Kuch Luv Jaisa

Cast: Rahul Bose, Shefali Shah, Neetu Chandra, Om Puri, Manmeet Singh, Sumeet Raghvan

Director: Barnali Ray Shukla

Only a week back, Luv Ranjan tried to bring home a fact with his Pyaar Ka Punchnama that women make men crazy for no apparent reason when in love. Well, as if to prove him wrong Vipul Shah comes with Kuch Luv Jaisa this week that teaches every husband a moral lesson 'Never take your wife for granted'. Let's find if any lesson can be learnt from this moral story.

The film begins with a montage of the married life of Shravan (Sumeet Raghavan) and Madhu Saxena (Shefali Shah) which starts with bliss but gradually turns mundane and drab. Today is 29th Feb and Madhu's birthday. To her utter disappointment, apart from her parents, no one remembers this. She has an option to either sulk at a corner for being neglected by her husband, or make the most of it as this day comes once in 4 years. She chooses the latter and embarks on a journey to renew herself. She gets a makeover done and goes to a restaurant to gorge. She bumps into escapist criminal Raghav Passport (Rahul Bose) who pretends to be a detective and things take an adventurous turn. Whether this day becomes one of Madhu's most gratifying one or ends in a disaster is something that forms the rest of the story. The first half of the film does have some pace to it and does bring forward the telltale but things get very sluggish after the interval. You want the ordeal to finish and Shravan to realize his fault as soon as possible which is obvious from the start. Music by Pritam is a major let down wit only one song sounding decent. Editing works seems to have been done only in first half as the whole of the second half appears to be lurking without any correction done on it whatsoever.

The pairing of Rahul Bose and Shefali Shah is definitely intriguing. Their chemistry may not be termed as electrifying but the subtleness of it all touches you. Shefali Shah looks beautiful as a changed woman. But Rahul Bose is a revelation as perhaps for the first time the lad will be heard mouthing dialogged with a hint of Mumbai's tapori language. On the whole, it is a good first attempt by debut ant director Barnali Shukla but can't be termed as a must-watch movie. 'A good idea gone awry'. That's what you end up telling yourself as curtains come down for 'Kucch Luv Jaisa'. As Shefali Shah and her husband Sumeet Raghavan transition from being newly wed to parents of two kids, life takes a different turn. The man of the house isn't really willing to be domesticated while the woman believes that after being well educated, this isn't what she had bargained for. Though the story does remind one of Shilpa Shetty-Kay Kay Menon track from 'Life In A Metro', neither is it well established nor is it as volatile.

This is the reason why even as Shefali steps out of the house and tries to explore a good day for herself, there isn't much sense of euphoria. Yes, there is a scene or two that does get a chuckle. Like the one where Sumeet is being a chauvinist at office even as Shefali goes ahead and buys a car for herself. However even though one expects that the comic element would get well interspersed with drama as Rahul enters Shefali's life, the film surprisingly changes gears to only slow down. Quite a few unbelievable things start happening from here with some of them being extremely difficult to digest. First and foremost the very idea of Shefali tagging along with Rahul to solve a 'detective case' is impossible to follow. The duo continues to stick by each other as Shefali never once doubts that all that's happening around her could well be fake. Worse, Rahul who is on a run doesn't try to make an escape either, save for one instance, and instead spends time in public places and then checks into a resort.

Wait, there is more. Sumeet, despite his wife not answering his calls and a stranger voice on the other side of the phone asking him to stay away, continues to stay in office. Hello, shouldn't you be actually hitting the road yourself and hunt for your wife? Or perhaps inform cops? What follows is further puzzling. Shefali decides to walk out on knowing Rahul's real identity, then changes her mind to drop him back in the city again, returns home for her birthday party, gets dressed in a black saree that makes her teenage daughter exclaim 'You are looking hot mom', have a follow up conversation with her about birds and bees, never quite make it clear whether she is eventually happy or not and then finally smiles for that Kodak family moment.

One factor that turns out to be the best part of the film though is Pritam's music. His songs fill in the background score quite well as 'Naina' and 'Khwab' turn out to be the pick of the lot. Also, the film boasts of a polished look which indicates that there isn't much compromise from the production standpoint even though writer director Barnali Ray Shukla hasn't done much to help the film's cause. Dialogged are quite average and also very confusing at places. Rahul and Shefali are fair without really getting an opportunity to go the whole hog. Sumeet is decent while Neetu Chandra (playing Rahul's girlfriend and seen in a special appearance) hardly gets a scene or two for herself. On paper the very idea behind 'Kucch Luv Jaisa' must have sounded exciting. Unfortunately the film turns out to be hardly exciting courtesy abundance of loopholes. It must be weird to be born on February 29, a birthday you can celebrate only once in four years. To be fair, there are only two people I know who share that birth-date: Morarji Desai and Superman; quite unlikely, we’ll know what either felt about it. The third one, as it turns out, is the heroine in this film. Her rare birthday is also when this day long movie is set.

Her husband, let alone the kids, doesn't appear to remember this special day. She is sad all right. The reasons seem a little deeper. She wakes up in the morning in her great Indian housewife ‘nightie’, figuring out drills of a day that seems to have replicated itself over years. Ms Saxena is a posh Pali Hill “housekeeper” for her husband, “nanny” for her kids, “doctor” for the watchman, “marriage counselor” for the maid Kuch Love JaisaAll these things, when she feels she could’ve done better for herself and not necessarily in the usual ‘I killed my inner dreams’ sort of way. She looks disinterested, in life, in general. You can straightaway tell from her grouchy “hallo” over the phone. She’s given up everything for those who can also make her feel alone on a day she could do without.

A startlingly expressive, still widely under-rated, Shefali Shah (Satya, Monsoon Wedding, 24 Park Avenue), plays the said character. As a middle aged woman, devoted to her family and yet missing something in her personal life, the actor at once exudes the kind of vulnerability and warmth that’s rare to match. All her co-actors pale in comparison. On a good day, you suspect, she could this mainstream cinema’s own Meryl Strep. That day given the one that this film affords her is obviously yet to come. The premise bears tremendous scope still. Unfortunately, the third-rate plot the writers have figured out for her could put anyone to sleep, or strut out. Ms Saxena bumps into a gangster at a coffee shop. She’s not sure who he is. He claims to be a private detective. She decides to drive him and follow a biker around, in such a way that any Dumbo would know they're being followed. She then checks into a holiday resort with him as husband and wife.

Either Ms Saxena is plain stupid or plainly sadomasochistic. It’s hard to tell. That Rahul Bose isn't the said gangster is quite certain. Dressed in crisp white over a grey under-shirt besides the occasional thick twang, and senseless style of eating the actor at no point seems from the kachre ka dabba (dust-bin) he was supposedly born into. The character ‘Raghav Passport’ doesn't believe in God. He believes in “riks” (for risk), and perhaps some unreasonable ones too. That would be correct for the filmmakers as well. The relationship between the housewife and the wanted hoodlum offers neither dread nor drama. It remains flat throughout. You just leave wondering how the basic material still had the makings of a sprightly film. Half-dead, half-written, and of which probably half shot, that film's already been made. Well.