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By Joginder Tuteja, October 26, 2009 - 14:21 IST
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Govinda, Fardeen Khan, Tusshar Kaooor, Genelia D'Souza, Prachi Desai and Amrita Rao (in a guest appearance)
Director: Rumi Jaffery
Producer: Abbas Mustan
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
THE FILM
There is a scene in Life Partner where Fardeen Khan throws away all the 'Mars', 'Snickers' and 'Toblerone' chocolates in a dustbin. Reason? Believing that Tusshar's prospective in-laws would be some villagers from a remote part of Gujarat, he feels that gifting them such 'exquisite' chocolates would be a noble gesture. Little did he realize that these very villagers would indeed actually turn out to be billionaires. It is such little moments in 'Life Partner' that keep the smiles on for most part of the film.
With the film's cast comprising of Govinda, Tusshar Kapoor and Fardeen Khan one would have assumed that the last of the trio would be royally ignored. Reason behind that Govinda has been the 'King of comedy' throughout the 90s while Tusshar too has done well for himself, especially in the last couple of years, with his Golmaal series doing wonders to his career. However, as it turns out, Fardeen Khan springs a huge surprise as he not just gets the meatiest part and the best one liners but also delivers one of the best performances in his career.
He gets to show different facets of his personality that ranges from being a hopelessly romantic yet practical lover to someone who is henpecked and later frustrated with his wife. Still, even in these scenes, he lets the mood be light instead of making them overtly dramatic, something that works for the film.
On the other hand Tusshar's scenes, especially in the latter part of the film, tend to touch upon being serious that pulls Life Partner a little behind. Reason being that the film comes dangerously close to 'saas-bahu' soaps on TV, this time with a 'sasur' [Darshan Zariwala] coming down a little too hard on an unsuspecting 'bahu' [Prachi Desai] in the name of 'parampara' and 'sanskruti' (yes, that's the way he pronounces it). Remember Amitabh Bachchan and his three commandments in Mohabbatein?
In addition there is also Genelia D'Souza who gets it right in 80% of her scenes but goes overboard in the remaining where it's her turn to be frustrated, irritated and disgusted. She shrieks and how! Comparatively Prachi Desai plays her little girl act well though bordering upon the kind of act that befits a small screen outing. Nevertheless, both the girls do look beautiful on screen which keeps the sunshine on screen.
Same can truly be said about Govinda whose presence works well for Life Partner in each of the scenes that the actor appears on screen. Whether it is his 'teekhi-meethi-nonk-jhonk' with Genelia or the ways in which he manages to come out of tricky situations or the ease at which he makes people divorce, Govinda demonstrates yet again that why is he still making his presence felt in the industry.
Tusshar is nice and his persona in the first half of the film goes well with his character. Still, one does feel that he should stick to his regular boy looks rather than such roles that threaten to put him in a senior citizen bracket. Nevertheless, he plays his part well and is yet again earnest, sincere and honest.
Life Partner is made of a series of light hearted scenes that keeps the ball rolling for it. Watch out for the one where Tusshar and Govinda instigate Fardeen as Genelia is looking from a distance. Or the one where Govinda walks in with one woman and ends up romancing with three of them. Jagdeep sequence in the second half of the film is executed well too. Also, there are a dozen odd one liners in the film that keep the laughs (or at least the smiles) coming.
The climax is a downer though as it plain and simple follows the adage of 'all is that ends well'. Yes, it does make sense for the genre of the film but the ease with which it is executed leaves a lot to be desired. Seriously, it turns out to be a hurried job by all means.
With a faint resemblance to Priyatama [1977] that incidentally starred Tusshar's dad Jeetendra in the lead along with Neetu Singh, 'Life Partner' turns out to be a decent time pass affair.
PACKAGING
Life Partner in a regular paper and plastic case, something which is surprising since it deserved a more classy packaging
DURATION
The film's duration is 134 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Making of the Film/Interview
This one can be given a quick skip. Reason being that for most part of its duration, it merely takes a viewer through the making of each of the songs that feature in the film. Cast, producers, director, composer and lyricist come together to describe each and every song, something that hardly makes you jump with excitement considering the fact that they were hardly chartbusters when they were heard and seen in the film.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
- Subtitles in English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo
PRICE
Rs. 199/=
CONCLUSION
Even though from the story perspective, there is nothing novel about this Rumi Jaffrey venture, the film stays on to be stable for most of it's narrative. Though there are little dips here and there, Life Partner thankfully never gets boring. It stays on to be reasonably (though not wildly) entertaining for most of it's duration and even though the finale leaves a lot to be desired, you still feel that Life Partner isn't a bad watch after all.
  
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