It's all about not leaving. Review on U Me aur Hum

Hindi films are almost single-mindedly devoted to churning out love stories and have the standard format of hero, heroine and villain. Despite this, their attitude to romance is terribly superficial – the “love” aspect is just the basic ingredient that must take the masala mix forward. There are only a few films that really explore the concept of love and any of its aspects. U, Me aur Hum is thankfully one of these few films. That is not to say that it is a deep film or anything like that. The box office is top-of-the-mind in Ajay Devgans directorial debut. And while he is doing the standard thing of trying to second-guess what it is the audience would like, he also has a pretty good idea of what he wants to say, or rather, show.

The glitz, the glamour, the pretty-pretty locales, the jokes are all added in the traditional formulaic proportions. Just so you actually stay in your seat and “be entertained”. But added to this, he actually has a screenplay, a set of well-developed supporting actors and ultimately, a “hatke” storyline. Everyone agrees a film sells on its emotional factor – Devgan succeeds by pinning his story entirely on this. While other films end with the shaadi, Devgan dares to look at the difficulties involved in staying together, “through thick and thin”. After all that is what love is ultimately. There’s a beautiful story about a boatman who ferries allegorical figures across and asks them what love means – Wealth, Beauty, Pleasure etc all fail to justify themselves. In the end it is Time that wins. It is the act of staying together, through it all, that is the hallmark of love. With this film, Devgan manages to reiterate the obvious and tug at your heartstrings. As manipulative drama goes, this one is really good at what it does.

The film is really stretched in the first half which is devoted entirely to the courtship. It succeeds in retaining your interest all the same because of the unrelentingly brilliant camerawork and the comic scenes. The film has this bright and shiny look to it. The colours are amazing and there is no scene where the cameraman thinks he can take it easy. Normally this is what the big banner films stress on – but there is a boring sameness to them(singing salaam namaste in an Australian sea with a horde of pyts in bright, designer wear). Here the cameraman(couldn’t find out his name) ensures that the angles, the colours, the zooms all bring in a certain mood. It is very creative and still exactly what Bollywood ordered. Close-ups fill up the screen every now and then. And at times there is a comic book division of images. The camera is seriously well-exploited.

The songs are also situational and therefore, interesting. The performances are expectedly good. Kajol as usual lights up the screen with her presence and gives a heartfelt performance. Thin maybe in and designerwear and designermakeup on impossibly young frames - the very basics for the heroine in bollywood. But Kajol manages to flout every norm and come up trumps. Ajay Devgan is sincere after a couple of really bad films. He seems to have jumped back into form. But then its his production.

Ajay Devgan the director has clearly a commercial sensibility. He is loyal to the traditional outlook of bollywood. And at least in this film, he can pull it off too.

Even though superior in most aspects of the hindi film, the film is not a particularly intelligent one. I don’t see an audience with a definite preference for western films, really liking this film. Apparently it is “inspired” from a Hollywood film called the notebook. But this film doesnt look like a mere lift. It is aiming for a wide audience. It takes care that it does not make too fine a point of anything and keeps it simple. Maybe simplistic. Butfrom what I have seen of the kind of films that really work, it can never be too dumbed down. And the fact is, it also succeeds in looking like a film with a message – the usual message that works – believe in love. And since most people really want to do that, this film should work big time.

Devgan the action man, has always been surprisingly good at the emotional and vulnerable role(HDDCS)– this film is sweet and sappy, but in a nice filmi way. Very much worth a watch.