Kismat Konnection

Seriously not a product you would expect from somebody who has strings of hits to his credit namely Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Yes Boss, Chalte Chalte and my favourite Phir Bhi Dil Hain Hindustani. Clearly the midas touch is missing. After watching the first few reels, one can walk out and confidently write a review (like me here!). The idea is pretty stale – probably belonging to the roaring 70's (Sanjay Chhel, how did you manage to market the lousy stuff?).

Aziz Mirza's Raju Ban Gaya & Yes Boss contributed towards numero uno status for SRK and with the same hope Shahid Kapur gives his best.

Hey Baby, you need some serious advise on fashion ie. Vidya Balan at her awful best.

Vishal Malhotra as a side-kick is becoming monotonous in his la Rajendranath roles.

Om Puri is wasted.

The lucky mascots donning the narrators and fortune teller hats don't help either ie. SRK and Juhi.

Music by Pritam is good with a few catchy fusion mix numbers.

There is no good reason to base the story in Canada. Any city from India would do. Old age home idea is plagiarised from Lage Raho Munnabhai.

PS: Will I finish the rest of the movie? Hope not!

Though many reviewers had given negative reviews it's not that bad..it was fresh and storyline was new to some extent.. Shahid and Vidya Balan's acting were plus point.. specially people who are fans of young Shahid they would like this movie..he was successful in maintaining his young choclate hero image... songs are pretty good..it's typically made for young viewers..so there is no point of comparing Shahid and Vidya's chemistry with Shahrukh and Juhi's chemistry... whenever people will watch a movie preoccupied with some old movies or some others actors they are not going to enjoy the movie..so watch the movie as totally new movie with a free mind..

Clichéd. Very clichéd.

Those expecting a romantic extravaganza akin to Shahid's Jab We Met will be very disappointed. Nothing about the movie clicks. The comedy is non-existent. The storyline is predictable and the portrayal is mediocre.

The beginning of the movie although not very promising was at least decent. The first half is light-hearted and raised expectations. But the second half is lengthy and stretches on, much to the impatience and frustration of the viewers. Even the twists and turns were stereotypical and had nothing new to offer. The songs were good and refreshing. The acting was OK. The chemistry between Shahid and Vidya was not very good. All in all it is not a movie worth wasting your time and money on.

A lousy effort.

Finally, after many months, I climbed on a bus and went to see a movie in its first release weekend. A number of things drew me to see it: Jab We Met was a good movie, so I wanted to see if Shahid was continuing his momentum. Wanted to see how Shahid and Vidya worked together. And was drawn by stories I read about Juhi's role.

Well, Juhi was just great. Boman Irani had a cameo role and was appealing. Om Puri did his role flawlessly. Shahid and Vidya do make a dandy couple, maybe not QUITE Shahid and Amrita, but very good.

My problems were really with the screenplay. It was very uneven to me. In a few moments I thought it very good. But in a lot of moments I thought it was not well written. They were trying for zany comedy and didn't quite make it.

So its hard to give it a rating. I felt the cast tried very hard to make an inferior screenplay great. But I just didn't come away feeling the way I did after other recent movies like Jab We Met. So 6/10.

Aziz Mirza makes a comeback with 'Kismat Konnection'. I've always liked his films, especially those starring Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, because they have a unique charm and quirkiness and I love the fact that the story of his films usually revolve around the common man and his problems. 'Kismat Konnection' isn't exactly an original idea. The script draws inspiration from Hollywood films like 'Three To Tango' and 'Two Weeks Notice' but it's not a scene by scene ripoff.

This time Mirza introduces a refreshing pair: Shahid Kapur and Vidya Balan. Kapur's Raj Malhotra has Shahrukh Khan written all over it and the actor acts almost exactly like Khan minus the raw energy and natural spontaneity. If Shahid is copying Shahrukh's acting style, he's doing quite a passable job of it but a copy will always be a copy. I almost gave up on Vidya Balan after seeing her ghastly performances in 'Bhool Bulaiyaa', 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' and 'Eklavya'. However, here she's a lovely surprise. She plays Priya quite well. Aside from her wardrobe, she looks good too. The two share a good chemistry.

Of the supporting cast pretty much everyone does a good job. Juhi Chawla clearly stands out. Her scenes provide some of the best LMAO moments. I still can't get that scene out of my head, where she, as the semi-stoned psychic Haseena Bano Jaan, tells Shahid's Raj 'Shake those booties, babe'. I usually find Om Puri terrible in comedy but here he and Himani Shivpuri are fun to watch. Vishal Malhotra gets a decent role this time and does an adequate job (but sometimes he's a little over the top).

As a whole, 'Kismat Konnection' works to an extent but unfortunately, it does not reach the levels of Mirza's earlier films like 'Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman', 'Yes Boss' and even 'Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani' because of the following reasons:

1. It's shot in Canada. What made Mirza's previous works likable was that they were set in India and concerned common problems of the ordinary man but in this film, it is presented like just another NRI story when it could have easily been set in India. Thus, some of the charm is lost.

2. Not to put down their performances but even though Shahid and Vidya share a good on-screen rapport it's no match for the on screen magic between Shahrukh and Juhi. Perhaps the two newer actors will improve with time if they work together more often.

3. Mirza's films were also known for their awesome soundtracks and the lovely visualization of the songs. However, he's picked one of the worst music directors for this film and as a result 'Kismat Konnection' suffers. Not only are most of the songs horrendous, their picturization is unimpressive and they really slow down the pace.

4. Dialogues were another strength in his movies and 'Kismat Konnection' has plenty of those. But, Shahid's monologue in the end gets too political and a little out of touch when he starts talking about global warming and corruption. I understand that the writer's intentions weren't ill but it just looks out of place and a crucial scene like that needed strong but to-the-point lines.

Yet, even with the flaws 'Kismat Konnection' is quite an alright flick. For me, even a bad Aziz Mirza film would be worth watching and this one ain't so bad.