~You say po-tay-toe. I say Po-taa-toe~ You say toe-may-toe, I say Toe-maa-toe, let?s call the whole thing off!~
Cast
Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Kirron Kher, Rati Agnihotri, Jimmy Shergill, Rishi Kapoor
Special Appearances
Abhishek Bachchan, Shenaz, Isha Koppikar
Credits
Direction, Story and Dialogues: Kunal Kohli
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Music: Jatin Lalit
Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi
Choreography: Saroj Khan and Raju Khan
Background Score: Salim Sulaimaan
Director of Photography: Sunil Patel
Art Director: Sharmishtha Roy
Hum-Tum. We and You. Men and Women = Poles Apart YET so close
This movie is based on the basic theme of ?Men are from mars and women from Venus?, you?d understand the concept if you?ve read the book by the same title, i.e. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. (Or was it the opposite? Anyway...) So, Hum Tum are the cartoon characters developed by this cartoonist, Karan Kapoor, played by a cartoon himself ? Saif Ali Khan. This guy gets better and funnier with every movie he does. Hum = Men and Tum = Women. You?d know if you read The Times of India.
Karan Kapoor is of the idea that men and women cannot be friends because ?love? comes in or it?s just about the sex. Tring Tring, does this notion ring any bells? Yes, Billy Crystal said the same thing in When Harry Met Sally to which Meg Ryan reacted like ?What? That?s not true?... something like that. Anyway, Karan Kapoor is a crazy, playful, full-of-life, flirtatious guy who moves from one girl to another like people do with buses. One fine day, he meets Rhea Prakash (Rani Mukerji, very cute) on the same flight to New York. She is a well-bred, sensible and a modern girl with a strong head on her shoulders and a strong set of moral values. Karan manages to offend her in ways more than one. They totally detest each other.
Now, wait ? this is not your regular Bollywood love story in which the hero and the heroine meet, hate each other at first but then the guy manages to woo the girl and they fall in love? blah blah blah blah. This is different. The ?love? factor doesn?t even come up before the last 45 minutes of the movie. What a relief? Yeah. These are very real characters, dealing with very real situations.
Like in ?When Harry Met Sally?, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal keep crossing each other?s paths during the ?years?, Saif?s and Rani?s characters do that in Hum Tum. Their lives, their emotions, their feelings and their HAIRSTYLES change with the growing years. By the way, Saif?s hairdresser deserves an award. And so does Kirron Kher, she?s cute and funny in the role of Rhea Prakash?s mother with a Punjabi accent, she?s a typical Indian mom ? She rocked in the roll.
Hum Tum travels from Delhi to New York to Delhi again to Paris to Mumbai. Money HAS been spent! It?s a Yash Raj Films production after all; they are addicted to the foreign locales. Hey, a Mumbai beach looked nice in one of the songs. That reminds me, the soundtrack of the movie is ok-ok. I mean, I won?t go and buy the album. The songs are well-shot ? the choreography and the works? are good. The title song was nice, slow romantic, shot in the rain, rain songs always do well! There?s a Rishi Rich number ? quite cool, I?d dance to it. ?Chak De Chak De? is also good. Oh what the hell, the music is NOT BAD. If you like melody, you?ll like Hum Tum?s music.
Overall, it?s a cute movie that you could take your girlfriend/boyfriend to. There was a couple at the theatre I went to; they kept hitting each other after the movie ended. God knows why. They must?ve disagreed on something. Anyway, Hum Tum has an important message as well. Quite important. ?If you love someone, say it right now. Don?t delay, don?t think. Say whatever you feel. COMMUNICATE!? (Oh man, I?m gonna be flooded with phone calls, e-mails and date invitations now! ;))
Go for it.