Humko Deewana Kar Gaye

"Humko Deewana Kar Gaye" is a quintessential romance movie directed by Raj Kanwar which showcases the ever evolving Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. Fans as well as those who have never seen his films before will doubtless enjoy his charismatic performance. He shows sensitivity and strength in his portrayal of Aditya, a man who finds himself more and more captivated by the fragile and determined Jia portrayed by the beautiful Katrina Kaif. The problem is that both of them are engaged to be married to someone else.

Shot on location in Calgary, Canada, the feel of the movie is very Western in many ways with a good amount of English dialogue sprinkled here and there. The music and dances perfectly compliment the budding love story and incorporate both Western and Indian dance. The colorful supporting cast starting with Aditya's fiancée, Sonia (the alluring Bipasha Basu) make the story more realistic by adding a familial dimension to it.

The movie asks an important question. Will family traditions be honored or will love prevail? The answer to that question is to be found in this gem of a Bollywood movie which will show us that love is what truly connects us all.

In an age when Hindi cinema is winning global respect with films like Black, Rang De Basanti and Being Cyrus, one Humko Deewana Kar Gaye is enough to tarnish the image of the entire industry as a place that churns out conventional crap.

What's new about the film one might ask? Absolutely nothing. The same boy-meets-girl story. Both engaged to someone else. Celebration Song! Boy saves girl from goondas. Both fall for each other. Dream sequence love song! The 'someone else' makes an entry at the interval point and takes away the girl. Heartbreak song! And at the end the 'someone else' hands over the girl into the boy's arms. Reunion song! Happy ending? No, a sad beginning! How could director Raj Kanwar at the first place think to start a film on such an age-old clichéd plot? The director claims to have been inspired by some real life story to make this movie. Seems like the real-life story he came across was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. This is the zillionth version of the film in Bollywood.

For how long will the actors indulge in melodrama in the name of performances? For how long will a cinematographer keep revolving the camera during song sequences on cliff ends and mountaintops in the name of scenic photography? For how long will the producer rope in actors for special appearances as surprise elements that no more remain a suspense till the movie releases? For how long will a director regurgitate rotten recipes and yet claim that his film is 'different'? And for how long will the audiences encourage stars rather than performers? The problem with HDKG is it's one-dimensional story. Right from scene one the viewer can predict the next scene without going wrong till the last scene. The screenplay is lousy, long-drawn-out, impractical and simply yawn inducing. The writing (actually the lack of it) is so bland that there are no plot-points, twists or turns in the story that would grab your attention.

Picture this scene where Akshay and Katrina are trapped inside their car stuck amidst snow. Throughout the night they don't get out of the car because the doors are stuck in snow. And as morning arrives, Akshay simply scrolls down the window and gets out. So what was he waiting all night for inside the car? To sing a song in a dream sequence and inflict pain on the audience.

Akshay Kumar makes you laugh in the film. Now that obviously is not a compliment considering that the film is not a comedy but an emotional drama. Now we are so used to see Akshay in comic roles where he mocks melodrama that when he actually tries to be serious in this film, the scene ends up being unintentionally funny. Not that Akshay is a bad actor, but he is surely wasting his potential with such shoddy scripts.

Katrina Kaif gets maximum scope with her screen time and puts in a sincere effort. But then the film has its limitations. Bipasha Basu only gets to flaunt the close up shots of her belly-button in two songs.

And was it goodwill or good money that made Anil Kapoor sign the film? Because there was certainly nothing good about the role! He tries his best but his character is so underdeveloped and ineffective that you feel sorry for the actor. He gets into frenzy over his possessiveness pangs but for the sake of a Bollywood hero, turns typically large-hearted at the end and parts away with his fiancée to reunite her with her true love.

Interestingly the climax of the film traverses the anti-cultural path as against the other mushy flicks in this genre that go on endorsing Indian traditions. But if director Raj Kanwar thinks that he has attempted something path-breaking in this film by showing a married woman leaving her husband and getting back to her ex-flame, he is mistaken. It will take him ages to come in contact with the modern day film-making. His last few films from Andaaz, Ab Ke Baras to Dhai Akshar Prem Ke had nothing new to offer. We would still prefer a Judaai or a Laadla from you Raj ji even if that takes you to remake a south flick. At least that is better than repeating tried-n-tested Bollywood formulas.

The translation of Deewana can have different connotations from crazy to mad. Humko Deewana Kar Gaye lives up to the title with respect to the latter connotation.

Akshay Kumar, India's answer to David Hasselhof, stars in yet another Bollywood melodrama about a doomed love triangle. Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye is one of his least entertaining efforts, mainly due to the fact that the film lacks the action sequences which make Akshay's films bearable.

Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye revolves around a pretty standard love triangle. Akshay plays Aditya, an auto engineer who is engaged to Soniya, a fashion designer. While on a business trip to Canada, Aditya falls in love with Jia, who in turn, is engaged to the rich and powerful Karan. Everything proceeds rather predictably, with Jia and Aditya slowly becoming closer without being unfaithful to their fiancés.

The film is not particularly bad, just overly formulaic and unusually boring. Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye focuses on the developing romance between Aditya and Jai, ignoring the usual action sequences that Akshay is famous for. There is only one fight scene in which Aditya battles three thieves. The musical interludes are also less entertaining than usual. There is a fun musical number in a restaurant when the family drink spiked juice and another hilariously over the top segment in which Aditya and Jia sing while riding a motorbike and dance on top of snowy mountain peaks. Unfortunately, such scenes are few and far between.

In addition to the inimitable Akshay, the cast includes several rising Bollywood stars. Katrina Kaif is lovely as the emotionally torn Jia, while the ridiculously beautiful Bipasha Basu shines as bitchy Soniya. Vivek Shaq also offers some much needed comedy relief as Nawab. Despite these fine performances, the film really revolves around Ashkay and he provides further evidence for being the cheesiest actor ever to grace the silver screen. And yet, I see all of his films. Go figure.

Hum Ko Deewana Kar Gaye is worth checking out on video or DVD, when you can fast forward all of the romantic rubbish and enjoy the hilarious dance numbers.

this film is bollywood's classic love melodrama. in terms of plot it offers nothing new or interesting.

but what is does offer is the fresh pairing of akshay & katrina, one of the positives of the film. director raj kanwar is famous for such melodramatic films and HDKG is no exception. there are many songs in the movie, and they keep irritating. the dialogues are okay, the technical features such as editing and cinematography are okay too, nothing brilliant. this is the type of film females will enjoy more as opposed to males.family audiences will be more suited to this film than others. the music is allover average, Fanaa is a great track and the title song is passable

hdkg gets a mediocre rating more because of the fact that it offers nothing new, rather than the film being bad. i suppose, when you see too much of something, you start looking at it in a bad light??

now to the performances. i have always maintained that akshay has the potential to be the amongst the top. he tries hard in hdkg, and succeeds. it is a restrained performance, another feather in his cap and makes the fact more prominent that hes amongst the best superstars today. katrina is a revelation. she looks great and acts well. a pity that her dialogues are still being dubbed! the rest of the cast are OK.

in the end, the film is bad but isn't good either. watch it if you're an akshay/katrina fans or if love dramas is your cup of tea!

"I think so (sic) it's destiny," groans our hero caught in a love jam that throttles him from both ends. Indeed, we think so too.

Akshay Kumar's films are becoming classier by the month. There's a certain restrain in his presence here. The way he conveys the pain and hurt of an impossible love, is quite surprising for an actor who until recently was counted among the wooden.

Director Raj Kanwar's recent efforts to polish up his act have yielded tepid results. Dhai Akshar Prem Ke and the box office hit Andaz were louder than the lyrical aspirations of their creator.

Kanwar gets it more right this time. The theme of 'love versus obligation' is nothing new to our cinema. Then redemptive hope lies in the treatment. And we aren't let down completely in the way the jukebox- symphony moves forward.

There's a certain elegance in the movement of the mix 'n' match love story. Aditya (Akshay) and Jiya (Katrina) engaged to marry the wrong life partners must move towards that inevitable mutual embrace at the end when the scrambled game of musical chairs finally ends.

In between there are several musical pieces choreographed with an eye-catching élan. One of them filmed in a commodious banquet even has yesteryears' cabaret queen Helen breaking into a sassy jig.

Such moments are well-knitted into the tale of star-crossed love.

Though the film suffers for Raj Kanwar's trademark humbug (superfluous loud Punjabi characters grooving garishly to Bhangra-pop beats, crude gay jokes between Akshay and Mohan Joshi, co-incidences peeking out of an otherwise-smooth narrative ) there's a touch of self-conscious suaveness in the storytelling that goes a long way in keeping the central romance from collapsing under the weight of self-importance.

The initial encounters between Aditya and Jia are deftly visualized. Vikas Shivraman's camera frames the good-looking pair with arresting valentinian vibrancy.

The dialogues, you feel, could've gone easy on the rhetorics. Often-times you feel the lovers, fighting off their respective engagements to court true love, are reading their lines out of an invisible prompter.

But Akshay Kumar-Katrina look terrific together. Akshay's controlled performance spotlights the character's virtuosity in the midst of luscious temptation.

Watch him in that almost wordless moment when his screen-friend Vivek Shouq (in a hideous blow-dyed hairstyle) confesses he was behind the lovers' break-up…Akshay gives a clenched interpretation to a role that doesn't allow him to 'do' much on screen.

Katrina is passably competent in a tailor-made role, giving a mild emotional spin to a couple of scenes. But her inadequacies surface when pitched against Shernaz Patel (in a deplorably minuscule part) or even against Bipasha Basu who, in the brief role of Akshay's ambitious fiancée, brings a fleeting finesse to her under-written part.

But pray, what's Anil Kapoor doing playing Katrina's arrogant self-important fiancé? From the start you know this couple is doomed.

Don't look for surprises in this smooth-and-shiny romance. …Or originality. Bits and pieces from various Hindi and Hollywood creations surface intermittently.

But the queasy limit is the climax where Katrina is stuck upside down in a hit-and-run car. The whole sequence is lifted from this year's Oscar winner Crash..

That's some quick thinking.