Main Aisa Hi Hoon

This film is out-and-out a tearjerker. The story revolves around a Ajay Devgan, a mentally challenged man, and his daughter, who has reached the age where she has begun to surpass her dad mentally. Ajay plays innocence personified. He treats everyone as his own, and does not know how to lie. Esha Deol, his long lost love, was never destined to live happily. The happiness she receives from Ajay she finds to be too much to handle after living a dark and lonely life. Sushmita Sen, a top lawyer and a very strong, independent woman, has distanced herself from her son by dedicating all her time to her profession that deals with an ugly face of society. A divorcée, she fights a new battle everyday, in court and in life. Ajay, through his unconditional love, brings out the loving child and innocence in Sushmita. The story is very nice, and characters are well developed, particularly that of Sushmita. Ajay's performance was absolutely fantastic. Sushmita was also good.

Main Aisa Hi Hoon continues a number of recent and not-so recent disturbing trends for Bollywood films. But in the end, it is saved somewhat by decent performances.

Most disturbing is the trend for producing uncredited remakes of American films. This is a remake of the far superior I Am Sam (2001). The copyright law in India must be such that it's impossible or at least not worthwhile to sue for these infringements, but artistic integrity and ethics would suggest giving credit where it is due.

As bad as the ethical problems is the fact that not many of these uncredited remakes are as good as the films they're stealing from. In Bollywoodizing them and sanitizing them so that they're more acceptable to Indian culture, the producers, writers and directors suggest that they often do not understand what made the films work in the first place.

There are a number of such changes in converting I Am Sam to Bollywood that are made to reflect conventional Indian morality and social myths. Here, the main character's one night stand was changed into a very muddled, longer-term relationship; the main character having difficulty coping in normal society was changed into a unbelievable, flawless social support system; questionable philosophical stances built into the system were mostly changed into a vindictive would-be father in law; and an unexpected, budding romance was drained of nearly all development and justification, not to mention that it's capped with a ridiculous bit of plotting at the end.

Other stereotypical stylistic changes were made, too, in order to make this a very non-challenging Bollywood film. Songs were added, of course, and although most of the lyrics are a relatively unusual and thus admirable attempt to say something relevant to the dramatic material, the songs and often the style in which they're performed are almost always sorely out of place. Also, melodrama is cranked up to the point of irritation, often accompanied by ridiculous musical or sound effects cues--Bollywood filmmakers seem to believe that their audiences are so stupid that they will not pick up on anything unless they beat them over the head with it. The concern for adding songs, melodrama and making the film not so controversial for Indian audiences resulted in often forgetting the need to tell a story that makes sense for these characters as they are presented. Storytelling should be the first concern in film-making. Concentrate on that and forget about making a combination soap opera/variety show with pointless "fancy" camera work (such as shots of the main character's house sideways and upside down).

Maybe surprisingly then, the acting in Main Aisa Hi Hoon is actually pretty good. Ajay Devgan is not nearly as convincing in the role as Sean Penn was, but especially as the film progresses, he turns in a moving, heartfelt performance. Sushmita Sen, Esha Deol and Anupam Kher are also impressive, especially in light of the fact that Bollywood actors are usually encouraged to overact rather than turn in a nuanced, understated performance. I also enjoyed the music, even though the breaks in the story to sing a song didn't fit very well.

Still, it's difficult to recommend Main Aisa Hi Hoon. Anyone interested in this story should just watch I Am Sam instead. And please, Bollywood, break some formulas, take some chances, and stop ripping off other films.

The kind of Father, to a drug addicted mother is enough for a court to rule decision in Fathers favour.

The support father has from masses. The love daughter gets from friends never needs a real family. All this also add to rule decision in Fathers favour.

Despite such storyline, the twist at end is unnecessary and ambigous. Thus settling with mentioned stars.

Music is good. A flick well altered for viewing audience.

I know this film is a copy of I am Sam but I have to say this ones much better.I never really thought of Ajay Devgan as a good actor but this film has proved me wrong,definitely. Esha Deol was good in this film and her other movies as well but her mum is ten times better than her. Sushmita Sen was good and I liked the character she played which was a understanding and descent lawyer who helps Ajay Devgan and his daughter. Lilletey Dubey was good and her acting was better in this film than it was in Kal ho na ho.Anupem Kher was good as playing a bad character in this film but he becomes good at the end.The character for Gungun was good and the character who played Sushmita Sen's son in the film was good as well.

Watch this movie if you like Esha Deol and Sushmita Sen. This movie is given substance only because of the female leads in it. Lillete Dubey and Ajay Devgan's daughter have played their parts extremely well. Ajay Devgan is good as usual, but if you really wanted to watch a movie of this sort, you're better off watching the original, I am Sam. However, if you want to watch some seriously good acting in bollywood, you should go for this movie. Esha Deol is getting better in every movie. We can see the sadness and anger in her eyes when she calls her father up on her birthday but doesn't get through to him. She has an extremely expressive face, and definitely has the potential to be a super star like her parents. Sushmita Sen is awesome, like usual. She just keeps getting better. I thought she acted immensely well in Filhaal, but now I think this movie beats that in terms of her acting. Ajay Devgan has always been good and this is just one more feather in his cap. The whole supporting cast has done a good job as well. Yet, even with the fabulous performances, this movie lacks the essential ingredients of a blockbuster. The songs look like they've been forcefully added and, as I stated earlier, you'd rather watch the Hollywood version of this movie. An okay watch if you have nothing to do on a rainy day. Also, the end result of the case and Sushmita Sen's decision seems a tad bit unbelievable, but I guess that's cinematic liberty! I give this movie a 7 mainly because of the acting!