Film: Kya Love Story Hai

Director: Lovely Singh

Producer: N R Pachisia

Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Ayesha Takia, Karan, Sujata Kumar

Rating: 1.5/5

Debutant director Lovely Singh’s venture Kya Love Story Hai is pretty much a run of the mill film. The concept has been shot, stabbed, hung and bashed a million times over. Despite the mundane storyline, however, Singh does a good job, for he obviously knows his craft.

This love triangle of a story involves Arjun (Tusshar Kapoor), a carefree individual who has all the money to burn in the world (his parents left him a fortune before their demise). It is not until he meets Kajal (Ayesha Takia) though that he mends his ways, but does not confront her with his feelings. Kajal, a management student, has a game plan of her own. She lives with set notions of the person she would want to settle down with.

On the other hand, self made man Ranveer Oberoi (Karan Hukku) is too busy building an empire to be bothered with the grittiness of life. He throws his weight around until he meets Kajal. Life turns full circle for each one of the characters as they discover their destiny and the path they need to follow to attain their love.

The entire film has been shot in Cape Town, and manages to capture the beauty of the South African city excellently. The director certainly does well ensuring the locales are well thought of and each scene captures a different perspective of the place. The only issue with the direction is the use of extreme close up shots of the actors (which happens pretty frequently through the film), and they are highly unflattering.

However, it is the script and dialogues of the film that are a huge letdown. They are sub-standard and there is an evident lack of imagination in coming up with original lines. For example, what does the boss mean when he tells Takia, “I’m proud to meet an Indian like you.” Even the humour is in bad taste; the banal joke on Yash Chopra was not only uncalled for, but also fails to generate any laughter.

While the script has its follies, the music is not phenomenal either. The songs are the typical dream sequence, event performance type that completely snap you out of any sense of connection you might have remotely felt with the film.

Barring Kareena’s (special appearance for a dance number) track there’s nothing that stands out, even the background score is dull and does nothing to amplify the emotion or characters’ presence in the scene.

The editing nevertheless is neat, with the exception of the split screen shots and the time lag shots (jump cuts) that seem a trifle bland. Production values on the whole, are good and each scene seems well lit and digitally enhanced to look appealing. Here, I must mention that the styling for each character, especially Ayesha Takia, is extremely well done (there is no over the top feeling, and at the same time, looks screen worthy).

Now a thing of two about the actors – Ayesha Takia manages a good performance. She would have certainly done a great job had the scriptwriter come up with better lines. She carries off her part with great ease and the angelic innocence works in her favour. Kapoor makes you cringe in your seat, since the film is more about him than anyone else (there is so much of him in the film, it is not funny). His performance borders on average. Karan Hukku provides the entertainment you long for. He, at times, does his job well, while at times, reminds himself that he is acting for the camera. The few pouts and eyebrow twitches are highly amusing, reminding you of one of those health magazine photo shoots.

The characters who kill the film completely are Kapoor’s two friends, who with their pointless humour, strangle the film until it can breathe no more.

The film is well shot; however, the spunk of a love story is missing. This is mostly due to the script and the rest, due to the mediocre performances of the actors. Expect it to do an average collection at the box office, just to be displaced by next week’s release.

Kya Love Story is certainly far better than the current releases, but is still not worth spending that safeguarded money (and that pretty much summarises these week’s releases as well!).