Kambakkht Ishq :: movie review :: Catastrophe

This movie is embossed with stars and wannabe stars. We have Akshay ( Viraj Shergill ), Kareena Kapoor (Simrita Rai), Aftab Shivdasani (Lucky), Amrita Arora ( Kamini) and a slew of cameos from bit part players. The movie is a loose translation/dub of Pammal K Sambandam ( the tamil Kamal Haasan blockbuster) released in 2002. There are elements that have been retained from that movie and parts that have been ignored/modified/fabricated in the hindi version.

The movie has most of its shots in Universal Studios. You have to commend the producers/directors on this one, someone from their team visited Universal and made most of their movie from the shows that occur there on a daily basis. So for anyone that has visited Universal Studios before, "Kambakkht Ishq" is a cheap recreation.. make it poor recreation of the same stunts with Akshay leading the stunts.

My first thought upon 40% into the movie was, i hope Kamal Haasan does not watch this movie, he might just jump off a cliff and i dear hope he doesnt have a rope nearby because he might hang himself... what a waste of money, time and human labor this movie is. Akshay who is at best an excuse for an actor pulls in a horrible job in this one. Thankfully i dont expect too much acting from Akshay and even with that expectation this one is a dud. I almost felt sorry for Kareena, because she has some great talent and potential, but she is wasted and her role neither sticks nor stinks and for that she should be happy. If you come out of the other end of the movie with a shrug of the shoulder reaction for your part, then you have done well.

How you can take such a good, funny concept and turn it into a disaster baffles me. Briefly, Viraj, is a stuntman and does doubles for prominent Hollywood actors. He is a womanizer and is adept at handling relationships without getting trapped into commitments. He finds out that his brother 'Lucky' , against his wishes, falls in the love trap and marries his girlfriend Kamini. Simrita, a close friend of Kamini, lives with her aunt Dolly ( Kirron Kher) and her seperated sister, does not believe in marriage and/or men. Fueled by her perception of her father's role in her parents' relationship freeze, she has grown to disavow men. Against SImrita's wishes kamini marries Lucky.

Simrita tries to convince Kamini that Lucky only needs sexual relationship from her and her views will be proved right if Kamini agrees to abstain from a physical relation with Lucky to see if he still loves her. With the help of 'lover boy' Viraj, Lucky tries to woo Kamini but fails everytime with Simrita at the heart of the thwarting. Simrita, quizzically, takes the opportunity to take shots at stuntman and their inability to become the men. Simrita who is a wannabe surgeon is on the cusp of becoming one with her fulfillment of her assistance in surgeries. An unfortunate event leads to Viraj getting injured and he ends being a patient of Simrita. Viraj refuese to take treatment from Simrita, but eventually she performs the surgery. Upon completion of the surgery and examination of Viraj's XRay Simrita realizes that she left her watch "in" Viraj's body and stitched it up.

Viraj, post-surgery, is able to listen to a Hindu-marriage mantra every once in a while. I have a big beef here, it is shown in the movie that the 'mantar' emnates when he is asleep and when he is peeing in his toilet. I think in the quest to be irritating and funny they took advantage of the accepting Hindu religion, i am not sure the censor board should have allowed the scene, certainly it generated lot more yeeew than wows . To sum up this scene was disgusting to say the least, not even in the zipcode of funny.

Simrita, realising that she had made a mistake, a career-busting one at that, tries to appease and form a friendly relation with Viraj with the idea of getting him back on the operating table, to remove the watch without viraj's knowledge. Simrita, goes to all extremes and even responds favorably - albeit fakely - when she acts attracted to Viraj's love. Viraj proposes and finds out the real reason Simrita was after him. What other events transpire for them to gettogether forms the conclusion.

There are scenes where Slyvester Stallone comes in, i really donno why... and Denise Richards who acts in the same movie as Viraj performs (as stuntman) has some scense as well. I still am at a loss as to why there were so many super imposed images in the movie to make it look like Viraj was in the middle of a Hollywood superstars. I do not get it. I also do not get why this movie is shot in the US, this movie would have attracted the audience if it were made in India, the scenes would not look so plastic too.

Akshay Kumar is who he is, 2 or 3 times a year he will have funny movies released, they may run, they may not, but you can guarantee there wont be much of an effort or attempt to explore new vistas of roles or stories. Another charred, horrible feather to his illustrious cap of bust movies.

I hope Bollywood doesnt embarass itself with too many other clunkers like this one. DO yourself a favor and do not watch this movie, your Rs 200 can be used in other useful ways or if you have to spend that 200 eat a pizza or goto a theme park. There are better things to do than endure this debacle of a movie.

Grade : F -- as in Failure...