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Aap Ki Khatir
Hindi film
Aap Ki Khatir
Review :
'Aap Ki
Khatir' - much like a stale joke
By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service
Film: "Aap Ki Khatir"; Starring Akshaye Khanna, Priyanka
Chopra, Dino Morea, Ameesha Patel, Suniel Shetty, Anupam Kher,
Lilette Dubey; Director: Dharmesh Darshan;
Rating: *
Jane Austen comes to Lokhandwala in this strange, sporadically
interesting take on the quirky ways of the heart.
The trouble is that old-fashioned raconteur Dharmesh Darshan
doesn't know which way to take his giddy plot - Austen's
austerely satirical territory or the brassy full-on
hardcore drama that cyclically emanates from north Mumbai.
"Aap Ki Khatir" is like the joke that you want to smile at
because your favourite aunt tells it with a lot of enthusiasm.
The film does fake the vivacity with much gusto. But at the end
of one wedding, half a dozen songs and no funeral, you are left
wondering...whose laugh is it anyway?
Everyone talks loudly, as though they just saw the unedited
version of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" ...or is it a soul-less
version of "Monsoon Wedding"? Darshan's
makeover attempt is distinctly derivative.
Countryside London (well photographed by W.B Rao at times) is
populated by boisterous Punjabi and Gujarati characters who
either speak too loudly or crack jokes.
At times Darshan overdoes his ambitions. He uses Brechtian
direct-into-camera monologues by the characters, as though the
masala needed to be garnished with
moments of cerebrality.
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To his credit, Akshaye Khanna says Sunil Munshi's words with a
lot of heartfelt emotions. He imbues his character of the
charlatan from Lokhandawala who agrees to pose
as Priyanka's lover-boy in London, with plenty of perky humour.
Alas, the script and direction don't support Akshaye's attempts
to rise above the chronic silliness that
colonises the inner world of the constantly festive characters.
You aren't even sure whether these
dancing-singing-eating-laughing characters have an inner life!
Suffering from ingrained shallowness, the characters from the
parents played Anupam and Lilette to sisters Ameesha and
Priyanka (with a strange cousin played by
newcomer Bhoomika Singh to complete the Austenian ambience) seem
very wooden when it comes to expressing themselves.
The 'punjabiyat' (Punjabi culture) that the narration stresses
begins to get on your nerves in the second half. But yes, you do
enjoy Raju Khan and Bosco-Caesar's
party-all-night swaying hips and other dance moves.
But the pointless prattle grows unbearable in the second-half
when the celebrations stop short for bouts of Bergmanesque
heart-to-hearts between sisters Ameesha and
Priyanka.
Ameesha hams. Priyanka, careening between effervescence and
wistfulness tries hard to look like she's having fun.
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