha-memorable role as a Punjabi-spouting NRI in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

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You also have a bunch of suggestive gay jokes which are less Kal Ho Na Ho and more Kya Kool Hain Hum if you know what I mean. But all that aside, the real problem with this film is it's screenplay.

The whole falling-in-love process between Akshay and Katrina is so unimaginative and cliched that you almost overlook the fact that it's also largely illogical.

No explanations are given as to how Katrina can stay out of her hotel room on at least two occasions and spend these entire nights with Akshay Kumar even though we've already been informed that her fiance is a madly possessive man who tracks her every move.

The other big problem - a very big one, actually is that although Humko Deewana Kar Gaye is set on foreign shores and the actors wear designer tags, it's a very regressive story after all.

I mean, the maker tries to justify Akshay falling out of love with Bipasha, because she's a practical and ambitious girl who's extremely focussed about her career. And Katrina is of course the perfect girl because she's a hopeless romantic.

You know, with every Rang De Basanti Hindi cinema takes one step forward, and then with films like this we go right back to the basics. Then again, if you're familiar with director Raj Kanwar's films, you'll understand exactly what I mean - Jeet, Jaan, Itihaas, Judaai, Dhai Akshar Prem Ke and Andaaz.

Some of these films may have been big hits, but they're exactly the kind of movies I think it's safe to say we've had more than enough of. And Humko Deewana Kar Gaye unfortunately, is the same old trash but with fancy packaging.

If there's anything at all that makes this film even remotely watchable, it's the lead pair who not only look smashing together, but who also lend some interest value to this otherwise doomed enterprise.

Akshay Kumar, fast emerging a credible romantic hero, is top of the pops, playing his role with just the right kind of restraint that it requires. Katrina Kaif meanwhile, all peaches and cream, dazzles every time she's on screen.

Clearly an improvement on her performance in last year's Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, she exploits the potential that this role provides her, and she ends up turning in an impressive act that is sure to get her noticed.

Too many songs further slacken the film's pace and stretch your patience level to full capacity. Humko Deewana Kar Gaye seems designed to woo the NRI audience in the same fashion that most Yash Chopra films do.

But alas, this one lacks both imagination and conviction. And for that reason alone it fails to make the cut.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

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