Producer: Surjit S. Pandher
Director: Lawrence D' Souza
Starring: Jaz Pandher, Gurline Chopra, Mukesh Rishi, Johnny Lever, Alok Nath
Music: Nadeem-Shravan
Lyrics: Sameer
Genre: Action Romantic
Recommended Audience: General
Released on: March 07, 2003
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Reviewed by: Abid
Reviewer's Rating: 4 out of 10
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It seems highly undoubtful that director Lawrence D´Souza
will continue to stick with his ´one film wonder ´ image and that being ´Saajan´
with 'Arzoo' being the saving grace and even that
cannot be called a success.
The profitable overseas market seems to encourage many to go for the ´NRI´ angle
after the success of ´Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge´,
but in this form, with no familiar faces, a not so popular banner and lack of
accurate promotion, chances that his latest, Indian
Babu, will make it there, if anywhere, are truly slim.
India Babu is the story of ´Dil´ (Gurleen Chopra),
the daughter of a poor farmer ´Babu´ (Alok Nath).
Dil gets engaged to Abhay Thakur (Rajat Thakur),
who is the son of the village zamindar Suraj Pratap Singh (Mukesh
Rishi), because of circumstances beyond her control.
Before long, it is discovered that Dil has something wrong with her dil (heart)
and Suraj Pratap Singh, the deemed to be father in law, sends her to London with
the help of his good friend Mohan Joshi. As it is very obvious, Dil meets the
hero Jeet (Jas Pandher) in London and she realizes
that he is the right choice for her as the attraction between them continues to
grow. The two start sharing many moments with each other and accept that there
is a relationship there. Now, when Dil returns to India after her
successful operation, Jeet realizes that he cannot do without her and so he too
lands up at her native place.
After that the usual opposition comes the climax and it is a predictable end. In
a nutshell it is the usual NRI theme that has been attempted many times. While
the first half of the film can be called reasonable, it´s the post interval
phase of the movie that is the weakest link of Indian Babu. The direction falls
flat and redundant.
Performance wise, Jaz has the personality of an actor, but has to brush up on
his acting skills. Gurleen looks cute but lacks any acting skills. Johnny Lever
is disappointing, as he has been in his last few movies. Mukesh Rishi is just
adequate Jaspal Bhatti has no scope and Alok Nath is just about ok as well.
The saving grace of the movie are the melodies of Nadeem
Shravan as a few of the songs are hum able, especially "Mera
Dil Mera Dil". Even that alone doesn't do much for the film. On the
whole, this movie has little chances of succeeding at the box office or of
proving itself worthy of your eye, especially as it has a story line similar to
Aditya Chopra´s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. As if we
haven't seen enough of
this in the past years...
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