If you don't know what to do with the next three hours of your life, you can grab a ticket of Mere Baap Pehle Aap to kill your time and get a few chuckles in the bargain.
The movie, by the remake machine called Priyadarshan , is no laugh riot, though that is what the director intended. Even though performances are up to the mark, the script and the dialogues fail to add fizz to the story, a story that had ample scope for tickling any restless spine.
It's the tale of an authoritarian beta ( Akshaye Khanna ) who bosses his long-widowed father ( Paresh Rawal ) about living away the autumn of his life like a decent old man. But the father, well under the influence of his lusty old friend ( Om Puri ), is inspired to relive his youth again and marry his childhood sweetheart (Shobhana). And even as the son falls in love with a girl ( Genelia D'Souza ) who peeves him perpetually, he is worried more about his father's marriage than his own.
The movie opens its cards at the very outset when a leery-eyed Om Puri ogles at a bunch of bikini-clad babes to his heart's content and goes to his best friend Paresh Rawal's house to convince and inspire him to find a prospective bride for himself. The two geriatrics set out on their hunting mission, only to end up in the clutches of a bullying female cop ( Archana Puran Singh ) who, by bad coincidence, hates nothing in this world more than eve-teasers. Caught between the cop and the blue sea, the two are rescued and reprimanded by Akshaye.
The first half of the film has a number of light-hearted sequences like these. The comedy quotient dips in the second half as the plot gives precedence to melodrama over mirth. The songs are another ear sores even though the camera captures the beauty of Kerala with remarkable finesse.
'Mere Baap Pehle Aap' belongs to two players - Akshaye and Paresh Rawal. Though Om Puri adds his own brand of believable lechery, it is Paresh as the meek and timid father who gets a better role and performs likewise. Akshaye seems to go overboard in a few scenes, but overall he does well. Genelia is photogenic and knows how not to ham. Archana Puran Singh is loud, while Rajpal Yadav is wasted. Naseeruddin Shah makes a surprise appearance.
Making a good comedy is no laughing matter, and Priyadarshan - having left his indelible stamp in sitcoms like Hera-Pheri and Malamaal Weekly - knows the ropes very well. But this time he gets tangled and gives us just an average entertainer.
'Mere Baap Pehle Aap' is strictly timepass - and make it a long time (close to three hours).
Movie Review : Timepass comedy (5/10) If you don't know what to do with the next three hours of your life, you can grab a ticket of Mere Baap Pehle Aap to ...
Genelia D'Souza - enjoying the best of both worlds
Mere Baap Pehle Aap : Movie Review
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