The movie opened to cinemas without much fanfare in midst of not-so-catchy trailers and thumbs down reviews. Even my decision to watch this movie was driven by a non-availability of tickets for others. All fears of a goofy, slapstick comedy with cheap songs were coming to fore with the cameo that the movie started with. End of the why-was-it-there Cameo.
Enter Om Puri who plays the role of Madhav Mathur, an oldie bachelor who is desperate to get married. The actor makes a bad cut in the character with his acting talents severely suffocated. He is the friend of Janardhan Rane, played well by Paresh Rawal whose son Gaurav (Akshay Khanna) is the owner of a mall.
First few minutes are wasted as the director tries to tickle you hard (without much success) with putting Madhav and Janardhan in almost unconceivable situations that might seem funny for someone with a bad humor.
The storyline suddenly gets a breath of fresh air with the arrival of Genelia D’souza (Shikha Kapoor) who is playing pranks on Gaurav for reasons only the story unfolds. And Priyadarshan has taken us into his charm again. Only this time Genelia’s warm smile coming to rescue with a few thoughtfully sprinkled and effective comic sequences. You might actually fall off laughing during some scenes.
Boy meets girl. Gaurav meets Shikha. But in what fashion. The girl taking a revenge for college ragging years ago by pretending to be a ditched girlfriend who happens to be the mother of Gaurav’s baby even. Cute, eh? Laughter scores as Gaurav runs berserk trying to find out who is behind his discomfiture. The plight is set straight by the girl and the guy takes it sportingly. But they do not fall in love immediately. Not the girl. But ofcourse the girl gets emotionally attached with Gaurav’s father, Baapu. Something is surely brewing.
A humorous first half transforms into a semi-pseudo-serious second half. The much ado is actually about Paresh Rawal’s long lost love Anuradha, played by Shobhana, who is incidentally Shikha’s aunt. Not much of a role for Shobhana though, the situation does bring up social issues like the remarrying of the elderly and the general apathy towards love marriages.
Priyadarshan is able to handle the issue quite beautifully. Now Gaurav and Shikha will bring them together, against all odds. And fall in love in doing so. The story meanders okay, , keeping you tied to the seats, waiting for the ensuing excitement. Amid all the chaos, hulla-bulla, comedy, and some unexciting cha cha between Gaurav & Shikha and Janardhan & Anuradha, Madhav (Om Puri) continues to look for an eligible spinster and always landing in one or the other perplexity with some in your face slapstick comedy moments. In the end though, he is able to hitch up with Inspector Bhawani (played hilariously well by Archana Puran Singh) as they spent so much time together in the police station, the Inspector eternally picking him up from his misadventures.