Director
Kabeer Kaushik
CastArshad Warsi, Dia Mirza, Sandhya Mridul and Boman Irani
In this peculiar fantasy of a world, a Cosmo magazine editor (great opportunity for drowning the leading lady in labels) has fallen for a refusing-to-grow-up fashion photographer. Editor (Dia Mirza, very good) and Photographer (Arshad Warsi, coming alive only during the sparse comedy), exchange sentimental `i love yous’ in every sentence. There’s a parallel track about his assistant (Sandhya Mridul) who he insists must wear mini dresses; irked, the editor girlfriend drinks up and does a hot number on the dance floor with him. Okay.
Moving on, the leading man realises he can see dead people. As is the case with most films of this genre, a psychiatrist is summoned who instantly says he is 'hallucinating due to exhaustion', and then spits out the 's' word. Nowhere in the film, however, are we in a quandary whether he’s indeed suffering from schizophrenia or can he really connect with spirits. The ghosts put forth their requests to him; he agrees hoping they’ll stop harassing him thereafter. The requests range from playing cricket to marrying Aishwarya Rai – an attempt at caricaturing the ghosts for laughs. Finally, a lady ghost pleads with him to help her find her son, whom she’s been searching for 30 years; while the girlfriend gives him an ultimatum to shape up or ship out.
While the first half is about too little, the second tries cramming in too many things. The story doesn’t have enough substance to thrive through the running time, which is why the viewer is worn-out much before the finale.
Hum Tum Aur Ghost doesn’t know what it wants to be – a frothy romance, a dark comedy, or an Arshad-Warsi-starrer (his first production, this).
Of course a film can be all; but here, it’s none. The romance is tiresome because of weak characterisation, the comedy is laboured, and Warsi has done far better. Situations are repeated endlessly, from the ghost track to the insipid romance. Speaking of character sketches, they’re implausible. Working and living aboard, the characters choose to converse with each other in flawless Hindi.
Also, the editor’s rarely working (she’s sifting through glam photographs most of the time, yet picks up an excellence award) and mixes the personal with professional, firing her boyfriend for an assignment because he didn’t return her calls. Armaan’s graph appears slightly more fleshed out, because he has more screen-time. Heck even the ghosts appear, disappear and reappear indiscriminately.
Kabeer Kaushik (Chamku, Sehar) tells the story in an inhibited manner, playing by the rules, even adding an unwarranted emotional angle. But then the credit for this film gone wrong must also be shared with Arshad Warsi who is responsible for the screenplay-dialogue of the film. Admittedly a few witty dialogues combined with Warsi’s mumbling delivery style do crack you up – but that’s hardly a cause to spend two hours plus on an otherwise convoluted picture.
Courtesy Sify
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