Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha

Interesting plots. Kajol as usual did good acting. Good entertainment

A very nice remake of 'French Kiss' for Indian Audiences. Excellent on screen chemistry between the leads, real life lovers Kajol and Ajay Devgan who were married later that year A romantic soundtrack only added to the films' impending success. It would have swept the awards if not for another film called 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'.

Ajay Devgan plays Shekhar a small time crook who's only helping Sanjana (Kajol) at first because he's trying to steal back an item she accidently picked up from him. In the end he tries to help her win back her crooked fiance who is having an affair with someone else. Wouldn't you know it, the kids fall in love. Great visuals, songs and comedy make it a treat though.

Character development is somewhat weak - Shekhar stealing because he needs the money for a family member's operation. Om Puri does an excellent job providing comic relief at times as a cashew chewing cop hot on Shekhar's trail.

Mentionable Scenes: Hostage Situation in the mall and the climax.

Pyaar to hona hi tha ("Love had to happen") is a well-done, very close remake of Lawrence Kasdan's French Kiss for an Indian audience. As such, it's an enjoyable, lightweight, fluffy, if inconsequential comedy which, despite its sometimes garish use of colours certainly has its moments and is at times even better than the original.

Ajay Devgan and Kajol share much better chemistry than Kevin Kline and Meg Ryan (they got married pretty soon afterwards). Devgan's thug is a lot slicker than Kline's, and his moustache is much superior. Meg Ryan played her character in a cute, whiny, bratty way, whereas Kajol is equally cute in a more wacky, goofy way. Jean Reno was pretty good as the police officer, but Om Puri is even better.

Whereas casting and character interplay are actually better in this remake, technically the American original is, of course, much superior. Some of the continuity problems and location inconsistencies are downright annoying. I also don't find the slapstick scenes (like the airplane scene) too funny, but thankfully there's only a few of them.

Overall a very enjoyable movie, especially if compared to the original.

Unoriginal, unconvincing, messy, lacklustre - this film is all of these and more and watching it is really quite uninspiring. The film mostly rests on all the possible cliches of Hindi films and romantic films in general, and every coming move is easy to predict. Technically it is even worse, the subbing is very amateurish, with so many moments where the dialogue does not match the sound making viewers consistently conscious of this persistent flaw. The only saving grace in this film is Kajol - that too, in parts. She starts really well but grows on you as the story progresses. It is obviously not among her best anyway. The music is so-so, with only "Ajnabee" working for me. Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha doesn't work, it's copied, highly predictable, and just lacking in heart.

Anees Bazmee is one of Bollywood's terrible directors. Unfortunately, his even remotely watchable movies are ripoffs. Such is the case with 'Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha' which pretty much replicates every single frame of the delightful romantic comedy 'French Kiss'. It's funny how Bazmee managed to make the Indian and Swiss landscape look like the ones in 'French Kiss's France. The Bollywoodish additions, such as the hostage sequence, the comedy and the dragged out ending are dreadfully cheesy and give the movie a B-grade quality.

Jatin Lalit's music is pleasant to the ears. Most of the songs are visualized well but some of the tunes are ripped off from American songs. The sad version of the title song is snooze inducing. The title song during the opening credits and the two Asha Bhosle-Udit Narayan tracks are the best of the lot.

Where performances are concerned, Ajay Devgan does a decent job. Kajol is superb in most of the movie. One particular scene that stood out to me was when, at Nisha's party, a tipsy Sanjana expresses her defeat to Shekhar with a sad smile and her eyes filling up with tears. She does tend to go a bit over the top with the quirkiness and comedy (unlike Meg Ryan who does it more naturally). Om Puri lacks the slickness that Jean Reno brought to the character. Kashmira Shah is wonderful.

The execution is quite amateurish as Bazmee merely copies Lawrence Kasdan's film. The editing is quite abysmal and what the hell was Bazmee thinking in including the atrocious action sequences? The cinematography in the song sequences is adequate.

That's about it. 'Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha' is just another lousy ripoff on a tall pile of Bollywood's unauthorized miserable remakes.