Save for the simmering chemistry between Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye' has little else engaging to offer.
Filmmaker Raj Kanwar's previous movies have bore an indubitable stamp of melodrama and romantic mush. HDKG is no exception. Riddled with by-now-obvious clichés, HDKG tells a tale of romance that keeps simmering between the two protagonists, but finds an expression only after a good number of reels have unspooled. It is about attraction and repulsion, about love and its denial. The end has the predictable union of the lovers, but not before the mandatory tear-jerking moments, punctuated by some over-the-top drama.
The movie tells the story of Aditya (Akshay Kumar) and Jia (Katrina Kaif).
Aditya is an automobile engineer already engaged to Sonia (Bipasha Basu), a fashion designer. But the two hardly look made for each other. For Sonia, her career comes first. She is a hot looking woman with a cold heart. She is put off by crying babies and doesn't like simple romantic gestures that ought to be natural between any two lovers.
Likewise, Jia is also about to marry Karan (Anil Kapoor), a business magnate. Although Jia has had all the material comforts of life - thanks to her rich business-minded father - but she has never experienced family love. Now she is about to marry a man who thinks very much like her father.
Aditya and Jia meet in Canada. Aditya is there for business reasons while Jia is there to shop for her wedding.
What begins as a series of brief encounters between Aditya and Jia starts cementing into something serious. Aditya introduces Jia to his sister's family in Canada. It is there Jia finds the familial love that she always longed for.
Just when the simmering love between Aditya and Jia is about to explode, the director introduces the element of misunderstanding between the two. The inevitable parting follows and the lovers drift apart never to meet again.
But fate - yes, the mighty queer thing that plays more important role in films than in real life - intervenes. The lovers meet again. The lovebirds go through the obvious emotional turbulence before they eventually become the ones of the same feather.
Well, HDKG has a few positives to its credit. Firstly, the movie is visually striking. The cinematography is topnotch and adds a considerable sheen to the movie paled by the absence of a gripping story. And there indeed are certain moments in the movie that strike a chord at heart, (Akki-Katrina sequences in the first half), but the second half keeps stretching endlessly towards the end.
The songs, that keep popping up after every few reels, only frizzle a viewer.
Raj Kanwar has apparently taken a lot of inspiration from Hollywood movies. There are certain sequences that look lifted from Hollywood flicks. Sample this - the introduction of Anil Kapoor before the interval when he mistakes Akshay as the room service guy and gives him a tip, bears a non-coincidental resemblance to a similar scene from Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts starrer 'Notting Hill'. And there are similar noticeable lifts from movies like 'Forces of Nature' and 'Titanic'.
Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif are the only saviors of this movie. Playing a suave and decorous man with a mellow heart, Akshay deftly conveys the intensity of the inner contradictions of his character at several places in the movie.
Katrina Kaif is getting better with every film. She is less wooden and more expressive in emotional scenes. Her natural beauty is beyond question and her styling in the film is just breathtaking. Full points to her on looks, her acting still leaves certain things to be desired. But she is coming around.
Bipasha Basu and Anil Kapoor carry their roles with ease and élan. Bhagyashree as Akshay's sister gives an adequate performance.
In a nutshell, HDKG is good enough to while away your time. But it offers nothing exceptional.
Movie Review : Mushy (1/10) Save for the simmering chemistry between Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye' has little else engaging to offer...
Music Review : Forgettable Music (2/10) Much like the title of this Raj Kanwar directed movie, its music is unimaginative, soppy and simply forgettable after a single hea...
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