Apr 12, 2008 01:37 PM
1942 Views
(Updated Apr 12, 2008 01:54 PM)
Let me begin by talking a little bit about my (now former) beliefs. I've always thought that the uglier your mug is, the more developed you are in your upper stories (le brain).
Look at pint-sized Aamir Khan for God's sake! And...a mug cannot get uglier than our own Devgans.Also, since he got the hot chick, I was convinced this guy had ... something. Not style or looks to be sure, but...a little grey matter perhaps?
Turns out I was ... WRONG! For the past month, I'd been telling my husband that I wanted to watch U, Me aur Hum. So when. THE weekend finally arrived, he asked me, multiple times, whether I was sure I wanted to watch U, Me aur Hum. That was the window of opportunity...he had a feeling the movie would be crap, and was giving me a chance to see that. Needless to say, I didn't.
The story is about a guy (Ajay) who meets a girl (Kajol) on a luxury cruise and falls in love (big surprise there!) A few pick up lines and tears later they get married (who would have guessed?!?). She gets Alzheimer's (at 28!) and he spends every day of the rest of his life telling her their entire love story so she would recognise him. That's it! Really!
The first part of the movie is chock-full of clichés of the dumbest kind; the second part consists of insipid sentimentality punctuated by Kajol's banshee screams and a string of inane songs...in bad taste and not at all in keeping with the theme of the movie or the storyline.
I'm not underestimating the trauma that families of those suffering from Alzheimersgo through. But as my mom-in-law (who suffered through the movie with me), a doctor, will tell you, Kajol over-acted, had too much self-awareness for a patient of that kind, and no specific mental illness. In the movie, Alzheimer's is used as a blanket terms for four or five different mental illnesses, including schizophrenia with manic attacks...
Some observations:
- I believe Ajay Devgan missed out on his childhood. His debut film as a director is full of tasteless childish content. For eg., the couple share an apartment where, they have, in a 6 year old's cursive a wish list. I'm not against idealism or dreaming (anyone who knows me will say I'm the biggest idealist of them all), but, my God, it made me cringe to see both the content and style of that awful wish list.
- Before Mrs. Make-up-CAKED-face becomes a raving loony, she maintains a book of possibilities! This is not, as the name suggests, an endeavor at intellectuality...rather a silly scrap book with pictures of her sad family and her hopes...It looked like the work of a 10 year old!
- Throughout the movie, Ajay Devgan, supposedly a psychiatrist, looks like a Tapori (of the kind seen on Mumbai railway platforms). Orange highlights, open pores much too visible on that mug, unhealthy pallor on his leathery over-exposed skin...and I could go on and on...I'm not against ugly, but I'm sure there are techniques to make ordinary people look beautiful onscreen. They did it with Aishwarya, they can do it with Ajay...and his wife!
Even though I love a bit of exaggeration now and then and have a flair for melodramatics, this review is the truth, nothing but the truth and ONLY the truth.
I would not recommend this movie to anyone...it's a waste of time, and depressing to boot.
Give this movie a miss!
