Review : Maine pyar kyun kiya

Oh, what a quandary people ! Is MPKK more stupid than silly, or is it more silly than stupid ? What a dilemma – really stressing me out ! Maybe, I should “just chill”. Or better still, maybe I shouldn’t have seen the movie at all (what I do for you, my readers !). I am allergic to David Dhawan’s films generally speaking. But this one is just impossible. Admittedly, it has lots of color, energy, and good songs. What it lacks is a script which can stand on its own, and some rhyme and reason even in a farcical comedy such as this. Anyway, here goes :

Samir Malhotra (Khan) is an orthopedic surgeon. Now, I do believe that the words “Salman Khan” and “Doctor” are oxymorons. Imagining (even for a fraction of a second) Khan in the role of a doctor, is akin to building the Taj Mahal on Jupiter; stretching the imagination this far puts a great deal of stress on already fragile, Hindi movie-fed minds. I digress however – back to the story.

So Salman’s a Doctor, and Naina (Sen) is his devoted nurse-cum-assistant. Dear Doctor is a pure-bred Casanova – chases anything female. And then to avoid entanglements tells the females in question that he’s already married, which causes the women to back off. Not so with current flame Sonia. Samir wants to marry Sonia, but Sonia won’t marry Samir until she meets his wife (talk about a guilt complex !). Samir is in a quandary until he persuades Naina to impersonate his non-existent wife. However, there is no end to Sonia’s demands. Now she wants to meet his children too! And then she wants to witness his divorce proceedings !

Samir’s rather elaborate drama is interrupted by his slap-happy mother’s (Kak) arrival from dear old Punjab. Mom banishes all thought of Samir’s divorce and organizes a honeymoon for Samir and Naina. Naina is a good egg, and suffers through it all. However, soon the jig is up, and Mom retires to introspect, leaving Samir free to pursue Sonia once more. Do things work out ? The rest of the movie reveals all.

OK, people, not to give out spoilers, but this film was supposed to be a comedic romance; you know the ones where the delectable prince realise his true love (the one under his nose all the time) at last. However this movie didn’t turn out that way (no warm, mushy feeling at the end), primarily beacause :

1. The prince wasn’t that delectable
2. The women were way too smart and leggy for this Doctor

I mean Sen looked more the doctor than Salman. And Sen sort of exudes common-sense, which would automatically preclude Salman from the list of prospective bridegrooms, wouldn’t it ? As far as acting goes, everyone did decently enough – as much as the script allowed. The best of all was Sohail Khan (as Pyaare, Sonia’s besotted neighbor) delivering a perky, slap-stick-y performance with natural elan. Rajpal Yadav is wasted in a two-bit role, and Warsi has a few, flitting scenes, as Samir’s equally Casanov-ish friend.

Now, I do agree that with Dhawan-esque comedies you’d be better off not expecting logic and common-sense. However, can there not be a semblance of, a shred of a semblance of character definition? Asking for the moon ? Well, maybe. All-in-all, you might enjoy this one, if keeping your eyes open is all you’re up for. If you’d like more, then MPKK’s not for you.