Commercial success too early can be too much of a good thing. Nikhil Advani in a valiant attempt to reprise Love Actually for Indian audiences, still shows that he lacks the level of competence required to pull off a film of such magnitude and breadth. Although his intentions, casting and canvas are earnest , he is let down by spiceless scripting, an inability to wield the editing scissors and weak love stories. The film is still watchable due to the performances of a stellar cast and of course the sheer variety that the format offers.
The movie is frankly about 5 love stories and 1 comedy track which is the Sohail Khan- Isha Koppikar. The footage for them in a laborious 225 minutes would be less than 20 minutes. But it does liven up the proceedings with some cheap humour.
Love story no. 1: Vidya Balan and John Abraham are two newscasters of different religions who marry against the wishes of parents. The couple are a treat to watch in the initial portions, thanks more to Vidya's charm. However she loses her memory in a train accident and John goes great lengths to make her get it back or carry on life without remembering him. John shows a good touch of vulnerability, although you cant help complaining of the triteness in the handling of an otherwise poignant story.
Love story no. 2 : The Akshaye- Ayesha is probably the most endearing one of this enterprise. Akshaye Khanna with a proud bald pate gives an amazingly zany performance as the guy who does not want to commit to a marriage with the daughter of a retired army officer (Prem Chopra in a good comeback). The scenes that stand out are his drunken scene, shooting a video of his inability to marry and the bachelor party. Clearly this actor has more to offer Bollywood.
Love story no. 3: Govinda Raju with gori memsaab. In a much better scripted role than Bhagam Bhaag, the erstwhile Hero no.1 gives glimpses of old form especially in a small dance routine and his Hindi conversations with the English mem. But this story is stretched, because the travel from Delhi to Agra to Delhi to Udaipur to Delhi is overkill.
Love story no. 4: Raooool (as Salman calls it) and item girl Kamini( Priyanka Chopra). This is the weakest plot but occupies lot of screen time. In a way this plot looks watchable when it is making snide remarks about item gals and the media circus but not as a love story. Advani's usage of old mentor Karan Johar borders on mockery. And Priyanka has miles to go before she can carry off such roles which would have been a cinch for Sridevi or Madhuri in their prime. Although her jhatkas in most songs is pretty cool.
Love story no. 5: This take on a perfect but boring couple again suffers from amateurish writing. Anil Kapoor dresses like an investment banker reading FT but apparently has no work from 9 to 5. Vadi tu kya chaniya ho gaya kya? Although Anil and Juhi give strong diligence to this plot, it still ends up like a feekhi chai. Anjani Sukhani as the hot babe in Anil's life is too plastic.
Advani still carries a good amount of his Kal ho na Ho techniques into this movie. The multiple image cuts, ability to capture surroundings like footpaths in the background in long shots (Esp the monotony of the London life Anil leads), song picturizations are all good. Dotcom Paaji a clever spoof on the matrimony sites is also smart.
But alas there was no one in the cinema hall who was not bored by the time the movie ran beyond its 3 hour length. Comments and remarks passed around like paper rockets in a wanton classroom. The teachers control over pupils (pun defly intended) was just not there.
Shankar Ehsan Loy's music is pretty good. Good use of singers like Adnan and Kailash Kher, although no chartbuster stuff.
Salaam-e-Ishq is a classic case of biting more than one can chew, hope Advani returns with a healthier appetite.
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