A Strange Love Story

Cast: Riya Sen, Eddie Seth, Ashutosh Rana, Yashpal Sharma,

Milind Gunaji, Raj Zutshi, Snehal Dhabi, Gunjan Bakshi, Ehsaan Khan

Director: Tarique Khan, Sahil Seth

It is surprising to see that a film like 'A Strange Love Story' can actually be commissioned to move ahead from scripting to final execution. One can understand the actors to be consenting to play their respective roles since they are getting to play the lead protagonists when nothing much is happening in their professional career. However for someone to actually finance a film like this which doesn't really promise much when it comes to entertainment, it is nothing but really strange.

Riya Sen is a young Goan girl who comes close contact with an absolute stranger (Eddie Seth). They fall in love and suddenly there are 'jeena marna tere sang' kind of 'kasamein' being spoken around. A murder (of Raj Zutshi) happens in the interim and all evidences point at Ria. However a Crime Branch officer (Ashutosh Rana) feels that both Riya as well as Eddie are innocent. He packs them off to Simla but strange things start happening to the young couple as they start getting visions and presence of spirits all around them. How the mystery is solved and this love story comes to its culmination is the strangest part of this enterprise.

The film never makes up it's mind if it wants to be a horror, supernatural or a love story. Picture this. Eddie gets a call from his dad who conveys to him a shocking truth. However when he passes on the message to Riya, he does so while sipping his coffee as if he was reading the morning newspaper. Later when the spirit comes right in front of them and even goes on to possess Riya's body, everyone just stands there without any reactions whatsoever. Next day morning it is all business as usual all over again as if nothing had happened. This isn't all. Worse is reserved for the end when the spirit decides to leave the duo without much ado. This is where the entire drama just fizzles out and the entire film seems like an exercise in futility.

There are numerous incidents like these which end up killing whatever little impact that the first half of the film had made. Since you watch the film with zero expectations, you don't quite mind the entire build up around the suspense. Riya's visions, warnings from strangers, Ashutosh Rana's strange behaviour, presence of the surreal all of it actually manages to contribute in creating an environment of intrigue. However the motive (when revealed) turns out to be so 'strange' as well as poorly written that you end up wondering if the script was being written on the sets.

Film's cinematography is below average and seems to be suited for a TV serial. Background music is decent. Music though is decent with 'Nede Nede' being the pick of the lot. Acting is uniformly below par with Riya Sen looking good but just not managing to keep her head high in the emotional scenes. Ashutosh Rana is good when playing natural but the moment he is required to go through dramatics, he isn't impressive. Eddie is just not the one whom you want to see again as a leading man. Supporting actors (Raj Zutshi, Yashpal Sharma, Milind Gunaji, Snehal Dabbi) too barely manage to pass muster.

'A Strange Love Story' is indeed a strange film. You keep wondering right through the film what is it trying to convey. Unfortunately even when the suspense is revealed, you are left wondering what exactly was the entire hullabaloo about. There is a semblance of a 'story' but the 'love' element doesn't quite come out well. Yes, it is 'strange' for sure. Nothing is stable in Bollywood and life surely comes a full circle here. What else can you say to the fact that the man who launched Salman Khan is now launching his own son that too against Salman Khan only? Yes, filmmaker Suresh Bhagat who launched the superstar Salman Khan in Biwi Ho Toh Aisi back in 1988 is now pitting the debut vehicle of his son Eddie Seth starrer A Strange Love Story against Salman's Ready this week. Now it remains to see whether Eddie too turns out to be star material or not.

A Strange Love Story as the title suggests is indeed a very strange film too. The film revolves around a couple Kabir (Eddie Seth) and Jennifer (Riya Sen) who get entangled in a murder case with a cop Iqbal (Ashutosh Rana) scheming them right into it. It later turns out that Iqbal is a Jinnat by that we mean a spirit and is in love with Jennifer too! Weren't human love triangles enough in Bollywood? As the time passes by the film keeps turning from bad to worse. So there's a murder mystery, a haunting spirit, romance and comedy (unintentional of course). In a clear case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, A Strange Love Story also takes serious beating in the story courtesy two debutante directors Tarique and Sahil Seth trying to bring in some direction in the film. It totally runs on two different tracks. At times it turns out as a thriller while at times a horror. Much to the irritation of the audience, neither horror nor the thriller makes sense.

The story moves in chunks and gets increasingly slow paced. The episodes aren't only shoddily placed but are also shot with tacky production value. What makes this film crumble even more is the mediocre acting. While Riya Sen is emotion less and dubbed throughout, debutante actor Eddie Seth shows no acting skills whatsoever. He is not only taut but needs serious help in screen presence. Wish if his father's money could better be used in taking acting training first than in having a full fledged film itself. The surprising element is the presence of Ashutosh Rana. Wonder what made him take up such a senseless film. The little said about music, editing, cinematography the better. There seems no effort put in either.