One of the most awaited films of the year, with the terrific pair of Akshay & Kareena, opens with great excitement, whistles and cheers. The viewers are really desperate to see some quality work which can be unanimously acclaimed by both critiques and the general public. But once again, Bollywood delivers a half baked product called “Kambakkht Ishq” which has an enjoyable and entertaining first half but miserably fails to sustain the same energy in the second.
The director Sabbir Khan starts off shiningly and straight away comes to the point. Introducing all the lead characters in the first five minutes only, he brilliantly directs the opening sequence of a church wedding, where Akshay & Kareena have their first verbal clash. From here on you start expecting more entertaining stuff coming down the lane related to the battle of the sexes, but sadly you are not served a better dish later on.
The good news for all Akshay Kumar’s fans is that he is back in form with his impeccable comic timing in the first half. Portraying the role of a Hollywood Stuntman, he is simply superb, fighting with Kareena in his own freak out style, trying to prove the supremacy of men over women. And equally good is the ravishing Kareena Kapoor who tends to burn the silver screen with her electrifying hot persona. In fact Kareena is only one, who truly deserves the title of “Bollywood Diva” among her current Bollywood contemporaries. Her performance in the movie also proves the immense acting talent she has, as expected from a lady from the Kapoor Family.
So, the first half is high on entertainment where you keep on enjoying the scenes even when there is no story being developed. As seen in Akshay’s last successful movies, this one also has no story plot as such and the movie revolves around only an idea of a Hollywood Stuntman having an affair with a hard to convince girl. The second half talks more about the love affair and the emotional misunderstanding between the characters, which unfortunately falls flat as compared to the initial moments of the movie. Though from the scripting point of view, post interval the movie has a very interesting plot where Akshay is hearing “Om Mangalam” mantra everywhere around him, due to an alarm clock left in his body during an operation. But the writers couldn’t develop the hilarious plot for long, which could have been the highlight of the movie. In short, the director loses the grip in the later part, which may have a negative impact on the box office performance of “Kambakkht Ishq”.
Coming to the grand budget of the movie, it had a highly supportive producer who actually spent more than required on the project, to make it look glossy, majestic and larger than life. And the movie does have the Royal look with all those famous Hollywood actors featuring in it for the first time. Though, it gives you a feeling that it was all done for bringing in the international audiences, still the foreign Icons have performed pretty well more than what was being expected. Among the three, Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh and Denise Richards, the most famous in India is THE RAMBO (Sylvester Stallone), who also gets the maximum scenes in the movie. Brandon and Denise are just fine in their short cameos, but Stallone is super cool in his scenes and leaves an impression.
In the supporting cast, Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora play their roles perfectly. Javed Jaffery and Kiron Kher are cast in an underwritten role giving them the same characters which they have already played in many of their previous movies. Boman Irani is completely wasted in a one scene performance and Vindu Singh, surprisingly comes up with a calm comic performance. Annu Malik’s music does have a new sound but the compositions still have his unique Annu stamp written all over them. Out of the numbers being played all over, only the title song by RDB has the right groove and beat to catch on. “Bebo Main Bebo” is not as enjoyable as projected by its promos on air. Cinematography is first rate capturing the Hollywood Studios, Kodak Theater and the grandeur of the subject magnificently.
Talking about the drawbacks of “Kambakkht Ishq”, there are many to state, but since it’s a comic movie made only with an intention to entertain without any social message, so logic has to be kept aside for this particular genre. The movie goes on the similar lines of “Welcome” and “Singh Is Kinng”, having a very weak script but an enjoyable narration with entertaining moments. This time, we have a flick surely better than “Chandni Chowk To China” but still not a clear winner all the way.
However there were some major flaws in the movie which should have been looked upon importantly. Firstly, in a movie based on the life of a Hollywood Stuntman, you don’t find any amazing stunts and action sequences performed by Akshay Kumar. All the fight sequences are too fast, routine and executed in a clumsy manner. Secondly, it was quite strange to find out that Kareena Kapoor is actually there as a professional surgeon in the movie, whereas in all the promotional campaigns she was shown as a Top Model. She only does one modeling assignment in the movie and that too for raising funds to pay her medical fees.
In a nutshell, “Kambakkht Ishq” falls in the same genre of senseless movies, based on a thin plot, made only with a motive to entertain. It is also said to be the remake of a Tamil film “Pammal K. Sambandam” (2002) featuring Kamal Hassan & Simran which was a huge Hit in the south. Regarding its Hindi version, the excited fans of Akshay & Kareena are sure going to have a good time, but the rest may not take it in high spirits. In other words, Akshay is finally, back in form but could not hit a clear six.
Ratings : 2.5 / 5
