The somewhat delayed release of Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke seems stale and a generally unsuccessful venture, but that is no reason to avoid the movie. With an appealing cast, a special appearance from Sunny Deol and some well handled scenes not to mention a phenomenal performance by Madhuri Dixit, there is still some hope for box office success.

The story begins with Vicky (Ajay Devgun) a thief, gambler and above all a car thief. He is money hungry hoping that with enough money he can turn his life around. Then meet his sidekick and sweetheart Sakshi (Preity Zinta) a bubbly girl who oozes charm. Together they form a good team, however when they get themselves in trouble with a car dealer their lives go topsy turvey. Vicky was involved in the accidental death of the car dealer´s brother and as a result he now has villain chasing him. The dealer kills Vicky outside a high class hotel and is satisfied in having avenged his brothers death. Sadly, for the audience, it turns out that was Vicky´s look alike Rohit. So while the car dealer finds peace in killing him, Sakshi is devastated thinking her partner in crime and in life has died. All this time Vicky is actually on his way to Manali obviously unaware of the chaos taking place at home. In Manali everyone keeps on mistaking him for someone named Rohit including Neha (Madhuri Dixit). Turns out Rohit was Neha´s childhood sweetheart. They married against the wishes of Neha´s folks who wanted their daughter to marry Sagar (Sunny Deol) the perfect suitor. However now that Rohit is dead Neha has become mentally disturbed, but still manages to stay dressed as a bride despite being a widow. Rohit´s dad begs Vicky to stay with them and act as Rohit to help Neha get over the trauma of Rohit´s death. Vicky agrees after setting a nice price and ends up running back to Dehli with the money and some stolen jewels to his sweetie. Eventually he has a change of heart and returns to Manali to help nurse Neha back to health. And so goes the story which is full of enough mistaken identity, melodrama, twists and turns to confuse you.

Performances from the cast range from excellent to mediocre. Madhuri Dixit rises above a bad script and takes the movie over with her great performance. This winning performance is a welcome back for the selective actress! She makes the most of her sketchy role and it´s a surprise how she come out with so much from so little. Her climax scene is excellent, and so is her stunning dance sequence in the films to only hummable song Aaja Aaja. To top it off she looks like a million bucks in Ritu Beri´s designer garb. Ajay Devgun does the bad theif turned good guy act for the third time in a year. If Deewane and Raju Chacha weren´t enough, here is yet another sad example of the same thing again. He is ok in the acting department but then again he doesn´t really get a chance to do much besides look confused. Even that confused look doesn´t seem intentional, he really seems to be lost in this role, funny he´s done it twice already. Preity Zinta is chirpy but somewhat wasted. She has been sidelined and her role is mediocre. Of what little scope she has, she does a good job and manages to look nice for the most part. Sunny´s special appearance is ok and fits into the plot but still seems to be a publicity ploy. Of the supporting cast Vikram Gokhale is good, and helps with the emotional sequences. Samita Jaikar is good but wasted. Deep Dhillion is ok but tries too hard to be menacing at points.

Deepak Shivdasani takes a break from his usual actioners and tries a love story (seems like Rajiv Rai isn´t the only one trying to break the mold). To his credit he does a great job at narrarating the story. The story is a rehash of some old plots but with a refreshing treatment. He pieces the fragments of old films together to give it some flow and there are a few scenes which are handled well. The climax scene between Madhuri and Vikram is moving, as is the reunion of Sakshi and Vicky when he runs away from Manali with the jewels and money. Still there are a lot of holes in the script and leave the viewer confused. For instance the reason for Madhuri´s mental disorder isn´t convincing and seems to jar the script. How do all the characters end up in Manali, we´ll never know and do not bother trying to figure it out. The first half of the movie is very boring and slow despite all the things that happen. When the focus shifts to the actual story in the second half things pick up. The climax is a bit of letdown, what ensues with the car dealer really seemed forced and didn´t make sense. Dialouges are also a letdown, but they are never a big deal for me unless it´s Nana Patekar mouthing them. Cinematography by Rajan Kinagi is ok, there are some good shots of Malaysia in the title song. Music is a let down but the picturisations are encouraging. The title song is nicely done as is Jo Pyaar Karta Hai (Madhuri looks stunning in this song). My personal favourite is the Adnan Sami composed Aaja Aaja. Otherwise this is typical filmi fare.

Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke could have been a better movie had they focused more on the script in the first half instead of Ajay´s character sketch. And with some shots looking old and stale and then the following frames looking new you can definitely see that the film took some time to complete. Still Madhuri Dixit makes the movie worth the watch and not just for her performance but her look in the film is amazing. The catch line for the movie is love is a journey not a destination. Unfortunatley this journey is boring and the audience is left hoping that the destination will soon appear!