Mere Jeevan Saathi is an apt case of an old wine in a new bottle. The story is ancient, but director Suneel Darshan tries hard to make the film watchable by his slick and zippy treatment.
Karisma Kapoor plays Natasha, the millionaire music company owner, who is obsessed with getting Vicky (Akshay Kumar), a budding pop star, for herself, even though he has eyes only for Anjali (Amisha Patel).Lured to New York by Natasha’s company, she helps Vicky became a star, making him feel obligated in the process. A brief liaison leaves Vicky with guilty feelings that he can’t share back home with Anjali.
Shunning Natasha, Vicky falls foul of her and two totally inept villains running an opposition music company that he had earlier rejected: brothers Molani (Gulshan Grover) and Tolani (Ashish Vidyarthi), both with such a ridiculous feigned lisp in their speech that one cannot even hear what they are saying. As trouble brews on all fronts, Vicky decides to tell all to Anjali, but the villains have their own intentions about her.
The film takes off pretty well. Akki’s introduction (stage dance) and the scene with Amisha, when he saves her from the rival henchmen, are expertly executed.But the pace drops alarmingly after this. The story almost comes to a grinding halt and the time the hero and heroine actually take to say the three magical words I Love You tests the patience of the viewer.
Like a roller coaster ride, the narration picks up again when Karishma manages to throw Akshay in bed. This incident occurs at the interval point and expectedly, one looks forward to a dramatic second half.
But the post-interval portions deviate to an altogether different track and let you down completely. Karishma’s obsession looks childish. In fact, one starts wondering as to what must’ve propelled Darshan and his team of writers to devote so much footage to such inconsequential stuff. Even the song ’diwaani can easily be done away with.
The last half-an-hour is the best part of the flick. Although there’s nothing new in the narrative, the execution by Darshan makes the goings-on palatable. Even Karishma’s death towards the last fifteen minutes holds tremendous appeal .
What could’ve turned out to be a mediocre fare is salvaged to an extent thanks to Darshan’s deft handling of the age-old formula. A few dramatic scenes linger in your mind even after the show has ended, notable among them being the sequence when Akshay warns Karishma to leave the city and forget all about their one night stand.
Nadeem Shravan Nusic is no patch on their earlier scores. Yet, a couple of songs do stand out mainly due to their effervescent picturisation – the title track and ’dewaani’. However, the choreography of the latter is simply brilliant.
Karishma gives it all to her performance and the sincerity shows. She uplifts the most ordinary sequence to a respectable level. Amisha Patel does well in a few scenes, but hams at times. Akshay Kumar is passable.
On the whole, Mere Jeevan Saathi is too mediocre a fare .