Why Kamal Haasan should never watch Kambakkht Ishq

Ok so Sajid Nadiadwala entrusts a debutant filmmaker Sabbir Khan to make a movie. So like all Nadiadwala productions they decide to make another lavishly mounted project with A listers Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. There are also top notch Hollywood stars like Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh and Denise Richards featuring and to top it all they decide to shoot the movie against the backdrop of Hollywood. And what do they do about the story – well they just decide to look down south and rip apart a Kamal Haasan’s Tamil movie.

Followers of Tamil cinema and fans of Kamal Haasan would remember a movie called Pammal K.Sambandham (referred to as PKS hereafter) which had Kamal Haasan and Simran in the lead. Directed by Mouli and with hilarious dialogues by none other than Crazy Mohan, the movie was a simple tale of a stuntman and a lady doctor, who both have distinct identities of their own. This movie was shot without too much of grandeur in Chennai except for a couple of songs which were shot abroad.

But in case of Kambakkht Ishq (referred to as KI hereon) there is nothing called originality. In fact exaggeration is too weak a word to describe the happenings in the movie as virtually everything is over the top. The plot is extremely silly and it’s all about Viraj ( Akshay) a Hollywood stuntman who doesn’t respect women & has them literally falling all over him. Viraj arrives at his brother Lucky’s (Aftab Shivdasani ) wedding to Kamini ( Amrita Arora ) to admonish Lucky for getting married. That’s where Viraj bumps into Simrita ( Kareena )who is Kamini’s best friend and who in turn admonishes Kamini for getting married to Lucky, as she doesn’t trust men.

The die is cast and there’s a virtual ego clash between Viraj and Simrita now. So after numerous silly jokes, some illogical situations and some constant love- hate banter between the two, the movie ends on predictable lines. Akshay Kumar seems to have literally sleep walked through the movie as the role is a cakewalk for him and he has no need to try hard. Kareena looks gorgeous no doubt but there’s nothing beyond it. Vindoo Singh as Akshay’s side kick is o.k. while Amrita Arora and Aftab have nothing much to do. Javed Jaffrey and Boman Irani are virtually wasted in the movie. Kiron Kher has again a very typical role.Anu Malik’s music is nothing great- you are likely to forget the songs after the movie completes its theatrical run.

While a lot of things can & should be overlooked considering that it is a movie after all, nevertheless certain things are almost tantamount to crime. I have never heard of any stuntman who is able to lead the kind of lavish lifestyle that Akshay Kumar leads in the movie. The kind of excessive indulgence shown in the movie actually starts hurting the eye after a point. None of the so called appearances of the Hollywood actors make any worthwhile impact on the movie. Kamal Haasan’s stuntman character was a Hanuman bhakt who wants to remain single. The character was largely believable unlike the fake portrayal by Akshay over here. Though Simran who played the heroine in PKS also has a fiery temper, she still endears to us by some realism in her depiction whereas Kareena tends to certainly go overboard often.

The script (Anvita Dutt Guptan,Sabbir Khan ) seems to be the big culprit here in what could have otherwise been a reasonably engaging movie similar to PKS. Considering that KI is probably made at more than 10 times the budget of PKS, Kamal Haasan would indeed be shocked to see what a relatively quickly made medium budget movie has turned out to be in its Hindi avatar. And yes it would also remind him again that while people are not willing to back his magnum opus – Marudhanayagam or Marmayogi due to budget constraints, there are people in Bollywood who have it going for them to produce an expensive tasteless film like KI ( at more than half the budget of a Marudhanayagam ).

Akshay- inspite of the setbacks of late (CC2C and 8*10), you are still right on top with the Khans.Why do a film like this in the first place? And as for your statement that you & Kareena in KI would be the new Mr. and Mrs.Smith, well I have no words to describe my feelings on the same. In spite of all the excesses your recent blockbusters like Welcome and Singh is Kingg worked because it was patronized by the family audience. But with KI you seem to have only alienated them and in case you haven’t realized it by now it’s certainly a pity.

Thanks to the Bollywood strike people have been literally starved of movies and so the terrific opening for KI is not a surprise at all. But it would be interesting to see if the movie is able to sustain the momentum and emerge profitable for all. I’m someone who loves the smaller films but once in a while would like to indulge in the regular mainstream stuff also. But if this is Bollywood’s idea of entertainment then I guess I would rather stay away from it. So what made me watch this? Well at 50 bucks for a balcony ticket at a good standalone cinema, I thought the deal couldn’t go wrong. But I was proved wrong. So go on if you are getting some good deal like this or else leave it for one of the T.V channels to air it shortly- you won’t regret it one bit.
On a parting note I would like to ask a question to Sajid Nadiadwala and co- when you had a lot of people to thank in the opening credits, was it too difficult to acknowledge anybody concerned with PKS? This is all the more surprising because due to industry sources, the remake rights have been bought officially.

P.S- Originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/why-kamal-haasan-should-never-watch-kambakkht-ishq/