Love, love me do

Sukanya Verma

In Hindi cinema, there are four kinds of love stories. In most cases, the guy and girl love each other and live happily ever after.

In others, unrequited love turns a man into a destructive and bitter neurotic. There are some magnanimous, self-respecting men who are willing to make a sacrifice.

In rare cases, the hero turns into a hopeless loser and pursues the girl relentlessly. Needless to add, it is a futile exercise.

Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai is a shining example of the last.

Love the girl, dog her. Never mind if she loves you or not. That seems to be the message Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai seems to be sending the youth.

In this story, Rahul (Aftab Shivadasani) hails from a well-to-do family. He is spoilt rotten by his father-figure like brother Doctor Kamlakant Tiwari (Jackie Shroff), a leading cardiac surgeon who is is shown making idlis, washing clothes and gardening. You could even be forgiven for mistaking him for a housekeeper.

With his ne'er-do-well cronies, Rahul spends all his time at the neighbourhood bus-stop, gazing at Sandhya (Amisha Patel), the girl of his dreams. Sandhya's indifference is of no consequence to him.

Now, Sandhya is the antithesis of Rahul. A victim of her drunkard police inspector father Raj Patil Raja's (Ashish Vidyarthi) vulgar remarks and abuse, Sandhya devotes all her time to studying computers. The makers try to (vaguely) suggest that the reason behind Sandhya's strong aversion towards romance is because of her father's constant ill-treatment of her mother (Neena Kulkarni).

To convey his feelings to Sandhya, our lovesick hero seeks the help of resident Cupid Neha (Anupama Verma). In vain. And it takes a big tragedy in Rahul's life to make him realise that 'love is just a part of life, not the heart of life'.

Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai is loosely inspired from the Aamir Khan-Madhuri Dixit starrer Deewana Mujhsa Nahin. In the latter, Aamir plays a fashion photographer besotted by his leading model Madhuri. Despite the fact she doesn't reciprocate his feelings, he dreams about winning her. In the end, he manages to --- conveniently --- break her engagement to another. He gets the girl.

Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai begs to be different. How? Don't even ask. Suffice to say that the climax is the illogical surprise of the film.

In Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai, the end has a graceful Tusshar Kapoor agreeing to wait for ladylove Kareena till she achieves her goal. KYPH is a different bag of tricks altogether.

There's more. But that's for me to know and you to be outraged at.

Ludicrous sentimentality aside, KYPH does have some good points. Composer duo Sajid Wajid comes up with a couple of melodious numbers like Meri tarah tum bhi kabhi and Pehli pehli baar hai. Ace choreographer Farah Khan has imaginatively choreographed the dances.

Aftab is likeable as the infatuated college kid; a tad out of place in the heavy duty emotional scenes. Amisha Patel looks like a dream, but her tendency to mouth dialogues as if she were reciting Shakespeare's sonnets are not amusing.

Jackie Shroff takes over every scene he appears in with charm and grace. At times irritatingly loud and comical at others, Ashish Vidhyarti evokes mixed feelings.

However, decent performances do not a film make.