Repentant Rajshri goes drab. Review on Uff Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai

“Chitchor”, “Geet Gaata Chal”, “Tapasya”, “Akhiyon ke Jharokhon Se” – the film company which made some simple but memorable films in the 1970s, graduated to family musical melodramas in the 1990s when the scion of the Barjatya family, Sooraj Barjatya went on to record box-office success through films such as “Maine Pyaar Kiya”, “Hum Aapke Hain Koun” and “Hum Saath Saath Hain”.

Rajshri Films which was set up by Tarachand Barjatya was known to promote new talent in cinema, be it actors, actresses, or directors and musicians. But after the success of hype in the early 1990s, a new mantra was formulated. Their last release “Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon” fell flat – leading to a change in this approach as well. Apparently, this has led to the company retracing its steps back to the days of simplicity and low – profile existence.

Rajshri’s latest offering ”Uff, Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai” however, does not meet the standards set by this esteemed production house.

Characters

Too many for such a thin plot. Doting Dad (DD) is a self made millionaire, has a snooty son (SS), understanding daughter-in-law (UDL) and wide-eyed daughter (WED).

SS wants to send WED abroad for higher education, but WED’s inner voice tells her to go to Shimla instead. No reasons spelt out for our benefit. At Shimla, she resides with DD’s sister-in-law with doctor hubby and cherubic precocious son.

UDL’s chacha and his son (Paunch and Gelled hair – PGH) also happen to live in Shimla. Chacha has an evil eye on DD’s millions and wants PGH to woo WED in college. Sadly for him, WED gets impressed by another classmate (our dancing hero – DH). DH is an orphan who studies in college and moonlights as a Dance Master to kids as well as running a dance troupe. His life’s ambition, believe it or not, is to build, hold your breath, a Dance Academy. DH’s neighbour is a Catholic cookie-maker and her daughter who is also DH’s best chum and dance partner as well.

Uff, kitne characters!!!

Plot (or whatever little there is of it)

WED & DH romance, DD approves of DH despite attempts by chacha to dissuade him. Not to be let down, PGH hatches a sinister plan to get his way. And the lovers are in trouble….

I’ll leave it at that so that any poor soul who will want to venture near this movie, will have something to look forward to. (Just see, I nearly finished narrating the entire plot in 3 sentences flat!)

Performances

Sammir (formerly known as Sameer Dattani), as the Dancing Hero, is endearing. You may remember him as the college kid in the music video, Valentine Day. But he is still too young and a tad gawky, needs to buff up a bit. He dances well and performs confidently, with some luck, should make the grade

For those who like girls with extra long noses, Pooja Kanwal is your type. Her acting is quite amateurish and there does not seem much potential in her as of now.

The rest of the cast is basically an assortment of TV actors – no big names. In fact, the biggest name seems to be that of Sandhya Mridul - she is the only one credited as a “Special Appearance”, so you can imagine!

Music

The music by Sandesh Shandilya is passable, nothing worth remembering. The title track may appear good compared to the rest of the songs. The choreography is reasonably good – particularly Sammir’s dancing.

Direction

With a flimsy plot, debutante director Manoj Bhatia is all at sea. Luckily, Rajshri’s do not seem to have invested much in this venture, going by the absence of big stars and low production values. After their feel-good movies of yore, they had added glitz and hype to give us MPK and HAHK. After the flopping of HSSH and MPKDH, this might have been an attempt to test different waters. But with Uff…too being a failure, I wonder what is next in store?