By:
Praveen
Lance
Fernandes,
IndiaFM
Wednesday,
May
24,
2006
Rajiv
Rai
redefines
Bollywood
geometry
in
Pyaar
Ishq
aur
Mohabbat
What
do
you
do
when
you
want
a
girl
to
fall
in
love
with
you?
You
find
her
a
lover
and
make
him
break
her
heart
and
then
you
be
there
by
her
side
to
console
her.
That
was
the
story
line
of
Rajiv
Rai's
Pyaar
Ishq
Aur
Mohabbat;
a
disaster
at
the
box-office.
Rajiv
Rai
redefined
the
geometrical
laws
of
Hindi
cinema
by
adding
one
more
angle
to
the
age
old
triangular
love
story
formula,
introducing
the
concept
of
quadrangular
love
story.
What
he
couldn't
realize
was
the
fact
that
the
audience
bored
to
death
with
triangles
is
not
going
to
fall
for
squares.
Rai
tries
hard
to
justify
three
love
stories,
but
the
outcome
gets
tedious
and
confusing.
After
making
amazing
action
thrillers
like
Tridev,
Gupt
and
Mohra,
this
film
was
a
let
down
by
Rajiv
Rai
who
followed
this
film
up
with
another
dud
Asambav.
Picture
This!
There
is
an
exchange
offer
at
the
end
of
the
movie
where
Aftab
Shivdasani
replaces
his
bride
Keerti
Reddy
with
Arjun
Rampal's
girlfriend,
Monica
Bedi.
Suniel
Shetty
gets
a
consolation
prize
in
the
form
of
Isha
Koppikar
to
go
with
the
happy
ending
cliche
which
in
Hindi
film
means
that
all
actors
get
paired.
No
Family
planning
for
Rajkumar
Santoshi
Raj
Kumar
Santoshi's
films
off
late
like
China
Gate
(1998),
Pukar
(2000),
Lajja
(2001),
The
Legend
of
Bhagat
Singh
(2002),
Khakee
(2004)
had
not
really
been
box-office
success
stories
but
somewhere
his
direction
and
the
theme
that
he
selected
was
applauded.
After
the
semi-success
of
Khakee,
Santoshi
teamed
up
with
producer
Keshu
Ramsay
once
again
to
make
Family
-
Ties
of
Blood
(2006).
Starring
Amitabh
Bachchan
and
Ramsay's
son
Aryeman
along
with
Akshay
Kumar
in
a
brief
role,
the
movie
had
nothing
novel
to
offer
and
was
quite
predictable.
For
someone
like
Santoshi
who
was
a
trend
setter
with
Ghayal
(1990),
Damini
(1993)
and
Ghatak
(1996),
this
film
seemed
like
a
half-hearted
effort
from
the
master
director
in
terms
of
script
and
execution.
A
bad
opening
throughout
India
speaks
about
the
sorry
spate
of
the
film.
Picture
This!
Amitabh
is
the
biggest
don
in
the
city
but
somehow
Aryeman
-
a
nobody,
still
manages
to
kidnap
his
entire
family
as
easily
as
he
got
this
film.
Ram
Gopal
Varma
shows
his
two
left
feet
with
Naach
RGV
made
Rangeela
(1995)
and
Mast
(1999)
and
both
these
movies
had
the
film
industry
as
the
background.
Along
came
Naach
(2004)
on
the
same
setting,
a
film
where
Abhishek
Bachchan
shows
his
dancing
prowess
and
Antara
Mali
shows
a
lot
more.
Naach
was
offbeat
and
abstract.
In
plain
words
it
was
unusual.
But
Naach
is
one
of
those
films
that
are
genuinely
different
but
the
difference
doesn't
entertain
or
engross.
RGV
tried
a
lot
to
make
a
good
movie
but
the
biggest
drawback
was
its
screenplay
which
moved
at
a
very
lethargic
pace.
RGV
always
confessed
that
Naach
is
one
film
that
he
made
for
himself
and
he
happened
to
be
the
only
one
who
loved
it.
Madhur
Bhandarkar
lowers
his
Aan
with
this
one
He
came
into
the
limelight
with
his
second
film
Chandni
Bar
(2001)
which
churned
in
the
National
Award.
It
was
followed
by
the
critically
acclaimed
Satta
(2003)
which
again
got
him
rave
reviews.
Post
Satta
and
pre
Page
3
came
in
Aan
-
Men
At
Work
(2004)
starring
a
hoard
of
actors
ranging
from
Akshay
Kumar
to
Suniel
Shetty
to
Shatrughan
Sinha
to
Paresh
Rawal.
This
was
Bhandarkar's
most
expensive
film
to
date
and
unlike
his
previous
ventures
this
film
did
not
really
have
a
stroke
of
realism
despite
being
a
cop
drama.
Unnecessary
songs,
overdone
action,
forced
item
numbers
and
bad
dialogues
proved
to
be
a
hindrance
in
this
formula
flick.
The
sun
sets
for
Sooraj
Barjatya
with
Main
Prem
Ki
Diwani
Hoon
Sooraj
Barjatya
-
this
man
needs
no
introduction
whatsoever.
The
man
behind
some
of
the
most
successful
films
like
Maine
Pyar
Kiya
(1989)
and
Hum
Aapke
Hain
Kaun
(1994)
and
an
average
grosser
Hum
Saath
Saath
Hain
(1999)
was
ready
with
his
next
release
Main
Prem
Ki
Diwani
Hoon
(2003)
having
youth
icons
Hrithik
Roshan,
Kareena
Kapoor
and
Abhishek
Bachchan
in
the
lead.
With
an
energetic
star
cast
and
Sooraj
Barjatya
at
the
driver's
seat,
the
expectations
were
bound
to
be
colossal.
But
all
that
came
crashing
down
once
the
film
hit
the
screens.
The
same
old
plot
-
Two
boys
love
one
girl
and
girl
has
to
decide.
Add
family
values
and
six
songs
and
voila
you
have
MPKDH.
Unlike
his
previous
ventures,
this
film
has
nothing
novel
to
offer.
A
hamming
Hrithik,
an
over
energetic
Kareena
and
an
underused
Abhishek
Bachchan
-
all
disappointed.
Sooraj
Barjatya
claimed
that
he
took
two
years
to
write
this
film.
And
what
did
he
give
at
the
end
of
those
two
years.
A
plot
line
as
old
as
Indian
cinema
and
one
of
his
worst
films
ever!
Vidhu
Vinod
Chopra
doesn't
come
close
to
romance
in
Kareeb
Not
many
might
be
aware
that
Vidhu
Vinod
Chopra
started
his
career
with
a
bang
with
his
documentary
An
Encounter
with
Faces
(1978)
which
was
nominated
for
the
Oscars.
His
other
entertaining
films
include
Khamosh
(1985),
Parinda
(1989)
and
1942
-
A
Love
Story
(1994).
He
then
ventured
into
a
different
genre
altogether
-
Romance.
Kareeb
(1998)
starred
Bobby
Deol
and
introduced
Neha
-
a
couple
in
love
but
obviously
there
has
to
be
some
problem
between
them
otherwise
the
movie
would
have
ended
in
10
minutes.
The
problem
with
Kareeb
was
that
it
did
not
have
much
entertainment
value
and
moved
at
a
snail's
pace.
Unlike
Chopra's
previous
movies
(which
were
mostly
thrillers),
there
was
not
much
of
a
punch
in
the
proceedings.
Clearly,
the
resonance
was
missing
in
this
one.