Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic

When I happened upon "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" at my local library, knowing nothing else about this film beforehand, the DVD presentation caught my eye as a good bet for an undemanding evening's entertainment: a simple light-hearted nanny story along lines of "Mary Poppins" or "The Sound of Music", presented by a solid star cast (Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan, Amisha Patel) whose work elsewhere I have much enjoyed.

How could such a project -- with so many good things going for it -- go so terribly wrong?

"Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic", however, disappoints in every way.

The script/dialogues were so stale and hackneyed the writer should be shot at dawn.

The director (Kunal Kohli) was asleep at the switch. Or so obsessed with packaging a 'commercial' project from tired formulae that he disregarded any concern with sense or quality.

['Commercialism' didn't work. The film lost money bigtime, anyway.]

Casting? The four children (who looked completely unalike) cast in the key roles as the four orphans at the heart of the story have to be THE least engaging, THE least talented, even THE least 'likeable' child actors I've seen in any movie for many years ... such completely unappealing, even outright repulsive children, that while watching this movie I found myself actually thinking the dead parents had had a lucky escape!

Rishi Kapoor's cameo appearance as God -- and a strangely ineffectual god at that, whether large or small "G" -- was a complete throwaway, underwritten and charmless.

What bothered me about this film most of all, I think, was the fundamental 'meanness of spirit' that pervaded the whole movie ... a meanness, even open maliciousness, that felt especially out of place given the genre and context.

Even music by the normally gifted Shankar Ehsaan Loy couldn't save this turkey.

"2" rather than "1" (IMDb's lowest possible rating) purely to credit actors Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amisha Patel, and Sharat Saxena for their brave efforts, through individual performance, to try bringing anything useful whatsoever out of their poorly conceived and badly written characters in this hopelessly failed story.

Kohli makes sure that 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic' appeals to children. It's got all the required elements: fantasy, fairy, fairy-tale story, kids etc. Adults may enjoy it with their kids but otherwise there's a lot about this film that needed improvement. Yet, it remains a tad better flick when compared to other Hindi films of this genre, such as 'Koi Mil Gaya' (ugh!).

At this point, I can't say that the story is a start-to-finish ripoff (even though it feels very familiar) but it's not very original either. Kohli takes a lot of ideas from films like 'The Sound of Music', 'Nanny McPhee', 'Mary Poppins', 'Rent A Kid' and even the TV-series 'Heroes'. The movie is a little too sugar-coated for my liking but then again, kids like this kind of stuff. Some of the characters suffer from poor writing and what was the point of the butler (Razak Khan in a different avatar)? Since when did Indian business tycoon's even have butlers? Even the love story between Ranbir and Geeta is rushed. Actually, at many points the story is downright ridiculous. I mean, what was with the judge forcing the kids to be raised by their parents's murderer Ranbir?

On the technical front, it scores low and this is where 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic' suffers. A fantasy film needs to create that fantasy feel but due to the poor special effects (it looks almost amateurish), ancient animation, unimpressive songs and flat cinematography fails to involve the viewer in its world. I wonder why the animation looked so old fashioned in this film when Kohli did a good job with it in his second film 'Hum Tum'. Considering that Yashraj productions was behind funding this film, one would have expected it to look better. Even in a lesser budgeted movie like 'Bhoothnath' the technical side is well taken care of.

Saif Ali Khan does an okay job with what he's given but the transformation in his character seems rushed, choppy and of course, very hard to believe. The director fails to show why he suddenly transforms from this cold unfriendly man to a caring guardian. Not only that, but he also teaches the children life lessons that he never applied those to himself. Perhaps we are to assume that he was initially trying to be kind to the children out of guilt. Amisha Patel seems to get typecast as the annoying bimbo (she played a similar role in last years 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd'). She fits the caricature well. The annoying Rishi Kapoor acts drunk. The child actors are the 'usual cute kids' you see in Yashraj films but these ones actually do try to act instead of just being cute. Now the magic of this film is clearly Rani Mukherjee. She plays the part as if it was written for her (perhaps it was). She acts her part very naturally providing excellent comic relief from the sappy moments but at the same time, the character is unidimensional.

The sad thing is that 'Thoda Pyaar Rhoda Magic' could have easily been a better film technically, given the financial resources of Yashraj productions (or perhaps they suffered a little too much from their last couple of flops?) and content-wise, had the story itself been a little more real without the excessive sugar and ridicule. You can watch it with kids in the hope that they'd laugh or watch it with adults who'll laugh for the wrong reasons.

Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic is similar to films like Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke and Marry Poppins. The film basically offers nothing new unless you didn't watch these two films you could go ahead and give Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic a try.

After films like Hum Tum and Fanaa, it was quite disappointing from Kunal Kohli to come up with an ordinary product. Although he manages to extract good performances from the child artistes, he could've come up with a better storyline since its nothing new.

The songs are just about average; Lazy Lamhe stands out amongst the rest of the songs and the music video is well-shot, although too sensual for a kids film.

Saif Ali Khan is good and fits the part perfectly. Rani Mukerji is cute as the angel, but her role is not very demanding. Ameesha Patel is remarkable as the airhead bimbo. She looks sizzling in Lazy Lamhe. Rishi Kapoor is good, but his role is not very demanding, again, for an actor of his seniority. The child artistes are excellent, especially Rachit Sidana.

All in all, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic mainly belongs to the four kids. A decent entertainer! Kids will probably love it.

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Simplistic in its premise and basic in its treatment, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic is what you could call a 'by-the-book' children's film. It's predictable every step of the way, but it's still an easy watch because the kids at the centre of this story are so endearing, they suck you into their story even though their story itself doesn't throw up any surprises. The gags are old-fashioned, and the special effects rather ordinary, but despite the shortcomings the film works because it's never contrived. Sure it tends to get preachy at times, but Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic has its heart in the right place. And in this age of such mindless children's entertainment as violence-themed videogames and comedies filled with sexual innuendo, a simple good-natured morality tale is not such a bad thing after all. What Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic could have done without, is that inappropriate Lazy Lamhe song with the camera lingering lovingly on Ameesha Patel's every curve. Also the film overstays its welcome when it drudges on for a good 15 minutes after the kids have resolved their issues with Ranbir Talwar. The romantic track between Ranbir and Geeta seems obligatory at best, and it doesn't help that Saif and Rani have zero chemistry together. In director Kunal Kohli's Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, four kids who have lost their parents in a road accident are packed off to live with the man responsible for their parents' death. Saif Ali Khan plays Ranbir Talwar the hard-nosed businessman who opens his home to the kids, but can't seem to reach out to them emotionally. Of the cast, Rishi Kapoor is wasted as the Lord up there, saddled with a role he can't seem to make head nor tail of, drifting through his lines mechanically. Heaven too, seems like an odd place, populated as it is by angels who behave more like witches, bickering and bitching each other out. Surprise, surprise, Amisha Patel is spot-on as Ranbir's bimbo girlfriend, stealing every scene that she's in. Meanwhile, Rani Mukherji as Geeta is surprisingly a little out of form. But that has more to do with her poorly written role than it does with Rani's at-best-satisfactory performance. It's a shame, the writers fail to exploit the actress' natural charm and invest some of that charm into her role. Saif Ali Khan slips naturally into the role of the nostril-flaring Ranbir Talwar. Saif invests sincerity in his character, making him vulnerable and endearing. But Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic is about the children, and the actors in those roles perform exceptionally. All four kids play their parts convincingly, and for a film about kids pestering the living daylights of a grown man, surprisingly you never once want to wring their necks. Of the four child actors, I have to single out little Rachit Sidana who plays Sardar kid Iqbal – he is so adorable, so fragile, your heart goes out to him spontaneously. Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic is not great cinema, but it's a completely watchable children's film. As a movie it's just about average, but bonus points for the kids who keep your interest alive throughout.This one's strictly for the kids, it's an enjoyable one-time watch, you won't complain.