Yeh Dil Maange Much more. Review on Aitraaz

The promos of Aitraaz claim ''it is a womans world out there...either you live by their rules or...'' Indeed aitraaz had potential. Heaps of it. After all hollywood rip offs if done well can be very entertaining- case in point hum tum. A rip-off from the Demi-Moore hit ''Disclosure'', Aitraaz is a desi take on this hollywood hit.

So we have Akshay Kumar, who is married to a lawyer- Kareena Kapoor. He is doing very well professionally and has a happy life until his ex-girlfriend Priyanka Chopra (who is now married to his elderly boss) is assigned as Managing director of the company he works in.

Soon Priyanka begins to proposition Akshay, and one day she makes an aggressive advance at Akshay who refuses and walks out. Rejected and humiliated, Priyanka accuses Akshay of attempted rape. Akshay loses his job and is forced to seek legal recourse with his only support being his wife-Kareena Kapoor.

Aitraaz starts of slowly with the first 45 minutes being the routine inane comedy and falling in love routine with the same tuneless songs. Things do manage to pick up when Priyanka Chopra enters the scene. However, the problem with Aitraaz is that it seems that the writers and directors just could not get over the fact that they had the perfect hollywood movie to rip off. They seemed to think that their job ended there so what we get is a half baked movie and a theme that has not been explored to its full potential.

Aitraaz also suffers in the sense, that although it attempts to break new ground, it still contains all the cliches of love at first sight, the woman putting her career ahead of her as evil and vampish. The ideal woman- Kareena Kapoor is the woman who will prepare Chai sacrifice her career and essentially be like a naukrani, and follow her man. A career minded woman will make a bad wife.

Hence, although aitraaz attempts to break new ground and depict a changing society, it still clings on to age-old morals where charectors are depicted as black or white and hence the film?s shock value remains limited to a few dialogues.

Aitraaz also does not even entirely work as masala entertainer. The comedy tracks and romance are vapid. The music unexciting and the picturizations uninspiring. The film needed far more gloss to succeed as a bollywood entertainer and this is quite surprising as Subhash Ghai and Abbas Mustanare known to always offer novel means of packaging. Unfortunately, Aitraaz does not have as compelling a screenplay as Satya. In fact nowhere near it so these things do matter.

More-so, some of the scenes are so crass and pathetic that aitraaz sometimes turns into a comedy show- particularly in the court room scenes. Also, Priyanka Chopra doing a take on Sharon Stone is particularly stupid. Akshay Kumar claiming he has been sexually harassed and molested sounds very corny in the context of the script and in terms of Akshay Kumar's personality in real life.

Aitraaz does have its share of moments though. The last scene where Priyanka is exposed or the scene where she finally attempts to make advances on Akshay leave an impact. Director Abbas Mastaan, have not been able to capitalize on the promise of the theme and hence aitraaz seems to be a half-hearted effort. But they do succeed in making parts of it engaging and make the film watchable although sometimes you are laughing at the expense of the film.

In terms of performances, akshay kumar looks tired and is miscast. I think possibally Aamir and Saif might have been better choices. The problem with Akshay is that his macho personality makes it very difficult for us to believe him to be the victim and hence makes you laugh when he claims to have been ''molested.'' Akshay is not exactly a prolific actor so he really cant go beyond his fixed image. Kareena does not have much scope and is average through out the movie.

The high-point of the movie however is Priyanka Chopra. As the seductress and ladder climbing vamp, she is simply fantastic. Not only does she look heavenly but she manages to make aitraaz eminently watchable thanks to her spunky portrayal that never once goes over the top and yet is highly dramatic. Her devious glances and outbursts bring the much needed spice into the proceedings. It can be said that a large part of the reason why aitraaz does not falter completely is her electrifying performance.

Overall, aitraaz remains a mediocre product. It lacks the avant gard appeal of say Jism and neither the masala glossy appeal of say Abbas Mustan?s ?soldier.?

However, there is no denying Aitraaz is a watchable film. But do not expect too much.

* 1/2