U Me Aur Hum April 13, 2008
Posted by Shujath in Hindi, Movies, Reviews.Tags: 2008, actor turned director, Adnan Sami, Ajay Devgan, Alzheimer's disease, Ashwini Dhir, Bollywood, Divya Dutta, DVD, Film, Hindi, Isha Sharvani, Kajol, Karan Khanna, Review, Sachin Khadekar, Sumeet Raghavan, U Me Aur Hum, Vishal Bhardwaj
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It’s just a few months back that Aamir Khan debuted as a director, naturally Ajay Devgan’s plunge into the director’s seat will undoubtedly have to bear the burden of high expectations and comparisons. But if you actually look at it…Ajay is only the third person in his family to direct. Remember “Hindustan Ki Kasam - A dream by Veeru Devgan”? the unanimous verdict for which was that it should have remained a dream. Then came brother Anil Devgan’s “Raju Chacha” - one of the most expensive flops of Bollywood which wasn’t outrightly a bad film but a good concept squandered away. With “U Me and Hum” one can easily conclude that Ajay has lived up to the standards set by his family and dared not to go beyond.
But you still have to appreciate the bold choice of the story - a lady suffering from Alzheimer’s and the painful daily struggles she and her husband have to come to terms with. But then you should also know that “sometimes the greatest journey between two people the story and the movie is the distance screenplay between them”. The first half of this flick is as bad as a first half can get. The absolutely pathetic and cringeworthy dialogue/situations/conversations that I encountered made me forget all the bad films I’ve seen in the last couple of years. Believe me….it really is that bad - and if you liked it and thought it was cute and mushy then God save you! (You might want to blame Devgan for this but then you might recall that in the opening credits this department was credited to a certain Ashwini Dhir - this is the guy who’s receiving brickbats since last week for his directorial debut “One Two Three” and even this week’s other release “Krazzy 4″ receiving equally bad reviews is a product of his pen). Only before the interval the actual story begins and gives you a ray of hope. I wouldn’t say that the rest of the movie is great but because I’d been through the previous 80 minutes or so, it did look like a masterpiece compared to that. Again don’t get your hopes too high…the movie tries to make a point but when you expect to see the actualization of that it rather abruptly ends.
Ajay and Kajol (who look good together for the first time on screen) have put in really earnest performances and despite the maudlin sentimentality which creeps in at times they did effectively convey the agony and anguish of someone in a situation like theirs. There are also a couple of noteworthy moments - especially the ones where Kajol has a blackout in rather dangerous situations. The same cannot be said of the horrible supporting cast - mainly Karan Khanna, Isha Sharvani and Divya Dutta. The only other person who stands out in this movie is Vishal Bhardwaj with his mellifluous tunes - the title track and “Jeele Ishq Mein” (wonderfully rendered by Adnan Sami) are the best.
There are far more negatives than positives in this film but Ajay and Kajol still manage to give it a certain amount of respectability and they are purely the reason you might want to watch this one…better sleep through the first half and wake up just before the intermission - am sure you’ll then have a much better experience.
Ajay Devgan’s directorial debut (he is also credited for the story) is not something that I was eagerly waiting for. As you point out, the first half of this film is light fluff that I actually didn’t mind that much. Partly because of the promos and the tagline which gave me the feeling that this would be a non-serious romantic comedy and partly because Ajay Devgan isn’t overhyped as an intellectual (like say Aamir Khan) even though he is a damn good actor.
Since comparisons are inevitable, I will say that this film will probably not match up to the popularity of Taare Zameen Par. However, I felt that this was a tougher subject to handle when compared to Aamir’s directorial debut (I am not taking anything away from his effort) because sensitive subject matter involving kids has an instant appeal that others may find hard to match including this one. Both of them handle serious issues in a popular format but one aspect where this one scores over that film is that Ajay decides to depict the harsh realities of facing a life-changing disease. Though he does alter course towards the climax with a populist end, he covers a lot of ground before he sells out. And that for me is the primary reason to watch this film.
First, the obvious. Ajay and Kajol put in superb performances in the latter part of the film. Among the supporting cast, Sumeet Raghavan is very impressive while Sachin Khedekar suits his part well but Divya Dutta’s performance was just too loud for the film.
Vishal Bharadwaj comes up with another haunting melody for this film, something that is becoming a signature. The title track is in the same league as Jag Jaa (Omkara) and Rozana (Nishabd) from recent years. Jee Le is the best of the rest (and Ajay smartly decides against showing his feet in the song and gets away with a combination of locks, cuddles and dips passing off as Salsa). Munna Dhiman comes up with some interesting lyrics as well.
Now, the not-so-obvious. As a director, Ajay shows promise. Without trying to showcase technical expertise, he manages to effectively helm the film. I really liked the way he shot certain scenes (involving Kajol’s bouts of forgetfulness) almost as it were a horror film. I felt that these were some of the most important scenes (even if they may seem contrived to some) because life can throw unexpected and horrific surprises like the ones depicted in the film and they really sold the gravity of the situation that the characters were in. There was so much scope for extreme melodrama that could have brought on unnecessary laughs from part of the audience but Ajay manages to steer away. He doesn’t really look to milk the emotions of the audience and instead focuses on his story and characters.
Another scene that I loved was the one in the restaurant leading up to the climax. Now, you hardly expect sense in a Bollywood romance. A genre that talks about love at first sight (this film included), love can happen only once, you can live and die for love, there is no life without love, the world revolves around love, sacrifice makes love sweeter, love is more real than gravity and evolution and so on. Okay, I made up the last one but you get the picture. So, hearing Ajay’s monologue about human nature and the influence of ‘me’ makes you want to pinch or even punch yourself to make sure it is really happening (Ajay claims that this scene was the one which led him to conceive this film, so all credit to him). Now, one wishes that he would have closed the film somewhere around that point but then he probably remembered Hindustan Ki Kasam and Raju Chacha and decided to play safe.
Despite obvious and somewhat expected shortcomings, I would still recommend the film. Disease is an inescapable reality of material existence that rarely anyone is prepared for. This film sincerely focuses on the effects of disease, the pain it causes to the afflicted as well as the near and dear, the hard conditions and inevitable decisions, and the guilt associated with it. Youngsters may feel that no harm can befall them or those close to them but as they grow older, experiences will tell them otherwise. Sooner or later most of us will have to face this aspect of life, whether severe or mild, and learn to deal with it. In tougher conditions, our capability to adapt to these situations could have a profound influence on the rest of our lives. It would be careless and even stupid to say that this film will prepare you or give you an understanding of how to adjust to such situations. But this film made me think where other films that I’ve seen in the genre only allowed me to relate to the situations. It scared me where other films made me feel for the characters at best. It reminded me once again about the importance of making the best of what you have today and that made it worth watching.
Good One and Thanks for the info
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