The verdict is out. Director Prashant Chaddha’s "Aap kaa surroor" (AKS) is a hit and the team (Producer Vijay Taneja, the director and HR) is planning to make a sequel to the movie. In some places, it has got a better opening collection than movies like Don (2006) and Dhoom-2. I have never been a Himesh Reshammiya fan (I don’t hate him either) and this took me by surprise. I was quite eager to watch it (Had chosen to go for "Awarapan" from the three releases that week) so, I brought a cd of AKS and was looking forward to get entertained as I had heard a lot about it on tv channels. My review may not go down too well with HR fans. To start with, I’ll say that AKS is a perfect example of a weak movie doing well commercially because of the hype surrounding it.
The movie revolves around HR (who plays himself) who is caught in a sting operation and is framed for the murder of a journalist. He is taken to the prison, after which we get to see a flashback. He falls for an event manager for one of his shows, Ria (Hansika Motwani) who also starts loving the rockstar. Thereafter, we get to witness a regular stale "filmi" plot. Ria’s father (Sachin Khedekar) doesn’t approve of HR at first but later he is okay with his daughter’s choice. On the other hand, we have Ruby (Mallika Sherawat, who was supposed to be in a negative role) who is huge fan of HR (She sings his "Aashiq banaayaa aapne" song while trying hard to seduce him! But HR’s "pyar" for Ria is "saccha" so he cares a damn for her!) and lusts for him! After HR’s imprisonment, Sachin fixes up his daughter’s marriage with somebody else. All thanks to the murdered girl’s father (Raj Babbar), "apna" hero escapes from the prison. Now he has 24 hours to prove he is innocent. If he doesn’t do so, Ria will get married to the other guy. The movie has a happy ending so you can well figure out that HR manages to prove that he is not guilty.
HR may be a good music composer. He may be a good singer too (I don’t think he is good but his popularity is something I know of) but he is a terrible actor. He doesn’t act. He actually overacts. However, his dialogue delivery is nice and he does have a few lines which the masses will love. Hansika looks very sweet. She delivers an average performance. She should do well as an actress, if she gets some training. Mallika is wasted. She is there only for the glamour-quotient and has two item numbers. The supporting cast is okay. HR’s friend, Shravan (I guess it’s his real name too) stands out. The music is average. "Tera mera milna" and "Yaa ali" are good compositions. Prashant Chaddha is mediocre as a director (directing music videos and directing a movie are two different things.) and shows little promise. What was that auto-rickshaw scene for (a tribute to auto-rickshaw drivers and all that shit!)? What was he thinking of while filming that shot? The movie is shot in Germany and we get to see Mumbaiyaa auto-rickshaws and their drivers!!!
AKS is only for HR’S fans. If you are one, do watch it (if you have not yet!). But it is a weak movie. The box-office performance of AKS has stunned me. (I know bad movies do well here but HR’s debut movie as an actor wasn’t supposed to do so well). Avoidable! My rating - 1.5 out of 5.