Uh-oh!
She
is
engaged
to
marry
a
man
who
isn't
right
for
her.
Mr
Right
is
right
around
corner,
making
his
fidgety
presence
felt
in
nearly
every
frame
of
this
launch
pad
for
actress
Rati
Agnihotri's
son
Tanuj.
It's
only
a
matter
of
time
before
the
girl
Soniyo,
played
by
debutant
Neha
Hinge,
throws
off
the
wrong
ring
for
the
right
zing.
Zing
is
the
element
curiously
unobtainable
in
this
feel-young
story.
So
many
youngsters
dancing,
singing
and
trying
to
tell
us
they're
having
fun...but
we
remain
unconvinced
till
the
end.
Luv
U
Soniyo
(LUS)
isn't
telling
us
anything
we
haven't
seen
in
numerous
films
before,
ranging
from
the
iconic
Dilwale
Dulhania
Le
Jayenge
to
the
overrated
Rockstar,
girls
in
our
films
have
somehow
been
constantly
confused
about
which
guy
to
marry.
Maybe
they
should
just
read
the
credit
titles
more
carefully.
This
film's
credits
tell
us
the
1980s'
popular
actress
Rati
Agnihotri's
son
is
the
guy
on
top.
Tanuj
plays
Mark,
a
full-of-beans
collegian
who
doesn't
seem
to
have
much
to
do
except
hang
around
with
his
friends
in
the
campus,
or
barge
into
one
of
their
homes
to
get
a
dekko
at
the
girl
he
adores.
Blindfolded
debutante
Soniyo
should
have
said,
I
Do
to
Mark
and
spared
us
the
long-winded,
but
unexciting
process
of
what
poets
euphemistically
describe
as
"discovering
love".
The
journey
here
is
absolutely
bereft
of
drama,
excitement,
surprise
and
ultimate
satisfaction.
One
doesn't
know
if
debutant
director
Joe
Rajan
meant
the
central
romance
to
be
so
linear,
languorous
and
shockproof.
But
that's
the
way
it
is.
Nothing,
absolutely
nothing,
seems
to
suggest
any
hindrance
in
the
young
couple's
passage
to
the
final
embrace.
The
Punjabi-Catholic
alliance
is
mentioned
only
in
passing.
The
hero's
Goan
family
is
filled
with
as
many
stereotypical
eccentrics
as
the
heroine's
Punjabi
family.
Can
we
ever
have
a
film
about
minority
communities
where
families
behave
normally?
Yes,
there
is
the
girl's
fiance
(Bunty
Garewal),
a
bloke
who
seems
as
menacing
a
hurdle
to
the
protagonists'
love
as
a
pebble
on
Milkha
Singh's
racetrack.
The
film
also
takes
unscheduled
time
off
to
trot
down
to
Mexico
for
a
love
duet,
and
a
baffling
detour
down
dark
deserted
highway
when
Suresh
Menon
appears
as
a
funny
gangster
who
keeps
mixing
up
Hindi
words.
Ha
ha.
The
debutant
couple
makes
the
best
of
a
script
that
offers
them
no
room
to
show
their
skills.
Tanuj
has
a
pleasant
enough
screen
presence.
He
tries
his
utmost
to
make
trite
and
impassive
situations
seem
fresh.
His
leading
lady
Neha
Hinge
has
a
certain
unvarnished
charm
to
her.
Choreographer
Howard
Rosameyer
does
a
dead-on
impersonation
of
Aamir
Khan.
One
hopes
he
isn't
typecast
as
an
Aamir
mimic.
One
also
hopes
Mr.
Khan
has
a
sense
of
humour.
If
the
truth
were
told,
the
best
performance
in
this
placid
passion
play
comes
from
Rati
Agnihotri.
And
yes,
if
you
can
brave
it
to
the
end,
there
is
Remo
D'Souza
appearing
on
screen
to
croon
the
title
song
with
delectable
gusto.
By
then
it's
too
late.