Main Aurr Mrs Khanna

Loving couple Samir (Salman Khan) and Raina (Kareena Kapoor) experiences marital troubles when Samir looses his job. They decide to move from Melbourne to Singapore where Samir hopes to restart his career. Certain things happen, and as a result Raina remains behind in Melbourne, with Samir promising to return for her. She takes a job and makes new friends, one of which, Akash (Sohail Khan) falls in love with her. With the help of his friend Arsh (Yash Tonk), Akash sets about to woo her and discredit Samir.

This romance has a good, if predictable, plot that nicely combines humor with drama. The songs are good, some especially so. Kapoor is sometimes stiff, but Sohail Khan has good energy and gives a good performance. Salman Khan's role is brief and two-dimensional, and he doesn't give much emotion to it. On the whole, while it's not an exceptional film, it gives good entertainment.

Special appearances by Preity Zinta and Deepika Padukone.

Watching a romantic comedy from Bollywood is a bit like reading a novel written entirely in purple-prose. Whether comical or sentimental, every emotion is ramped up to roof-rattling volume, with the endless song-and-dance sequences serving as parenthetical expressions, and the grating, out-of-control soundtrack adding what is the sonic equivalent of exclamation points along the way.

"Main Aur Mrs Kanna" - a seriocomic tale of a rocky marriage and a third-party friend who tries moving in on the wife - features all the accoutrements listed above and then some, meaning that if this sort of thing is your cup of tea, you might indeed enjoy the experience. If it isn't, it's probably best to just pass it on by.

How often we get to see Salman minus his childish histrionics? How often we get to see heroine not just limited for the glamor quotient? How often we get to see Sohail Khan doing a controlled acting. Not so often, right? Well apparently this film is the answer. A soft romantic melodrama without many ups and downs and still at the end leaves a smile on our face.

Rehna(Kareena) is an orphan who falls in love with Samir Khanna(Salman) and gets married to him against the wish of his parents. They are settled in Melbourne, Australia. When life takes a down stride Samir is left with no option but to send Rehna back home to Delhi and himself to leave to Singapore for getting a good job. Rehna when comes to know about his plan, stay back in Melbourne. It is her wait for Samir and what happens when another guy (Sohail as Akash) who loves Rehna, comes in between them.

The story- A feel good story which has got its own moments but still under developed. They could have worked more on this part.

Acting: - Salman as struggling, romantic (usual childish act) and cool Samir was a treat to watch. He just rocks. Kareena lives as Mrs. Khanna. She has matured a lot from the bubbly girl image. Sohail is cute and his acting is controlled. Priety Zinta was there just for a song. Deepika Padukone, in a surprise cameo, looks stunning. Rest of the cast is OK.

Music & BGM - Music by Sajid - Wajid is strictly OK. May be the younger generation will like it. BGM suited the mood of the movie.

Direction and Script - Prem R Soni's debut holds a promise for future. May be he will be the next Imtiaz Ali. I felt so. Script doesn't offer many ups and downs or dramatic situation like a usual Bollywood movie. Still it could have been edited out to avoid some unnecessary elements like Priety's cameo and all. Characterization could have been reworked as well. Also he should have taken more caring while showing Dubai as Australia in some scenes Over all a an OK attempt from a first timer.

Verdict - Will be a multiplex hit.

At times after watching a movie you just have one thought in the mind that why on earth this movie was made in the first place. What was the creative team thinking while working on this project and how did they come up with an idea of making a complete movie on such a thin, rotten and completely uninteresting plot. "Main Aurr Mrs Khanna" is the latest example of such a movie which fails to impress miserably from its first scene itself and falls flat.

The story is about a husband and wife, who are parting for some time to gain more financial stability in the future. The wife has to stay alone for the same and within that time period she establishes new friendly relationship with people who help her in finding a new job. On his return the husband starts the same old games of suspicion and then after certain usual clarifications it all ends on a happy note.

In the new age period of 2009, it's really strange and courageous of the film-makers to even think of conceiving a film on this subject. May be the narration was quite different from the final product and that may also be the reason why there was not a huge promotional campaign planned for this Salman Khan starrer after the success of his "Wanted". It seems that the makers already knew that they have a loser in their kitty.

The film starts on a confusing note, with no proper explanations about its key characters, their origin or their work. The viewer keeps guessing how Salman has failed in the business and how he later suddenly succeeds and returns as a rich man just like that. Till intermission the movie keeps moving on its own as if it is not even concerned about the viewer's interest. And on the top, post interval you are straight away given a song to watch which comes from simply no-where.

To build up the plot, Sohail Khan unrealistically tries to break the loving couple of Salman & Kareena with his silly and unconvincing efforts. He deliberately tries to become the other person in Kareena's life, even when she never gives him any hint in that direction. And that was completely incompetent stuff from the writing department after the intermission. Moreover introduction of a new girl (Deepika Padukone) in the end, who becomes Sohail's fresh love interest was also an old surprise trick seen several times before in many similar love stories.

In the acting department, Kareena tries hard to keep the viewer's interest alive but doesn't get the support of her writers. Salman looks a bit tired and too casual in his husband act. Sohail Khan simply repeats himself as usual. Mahek Chahal, Yash Tonk & Nauheed Cyrusi have got nothing much to do in their short roles. Dino Morea is just there for a few minutes. But Bappi Lahiri, who has a full fledged role in the movie is cool and nice to see with all his gold chains around the neck as his trademark.

Sajid Wajid's music has got something to enjoy as a soundtrack alone. However their few melodious songs could have been used in a more deserving way in some other project. Cinematography is fine capturing the foreign locales, but writing is the weakest department in the movie, coming up with bizarre dialogues such as, "I have bought a star from NASA as a Gift for you." Now what was that supposed to mean?

On the whole, I strongly believe that with such huge stars supporting his project, director Prem Soni should have thought of another fresh subject altogether for his first movie. In real terms, the only entertaining five minutes in the movie are with Priety Zinta dancing with the entire cast in a peppy item song having the right punch. But that alone will not be able to bring huge crowds in to the theaters in this festive season.

This is not a film I can recommend. For the record, I fled during the interval. Ever since his first notable appearance in Maine Pyaar Kiya (his debut, if I recall correctly, was in another film), Salman Khan has always been a Star, inspiring millions of fans- of both sexes- to dizzying heights of frenzy. Yet- and this is a fact even his fans, should they decide to look at things objectively, would find difficult to deny- he doesn't have the faintest clue about acting.

His directors- Sooraj Badjatya and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, to name two- have always known this: in two of his biggest best films (Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam etc.) all his characters are required to do is to look dashing, smile and make at least one big selfless sacrifice; they are, however, rarely expected to act.

In Wanted: Dead or Alive (playing in theaters now), Mr Khan does an Arnold, not an Aamir (a la Ghazni): actions speak louder than words. Not only does he not have many dialogues to deliver but his role doesn't even require him to appear romantic (the wooing, in this case, is also left to the girl so that he can get on with the more important business of disposing the villains in highly imaginative and bloody ways). Likewise in his comedy films, in which he is part of a larger ensemble, loud slapstick (scatological jokes and farts not excluded) compensates for the lack of acting.

Having said that, all of these films have worked- marvelously so- not despite but precisely because of this: people don't go to a Salman Khan film to see acting; they go to worship their Star. And that- more than anything else- is the reason for Mr Khan's iconic success. It's a pity then that his own brother, Sohail Khan, who acts and directs this film, doesn't seem to realize this. By putting the burden of acting on the Star, he has ended up making a very bad film, which rather than celebrating his brother's stardom only ends up bringing out his deficiencies as an actor. Even Ms Kapoor seems to realize this: she is quite the misfit in this company of complete non-actors, and I couldn't help feeling that the only reason she did this role was as a personal favor to the Khan fraternity.

Even Mr Khan's die-hard fans might be slightly disappointed: his efforts at acting make him look tired and it is all to clear that India's Star has, like the rest of us, grown old. Worse, attempts to disguise this fact with a hair-transplant and bigger biceps only tend to make him look hopelessly desperate.

Perhaps Main Aurr Mrs Khanna will make him realize the virtues of aging gracefully à la Amitabh Bachchan & c- and much more importantly, help him come to terms with the fact that it's too late for him to be taking up acting. Mr Khan would do well to remember that once a Star, always a Star- and if he does try to act, then all that film might hope to get is One Star (on a 5-star rating scale)!