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Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai
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'Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai'

By N K Deoshi
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Suraj (Abhishek), a simple village bumpkin who sings the songs of Ganga maiyya, comes to Mumbai from Benaras to earn a degree in college. He gets smitten by a light-eyed beauty Pooja (Rani Mukherjee). After some dilly-dallying the duo express their love for each other.

Suraj has big dreams. He wants to emulate his mentor Naved Ali (Jackie) a shrewd media baron. Then, one day, in a heroic deed in which apna gaon ka chora saves the life of a fatally wounded man, Suraj impresses Naved Ali. A flattered Naved sends his raunchy colleague Lara (Sush) to rope in Suraj to start a new channel.

Slowly

the callow youth becomes a clever businessman and Lara begins to take Pooja’s place. Pooja tries to convince Suraj of the futility of it all but only in vain. Suraj is determined to carve a place for himself in the higher echelons of the society. Soon he has everything he ever wanted and dreamed of – a swanky bungalow, sleek cars el al. But he has lost his innocence.

And one day Suraj realizes the dastardly motives of Naved Ali (who wants to become the PM of the country) and how he has been used as a pawn in his power game.

“Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai” is the directorial debut of Goldie Behl, the son of the veteran producer-director Ramesh Behl, and a close friend of Abhishek. The film takes off well in the first half with Behl delineating a convincing canvass of a college life and the juvenile games that go with it. But, in the second half, he goes astray when he begins to philosophize things. The film simply loses focus.

Abhishek looks promising and shows the caliber of a serious actor. One thing he should work on is his screen presence, make it less brooding and more charismatic. After all, isn’t that what Hindi film heroes are supposed to be?

Rani Mukherjee looks gorgeous throughout the film and slips from one emotion to another with customary ease. Sushmita keeps the crowd titillated with her raunchy numbers while Jackie infuses the wily Naved with enough vitriol.

“BISKH” is glossy and has a straight forward approach from first timer Behl. But it lacks innovation. The film, for instance, looks like a potpourri of Shahrukh’s “Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman” and “Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani”. It gets clichéd at times with the same old teeing off to Switzerland for the song and dance number. Yes, the film’s music is certainly a strong point and so are the lyrics by Goldie Behl himself. But it may not do all that well at the box-office.

Besides, coming on the heels of the celluloid mammoths like “Lagaan” and “Gadar”, the release of “BISKH” could not have been more ill timed. What’s more, daddy Big B’s much-awaited psychological thriller “Aks”, which is hitting the marquee after a week, may also nibble at “BISKH”’s market share.

Rating: Average.

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