MUMBAI: This one is a love triangle and, like most love triangles, it has a forced script of convenience in which people don’t own up to the things they are supposed to when they should or create a situation where he is on the verge but something keeps him from doing so. Love triangles thrive on silence.

Tanuj Virwani and Aditya Seal are childhood friends in the hill station cantonment town of Kasauli. With three other friends they make a bunch of five, nicknamed Kasauli Cowboys who celebrate life together. It is summer time and the town gets its due share of holidaymakers. While at the railway station to receive Aditya, who is returning from UK after finishing his studies, Tanuj bumps into pretty and petite Izabelle Leite causing her to spill things from her baggage. Izabelle, along with her sister, has come to spend her holidays in her ancestral home. It is a small town and it is not long before they meet again at a music shop. Love blossoms. But that is not the end of their love story.

Aditya’s love is music and his dream is to one day cut an album. He forms an impromptu band with the Kasauli Cowboys to perform at the local summer mela. That is where Aditya eyes Izabelle and it is love at first sight for him. Love is something he has always been deprived of. His father died when he was a child, his mother is always high on alcohol and he can’t stand his stepfather who is cheating on his mother.

Izabelle realises what is happening. She loves Tanuj and wants him to clear things with Aditya as she sees him becoming obsessed with her. Somehow, Tanuj never gathers the courage to do that and it is strange because in love triangles the one whom the girl loves is always the underdog, under much obligations of the other man. Here, Tanuj has no such obligations and no reason to act like a subordinate to Aditya which he does all through the film. However, Izabelle distances herself from Aditya.

The summer mela has helped two other friends to find girlfriends, one of which is Kashika Chopra. When she becomes pregnant and the one of the five, Param Baidwan, leaves her high and dry and even leaves the group, Aditya helps her and earns some brownie points from Izabelle. The pendulum of this triangle goes through all the routine swings until Aditya sees Tanuj and Izabelle together in bed. This is followed by Aditya taking a leap from a cliff along with his jeep.

Tanuj, who is in the US now, lives with guilt all his life blaming himself for the suicide of Aditya. He avoids coming to Kasauli until his mother passes away and he has to return to complete the rituals and also get rid of the cottage. The past catches up with him as does his love, Izabelle. He meets Aditya’s mother, Sarika, who helps clear his conscience when she tells him that a family feud had led Aditya to take the drastic step and not Tanuj.

This being a film with unknown actors, it should have been a little shorter so as to lessen the burden on the actors. Also, some things become repetitive. Still, fresh faces coupled with scenic locations backed by good cinematography do make it pleasant watch. Direction is fair but some things could have been clearer in the narrative. The film has peppy music catering to youth. Dialogue is not up to mark. Performance wise, Aditya is impressive. He acts well, looks good and holds promise. Tanuj is okay. Izabelle has to look pretty and that she does. She is not taxed with acting. Sarika is convincing. Manoj Pahwa, Rajit Kapoor and others are adequate.

Lack of face value will deprive ‘Purani Jeans’ of a decent showing at the box office.

Kya Dilli Kya Lahore Review............Who Cares!

India-Pakistan stories work when the Indian hero gets the better of the Pakistanis as in ‘Gadar: A Love Story’ or, more recently, in ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’.  Otherwise, it is a drain on the audience’s mind.

‘Kya Dilli Kya Lahore’ is a film about an expatriate Muslim from Chandni Chowk in Delhi (Vijay Raaz), now in Pakistan, and a Hindu one, Manu Rishi, from Lahore, who now lives in a refugee camp in Old Delhi. Both have joined the army of their adopted countries. A day comes when both come face to face in a war zone. Raaz has infiltrated into Indian territory on his senior’s say so to pick a file which contains details of a secret tunnel India has dug from Lal Killa in Delhi to Lahore!! As ordered, Raaz walks into Indian territory and to a camp as if on an evening walk. He is not aware that at that moment, the cabin is occupied by only one person, the camp coo, Manu. Yet he starts shooting at the cabin. Isn’t that rather suicidal in case there are more soldiers inside? And what would a secret file be doing inside a deserted army outpost few hundred meters from the border? But that is how a juvenile this script works.

After initially shooting bullets, a dialogue starts between the two. Manu denies the existence of any such file, so with little else to do they go into a debate on partition: who caused it and who faced injustice. Who lost how much personally leads them to talking about what they had to leave behind and about friendships, no matter if one was Muslim or Hindu, in the undivided India.

The two spend the night talking and carry the film for most of its 98-minute running time. Bonhomie is created between the two and Manu even throws boiled potatoes at Raaz for breakfast. But, after breakfast, enters Raj Zutsi, a vagabond dressed in khakhi aspiring to join the army as an officer. Meanwhile, Raaz finds some bullets and takes Manu by surprise, planning to take him to Pakistan to serve as a cook there. Zutshi thinks Manu is deserting the army and crossing over to Pakistan and takes control of the situation—and then loses control too. By then, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Raaz’s superior also comes for a walk in the Indian land. He kills Zutsi and is about to kill Manu but is killed by his own army man, Raaz, instead.

‘Kya Dilli Kya Lahore’ looks like it was written as a stage play and some temptation made the makers convert it into a movie. It is ancient in its story content. Had it come in, say, 1950, it would have had some relevance to that generation. Both the main characters are not doing this for the love of their country; they are underdogs and doing what they are to make a living. No emotion comes through due to this. Direction is patchy. In terms of production values, this must be one of the cheapest productions with just about four players and a log cabin and surroundings as background. The one song the film has is bad. While Raaz is subdued for a change, Manu does really well. Vishwajeet is fine in a small role and Zutsi goes overboard with his expressions.

‘Kya Dilli Kya Lahore’ won’t find any takers.

Kahin Hai Mera Pyar Review           Audience Kahin Nahi

‘Kahin Hai Mera Pyar’ looks like the outcome of a director who has nursed the ambition of making a film for a long time, has seen many films, especially old ones, and eventually got around to making it. The influences of decades-old films are apparent in its story, scripting, characterisation and treatment.

Abhishek Sethiya is an artist who lives with his younger sister. He is trying to create the painting of his love, the woman he will fall in love with. The painting is not coming through and he is exasperated. One day, he is so angry he spills all his colour tins on the canvas and the room. Out of this shower of colours, a face emerges on the canvas. Now he has a face and he goes on painting her. His sister is making tea for everybody all the time and considering Abhishek keeps making only his imaginary lover’s paintings, it is a mystery where she gets milk, sugar and the stuff for tea. Food is another matter!

Jackie Shroff is a hotel owner who likes to promote young talent and holds exhibitions in his gallery. He offers Abhishek the chance to hold an exhibition of his paintings but Abhishek does not want to exhibit or sell his love and refuses the offer. Like all purane zamane ki films, his sister meets with an accident and money is needed for her operation. Reluctantly, Abhishek agrees to an exhibition and there, when the bidding reaches four lakh, Sanjay Kapoor materialises from nowhere and bids 25 lakh. The villain of the love story which is yet to happen is already here.

Abhishek knows the only way he can find his love is through Sanjay as he would have bought all the paintings only due to some interest in the face. It turns out the girl in the paintings works for Sanjay’s company. He has been very helpful to her family and he wants her to himself. The usual planning and plotting follows to eliminate the hero, because, not only has he traced the girl, now she also loves him.

The film has gone stale in the making and the content would have been stale even fifty years back. Treatment is amateur. Music is passable. Performances are uninspiring.