Haan Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya Hai Movie Review

Shree Krishna International's HAAN… MAINE BHI PYAAR KIYA, written-directed by Dharmesh Darshan, is the story of Pooja Kashyap (Karisma Kapoor), Shiv Kapoor (Abhishek Bachchan) and Raj Malhotra (Akshay Kumar).

Pooja is bright and beautiful and strives to be the best. But she's also a romantic and an idealist who is willing and ready to give up her exciting career for the sake of true love. But she forgets that there is a very thin line between ardent love and obsession.

Shiv is equally ambitious and competitive, but he's also a cool and laid-back sort of guy who takes life as it comes. Little does he realise that one moment of thoughtless passion will destroy all that is most precious to him and change his life forever.

Raj has the world at his feet. He has money, fame, adulation. The only thing lacking in his life is love and stability. He seeks love that is tender and pure. And he is sure that one day he will get it.

Pooja, Shiv and Raj. Three individuals thrown together by destiny to play the fascinating game of love in an arena full of emotional turmoil and upheaval.

Director Dharmesh Darshan has an impressive track record – LOOTERE, RAJA HINDUSTANI, DHADKAN – but he seems to have gone completely haywire in his latest endeavour HAAN… MAINE BHI PYAAR KIYA.

The fault lies in two aspects and both concern Dharmesh. One, the story abounds in predictable moments and two, the treatment is absolutely old-fashioned.

Let's begin with the loopholes in the script. The first half of the film is bland, with no exciting moments in the narrative. The story moves on the tried-and-tested path and relies too heavily on sequences that have been witnessed time and again. Actually, the Abhishek – Karisma love story in the first half lacks passion, mainly because of the oft-repeated situations.

The two twists in the first half come in the form of (i) when Abhishek gets stranded on a giant wheel due to power failure and returns home the next morning and (ii) when he is forced to spend a night with Simone Singh due to a landslide.

Sequences such as these reflect on the poor thinking of the screenplay writers of the project, for the rift between Abhishek and Karisma seems straight out of a 1980 flick, the Jeetendra – Rekha starrer EK HI BHOOL. To be honest, there is hardly any sequence in the first half that leaves an indelible impression on the viewer.

One expects the story to gain momentum in the second half, when Akshay Kumar enters the scene. But in this half as well, the screenplay abounds in clich?moments and the romance between Akshay and Karisma looks half-baked.

The narrative does gather momentum when Akshay and Karisma visit Naini Hills and Abhishek re-emerges on the scene. But barring a scene or two, the impact in the latter reels is missing. The climax also leaves much to be desired.

Directorially, Dharmesh Darshan had innumerable textbooks to refer to – from SANGAM to SAAJAN – films that tackled the love triangle issue with aplomb, but it is difficult to digest the fact that Dharmesh has come up with a tasteless fare, which offers no novelty whatsoever. The dramatic scenes are just about okay and the emotional ones fall flat. The light moments (Kader Khan – Himani Shivpuri – Shakti Kapoor – Dolly Bindra) hardly evoke mirth.

Nadeem-Shravan's music is the only redeeming feature of this enterprise. The songs are tuneful and seeped in melody. The title track is the best of the lot, while 'Zindagi Ko Bina Pyaar Koi Kaise Guzare' comes a close second. The picturisations, however, are ordinary.

W.B. Rao's cinematography is good in parts. The Swiss locales are superb, but the lighting is just about okay in a few scenes. Dialogues are nice at places.

Karisma Kapoor tries her best to salvage the show with a sincere performance and she does succeed in elevating a couple of scenes. However, she tends to get loud at a couple of places, especially in the courtroom sequence when she asks for a divorce. Akshay Kumar is just about okay, while Abhishek Bachchan needs to work on his expressions.

Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Himani Shivpuri, as Akshay's staff, go completely overboard. Mohnish Bahl is so-so.

On the whole, HAAN… MAINE BHI PYAAR KIYA has nothing new to offer to the viewer, barring an exciting star cast. But without the backing of a cohesive script, the best of stars pale into insignificance. And that's precisely why HAAN… MAINE BHI PYAAR KIYA will find the going very tough. Below average.