CAST: Saif Ali Khan, Kajol, Aditya Panscholi DIRECTOR: Sanjay Gupta

So, we have Raja (Saif Ali Khan) and his Rani (Kajol) who are very muc in love and planning to tie the knot. Enter the villain Yashvardhan (Aditya Panscholi) who wants Rani to himself. But he can do that only if the thorn in his side, Raja, is out of the way. Being the member of the local royal family, it is easy for him to do away with the hero. So we have Raja being flung to death by Yashvardhan off a cliff. A distraught Rani too jumps to her death, but not before proclaiming the rebirth of the two lovers.

Twenty two years later, we have Yashvardhan finding Rani reincarnated as a daughter of the desert, Reshma.He brings her to his palace under the pretext of giving medical aid to her ailing father and making her one of the country’s star dancer/singer. We then see her under the tutelage of Dai Maa (Aruna Irani) who hones Reshma to be a socialite. At a party where her engagement to Yashvardhan is being announced, she meets Raju, who was Raja in his earlier life. She is drawn towards him especially since he is singing the title song that they had sung in their earlier life. Raju too is drawn towards her but is unable to recall the past. Reshma begs aju to marry her and take her away from Yash but he is confused. To add to it, he is being sent to Mumbai by Yash so that Raju can become a sisnging star in Bollywood. After much twists and turns, the two lovers are united. Yash meets his Nemesis at the very spot where he had killed Raja.

Produced by veteran G.P. Sippy and co-produced by Vijay Sippy, the film is written and directed by Sanjay Gupta, it has music by Anu Malik. The title song, na tum rahogey and the number aisa milan kal ho na ho are good. The title song is very reminiscent of the Sangam music. The background music is a straight lift from The Omen. Trust Anu Malik, to do something like that. But he does come up with some good stuff like the earlier mentioned songs.

Kajol is her ususal best. But she needs to knock off some weight to carry off Western clothes. Incidentally, she needs a good dress designer who has excellent taste. Some of her costumes here are horrendous. Saif Ali Khan -- well, need we mention him ? As for Aditya Panscholi, he should stick to the more mature roles and avoid using gel on his hair. His face lacks the angular planes that are so necessary for a slicked back hairstyle.

Aruna Irani is frankly a waste in the movie. Thankfully, we see little of Laxmikant Berde’s and Kadar Khan’s buffonery. Wonder why director of photography, Kabir Lal, was using a red filter., especially in the song, aisa milan kal ho na ho. Incidentally, the hunting lodge set used for this same song, was good.

See the film if you need to kill time. The best alternative would be to curl up with a good book. It is difficult to survive 17 reels of the film.

-Shubhada Dharwadkar

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