No fizz in this bubbly!. Review on Bunty Aur Babli

To be honest, I was eagerly awaiting Bunty Aur Babli, especially 'cos:

1. The promos looked cool

2. The Rani-Abhishek pairing is really sweet

3. My instinct said this was going to be the 'Hum Tum' of 2005

sob* I was wrong....so so wrong :S

The movie begins on a boring note....a song which means nothing, which is good if you've reached the cinema hall late (as I did), but otherwise does nothing to keep you engrossed.

After the boring song, come a few cliched boringly-treated scenes about how Rakesh (Abhishek the Milkshake) and Pimmi (or was it Simmi) are stuck in lives that they hate, and surprise surprise....decide that running away from home is the best solution. Milkshake wants to become a Tata-Birla kinda tycoon, and Pimmi dreams of becoming a supermodel.

At this point you think...oh NOW it's gonna gets interesting!

Sorry. No such luck.

The two decide that they need to con someone if they want to reach and stay in the city of dreams (Mumbai, of course!) So they do...once, twice, thrice....until they've managed to shoot a scene or two (and songs! Don't forget the songs!) at all the railway stations around the country before you see the glorious shot of VT station. But by now, they've dropped all their aspirations and decided to become small town theives, thanks to a bunch of regional newspapers that apparently turned them into overnight heroes!

Enter Amitabh Bachchan, whose sole aim is to find these two (who renamed themselves Bunty and Babli when they were in the mood for mischief!)....the rest of the film is a cat-n-mouse chase, interspersed with songs that are indistinguishable from one another, a totally weird dance performance by Aishwarya Rai, a storyline that dips and rises inconsistently and a disappointingly illogical ending.

What's good:

• Rani Mukherjee, who can brighten any scene with her mere presence

• Abhishek Bachchan, who has improved by leaps and bounds, and is enough reason to keep you in your seat during the otherwise 3 painful hours

• The Amitabh-Abhishek partnership

What can I say? Watch it at your own risk!