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Upon seeing the first pics of Rani and Shahid for this film, I thought this was a movie that was going to sum up everything I enjoy about romantic comedies. Usually I know I'm going to enjoy a rom-com before the opening credits even start, but at the end of it all I just kind of felt a little *meh*. There's been a couple of really great reviews on this film lately that delve deeper than the surface and look at theories such as "the sari point" over at Beth Loves Bollywood. Here's my take.

Rani Mukherjee shines in her media induced "comeback" (sorry Indiatimes, et al - in my books Rani has always been in fine form), as Veera Kaur, the small town girl who has big dreams of making it in the male-centric world of cricket. Realizing she has no chance to make it to the World Cup, she decides her only hopes to do so are to become male batter extraordinaire Veer Pratap Singh and try out for the local team set to play a yearly match against Pakistan. As Veera, she is the right combination of feisty and sexy and you want her to be successful in her endeavor. Veera's alter ego, Veer, is fun to watch but seems to have been created more for laughs than for any sexual tension it should have produced. Through it all though, Rani plays both roles with gusto and looks like she's having a good time doing it.


Playing Rohan, Shahid Kapoor is the captain of a English country cricket team. He returns to India to coach his father's cricket team, which has consecutively been losing the Aman Cup to Pakistan for the past 8 years, but only after his father fakes a heart attack to get him there. Classy. I usually enjoy Shahid's performances (though I've seen very few), but I found him almost completely expressionless for most of this movie. However, he does make up for it a little bit with some impressive dancing to compensate for his lack of acting ability (sorry Ajnabi!). Also it's easy to sometimes looks past the flaws because the man is so damn gorgeous. However, take a note: Shahid, seriously, if you are looking to shed the Shah Rukh Khan comparisons, doing a DDLJ reenactment is not going to help!


I suppose it wouldn't be a Yash Raj Film if we didn't have an amalgamation of themes all stuffed into one very colorful celluloid package. Anurag Singh gives us a plethora of plot elements (romance, sports, nationalism), but where I think the movie fails is in the execution of it all. The storyline is basic and certainly doesn't really offer us anything new, the romance between Rohit and Veera falls flat, the addition of Sherlyn Chopra and Rakhi Sawant contribute nothing to the film, and the climax is completely understated. I suppose the revelation of Veera's secret could have been way over done, but it's almost too subtle and you don't really get that big reaction that would then, of course, lead to the big reconciliation - even if I didn't buy their "love" to being with. However, I suppose Singh does deserve a shout out over trying to appeal to the ladies in the audience with an elaborate speech on women's rights.


Still cute though, na?

I liked Pritam's music in the film though, quite a lot, but anything that has a good bhangra beat to it is going to get my attention. Even the standard love song made it to my ipod. My fav's of the film are Bhangra Bistar, Ishq Hi Hai Rab, and Hadippa - the remix (good lord, Rani looks fierce and Shahid is GORGEOUS! -I could watch that man dance for hours!)





I was going to do this as a mini review (along with three other movies that are waiting to make there way onto the blog), but I guess I had more to say than I thought. Coming up: The Namesake, Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Chandni Chowk to China.