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Thursday, May 2, 2024
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BOLLYWOOD LOVE U... MR. KALAKAAR!
EDITOR'S PICK
Rating; ***
Tch tch. Boy is an artiste. He is humble, generous, kind and compassionate. But
what the heck! He can`t keep his sweetheart in the lap of luxury. Girl`s dad
makes the kalaakar (artist), a cartoonist with a penchant for looking for warmth
and humour in every cliche in life, an offer he can`t refuse.
"Join my family business, prove yourself as a profiteer and you can have my
daughter`s hand."
This, then, is the old-as-the-hills love story into which Tusshar Kapoor and
Amrita Rao are thrown together. To their credit, the pair gets into the mellow
mood of the old-fashioned romance almost as though they`ve grown up watching the
collected works of Sooraj Barjatya.
Having read some of the savage and dismissive reviews of the film, I am quite
surprised to encounter a film which is innocuous and sweet, uncluttered and
unassuming in its intentions. Neatly scripted, it could do with some trimming in
the last 45 minutes of playing-time. However, director S. Manasvi succeeds in
infusing an even rhythm to the proceedings.
It is Harindranath Chattopadhyay who said, "It`s very difficult to be
simple."
It takes a lot of guts to make a film as simple, honest and and transparent as
"Love You…Mr Kalakaar" in this day and age when Munni and Sheila are
happily letting it all hang out. And Ragini`s love is lost in the lust and greed
of an MMS mess.
"Love You…Mr Kalakaar" has a quaint old world charm to it. It
doesn`t try to be anything but a story of love and trust set against the
corporate kingdom. The dialogues though adhering to the film`s `filmy`
manoeuvres, are at times enormously moving.
Tusshar and Amrita convey a great deal of unalloyed charm in their collaborative
romance. While Tusshar has recently found his niche as an actor one wonders why
Amrita has not found a place under the sun yet.
The film gets a dash of added credibility from Ram Kapoor in the stereotypical
part of the heroine`s disapproving father. Kapoor infuses a part belonging to
Madan Puri and Pinchoo Kapoor with heart.
And the "Phool Aur Kante" girl Madhoo has now matured into playing the
leading lady`s aunt. And a dapper glamorous and sexy aunt at that. One wishes
Madhoo had not packed in so many expressions in every shot. Maybe she was making
up for lost time in a film that doesn`t try to live up to definitions of
contemporary cinematic entertainment.
"Love You…Mr Kalakaar" is just happy being itself. No hang-ups about
its lack of innovativeness.
Sahil is a happy-go-lucky artist – a good human being. Very happy as a cartoonist, he designs characters for animation shows, advertisement, print media and mascots for corporate firms. This is his lifestyle – no burdens, no boundaries, no expectations, no pressures, just freedom. He falls in love with a management student called Ritu who is free spirited, fun loving and bindaas. Ritu takes him to meet his father Deshraj Diwan , a rich industrialist.
Deshraj Diwan believes that artistes don’t make good, responsible husbands. They are ruled by their hearts and not by practicality and thus cannot live in this manipulative world. Deshraj tells Sahil that he is willing to marry his daughter to him but he will have to prove himself worthy of his daughter. Sahil accepts the challenge. Now Sahil is suddenly thrown into a world of business, where there are burdens, boundaries, expectations and pressures. Will a person, who does not know the difference between debit and credit, make everyone rewrite the rules of business?
