In cinemas this week is Priyadarshan’s Mere Baap Pehle Aap.The reason I have not referred this flick as a comic caper is because it’s not, and for a long long time the director actually fails to give the audience a decent laughing experience .
The dialogues are a sorry mish mash of poor similes and misfitting metaphors. It takes half an hour from the start of the film for the first genuine chuckle and a little bit of confusion to set into the plot which has been an essential part of all most of the movies that Priyadarshan makes. But this film is not driven by confusion and mistaken identities, infact it is not driven by anything at all, infact it’s a lost ship.
The story is very weak and I would have elaborated on it, but there is much to write about. A widower(Paresh Rawal) living with his younger son(Akshay Khanna), who starts getting crank calls from a girl(Genelia De Souza) whom he had ragged during his engineering college days. And all that the director manages to establish during the 80 minutes of the first half is that he wants his son to get married to that girl and also the skirt chasing ways of his friend (Om Puri) which induce some smiles (mind you not laughter) .But then you wonder why go through all this when the second half completely deviates from what was pointlessly established prior to interval.
Now it’s not about the son and the cute girl but the father and his long lost love, although the latter parts do humour you more.
The film was supposed be situationally comic but the situations are not comic enough and neither are the situations long enough to compel sustained laughter. This brings us to the editing which is lacking on two counts ,one that the film is half an hour too long and secondly scenes are not stacked together neatly with the sub plots not able to give enough impact.
From the trailers it seemed like and I believe positioned also;as though this was another of the typical Priyan’s movie, but its not so, this movie suffers from identity crisis .What was this meant to be? A laugh riot or a feel good story about a son trying to get back his father his lost love or neither or perhaps both? I am sorry but this the weakest film that the director has made. Music had not created any pre release buzz and rightly so as it is just about average .As for the cast, all have been wasted hopelessly and they should be more selective while choosing films. And Akshay Khanna should be more experimental in the wigs he chooses to wear.
I give a single star and a poor rating to Mere Baap Pehle Aap and you should skip the trouble of watching the movie. Its not worth it.