Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai has all the trappings of an old-fashioned melodrama, but fails to engage on any level. When the reviews of this movie came out, I was so eager to watch it I ignored all the negativity. After all, I had read bad reviews before and some of the movies had actually turned out quite well. However that is not the case in this movie. Before I dissect it, let’s get on to the plot and cast.
Basic story:
A blind sculptor (Amisha Patel) falls for a stranger (Arjun Rampal) who saves her life while her brother looks on helplessly as his sister is about to plunge down a cliff. They of course fall in love, but for some unknown reason she never knows his name and calls him ’’Babu’’ and recognizes him by the sound of his voice. A few unforgettable songs later, ’’Babu’’ has found a doctor to operate on ’’blind sculptor girl’s’’ eyes and of course there has to be a twist in the story, in the form of a thug who’s obssessed with ’’blind sculptor girl.’’ After her mother saves her from the thug, he vows to get even and in ’’dramatic’’ turn of events, tragedy strikes prompting ’’Babu’’ to propose to her. But before she can see (the op. is a success) her nameless beau, he’s killed by ’’thug’’ who also dies. Suddenly we skip to Switzerland where ’’blind sculptor girl’’ is living with her doctor and for some inexplicable reason calls him papa. Here she meets ’’brooding rich guy’’ (Bobby Deol), who’s instantly in love with her. He woos her because, in another ’’dramatic’’ twist in the story, he lost his childhood friend too, who’s none other than ’’Babu’’ and thus shares a bond with her, but then she doesn’t recognise him coz remember she never asked him his name!! What follows after that is your classic run on the mill love triangle with a very ’’surprising’’ ending.
The Cast:
Granted, I’ve never been around blind people before, but I’ve seen a couple and Amisha Patel as the blind Durga looks nowhere near even slightly shortsighted!! Her acting is mediocre at best and her emotional depiction fails to captivate the audience.
Arjun Rampal as Rohit/Babu doesn’t do much either, except look intense half the time. I really didn’t feel much chemistry between the two. He looks utterly ridiculous in the scene at the army hospital. You can actually tell in the pre-interval scenes that he’s still a newcomer and he’s a bit wooden. But post interval, he becomes more natural. Performance wise though, I liked him better in ’’Dil ka Rishta’’ and I hated his performance in THAT movie.
Final Bobby Deol as Raj is the only almost saving grace of the film. Although he tended to overdo it at times, I actually felt sympathy when he talked about his childhood friend. He gave an overall okay performance.
Now let’s dissect it:
I have never rolled my eyes so much while watching a movie, I came out of the theater cross-eyed!! This movie has all the cliches of a romantic drama, actually the movie is a 3 hr long cliche!! And the holes in the plot (if you can call it that) are very hard to miss.
1) Durga is a sculptor and we’re led to believe that she chanels her feelings this way
So why does she not to a single sculpture in Switzerland, you would think that after her traumatic experience she would want to channel her grief in the only way she knows how.
2) Durga never finds out her fiance’s name
How on earth do you agree to marry someone you know practically nothing about, okay, maybe that’s possible, but the first thing I would insist on is a name. He tells her to continue calling him Babu EXCUSE ME? And her mother doesn’t seem to find it strange that her daughter’s spending all this time with a nameless stranger.
3) Durga moves to Switzerland with her ’’Papa’’
WHAT? pre-interval he’s her doctor and now post-interval he’s suddenly Papa? What happened to her brother? Did they leave him alone to tend for himself in the village, he looked barely 15!!
The ending was so hackneyed I almost walked out had the credits not rolled before I could close my mouth at the astonishing conclusion to this ’’long awaited’’ movie.