Talk of exaggerated levels of gullibility. A self-made man who has started his life at rock bottom and climbed his way up to head an empire gets taken in by an ordinary crook who pretends to be holier-than-thou. One would have imagined that at the very least the kingpin would have picked up some streetsmart skills along his long arduous climb to the top.
But no. When Vijay Kumar (Amitabh Bachchan) is accosted by a sincere sounding, fan of his (Mohnish Bahl), who shows him a file of clippings of articles published on the big man. The industrialist gets taken in and offers him a job. Within days, weeks, months---one is not too sure-he even sends the man home to his daughter (Juhi Chawla) to help her solve crosswords. Needless to add the daughter is so enamoured by his crossword solving skills and his repertoire of clippings, that she falls in love with him.
The parents are happy with her choice and the marriage is fixed. Meanwhile the prodigal eldest son returns to the fold of parents and three sisters. Ajay (Akshay Kumar), an IT professional who is happy to get into the business and start from the lowest rung of the ladder, as long as he can also start his own business as well. But in the first few days of his work itself, he gets into a spat with a union leader (Ashish Vidyarthi) and bashes him up. He is reprimanded by his father for getting entangled with the union guys, but by then it’s too late. The leader has called for a strike and to appease him, the father asks the son to apologize. He does so, but reluctantly. One thing leads to another mainly aided by the son-in-law who incidentally stays in their house with his wife.
Finally the son moves out. Incidentally somewhere in all this is the son’s girlfriend (Karisma Kapoor) who defies her father and decides to stand by him in these hours of stress. The two get married, months pass and soon she is pregnant. Meanwhile the depressed father has given the reigns of his business to his son-in-law who easily swindles him of his entire business. Next thing you know his palatial house is being auctioned and he is on the verge of being declared a pauper. The son, turning deaf to his wife’s pleas of not going back to his parents, does just that. He straightens matters out, mainly by bashing up the brother-in-law and both the business and house are back on track.
An incredible end to a ridiculous story. Were it not for Amitabh Bachchan’s flawless performance and Akshay Kumar’s drop-dead good looks, and certain sensitively written dialogues, the film is a complete wash-out. This kind of plastic-y family with permanent smiles pasted on their faces, good-to-the-core human beings is a spill-over of the Hum Aapke Hain Kaun kind of film-making. It makes you gag at the sweetness and wonder on whom they base their cardboard-cutout characters.