Last year, Govinda´s "Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiya" released a week after biggie K3G. The film was horrible in terms of content and performed barely average at the box office. This year Govinda´s "Chalo Ishq Ladaaye" is releasing a week after biggies Kaante and Saathiya. This film is horrible in terms of content as well and will probably perform terribly at the box office. But the similarities don´t end there. Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiya was one of the worst films of 2001. And surprise, surprise - Chalo Ishq Ladaaye is hands down the worst film of 2002!

Strangely enough the inspiration for this travesty is an Alfred Hitchcock film, "Strangers on a Train." The film had been ripped off earlier in Bollywood - and the result was the nightmarish Sanjay Kapoor-Raveena Tandon vehicle "Soch." Here, the Hitchcock thriller is turned into a Govinda comedy.

The plot involves Papu (Govinda), a happy-go-lucky youth who is constantly pestered by his grandmother (Zohra Segal). Pappu is in love with a cabaret singer, Bobby (Mink Singh) but his dream girl is Bollywood actress Sapna (Rani Mukherjee). As it turns out, Sapna isn´t too happy with her rich business magnate boyfriend Rahul (Sanjay Suri) and Pappu doesn´t like his grandmother much. So when the two have a chance encounter they strike a deal to murder one another´s causes of misery. Since the murderer and victim of each crime would be strangers, there would be no evidence or motive linking anyone to the crimes. Then come the plot twists. Pappu and Sapna grow feelings for one another, and a love triangle brews. And Rahul turns out to have some tricks up his sleeve as well.

As if the plot wasn´t poorly conceived enough, the execution is even worse. The film is horrible from beginning to end. It tries hard to weave action, romance, and suspense into a Govinda-style comedy, but it fails on all accounts. The very core of the film is in bad taste - audiences are expected to find humor in the story of a hopeless young man´s idiotic attempts to kill his aging grandmother. And the rest of the film´s inanities and crudeness don´t help matters either. Johnny Lever and Kader Khan feature in a comedy tracks that define over-the-top and Mink Singh wears skimpy outfits that reveal way too much skin at every opportunity. Even fans of the lead pair won´t find anything worthwhile in the film; both Govinda and Rani sleepwalk through their roles and their performances are devoid of any flair whatsoever.

Not a single frame in the feature offers any redeeming value. Aziz Sajawal´s direction is one of the worst attempts ever made at producing a coherent film. His film is rambling, pointless and offers no entertainment whatsoever. Himesh Reshamiya´s mediocre soundtrack is wasted on archaic and tepid picturizations that feature some of the cheapest sets and most boring cinematography ever witnessed on the Indian screen. And the songs pop up at seemingly random moments and have little or no bearing to the overwhelming story arc. The editing cannot be faulted; if the film was trimmed to include only worthwhile scenes it wouldn´t last any longer than a minute.

To be fair, there is a strong element of suspense to be found in Chalo Ishq Ladaaye. As one suffers through the duration of the picture, they will undoubtedly ask themselves a number of questions time and time again, "Why would anyone make this movie?" "Does anyone find any of this even slightly entertaining?" "What did I do to have to sit through this?" Chalo Ishq Ladaaye is a torturous example of atrocious filmmaking, to be avoided at all costs.