Producer: Saumil Patel, Pradeep Jain & Ashutosh Bajpay
Director: Feroze Irani
*ing: Kajol, Atul Agnihotri, Jackie Shroff, Ayesha Jhulka, Aruna Irani,
Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Adi Irani & Prem Chopra
Music: Anand Raaj Anand, Pradeep & Ejaz

Released on : July 2, 1999

Reviewed by: Anjali Abrol
dilwaliji@indolink.com

out of 
1/10 for the two songs
1/10 for Kajol's existence in the movie

Hote Hote Pyar Ho Gaya is a mega-disaster, four years in the making. The '80's cast consists of the forgotten Atul Agnithotri (and forgotten with good reason) and Ayesha Julka, both of whom are of Mithun caliber. The fading Jackie Shroff (who is joining the Miuthun stand-still boat) and the current Numero Uno Kajol lead the lackluster HHPHG.

The shorter this review is, the faster I can recover from a severe case of Bollywood boredom. The standard movie plot # 8 is as such: Pinky (Kajol) and Bunty (Atul Agnihotri) meet and fall in love in three minutes, one push, and one song. Their parents have both set them up to be married to Police Officer Arjun (Jackie) and simpleton Shobha (Ayesha). Bunty's annoying aunt, Aroona Irani, feeds them silly ideas to drive Arjun and Shobha away, and she begins her charade by telling them to get married to whom their parents have given their vachans to, then drive their spouses away, obtain talaaks, and then marry each other. Stupid as they are, they go ahead and marry (hence, name symbolism {Pinky and Bunty} reflecting their lack of maturity, as opposed to names Arjun and Shobha). Both Shobha and Arjun love their spouses and put up with their stupid tantrums and silly games, fed by auntie Aroona. Aroona, on the other hand, helps Shobha win Bunty over (why bother with a disgusting prick was the mystery of the movie). Soon, nafrath karte karte, hote hote pyar ho gaya and the suspense ending sums up the movie.

Acting: Horrific. I did not expect much from any of them except for Kajol, but even Kajol looked extremely pained (I think I would be, too. To act like I actually was attracted to Atul would scar me forever).

Story: Get real! The story was so...so...so pathetic! Enough said!

Scenes: Cinematography? I think the movie was shot with a home video camera.  Notice the scene when Atul and Kajol were on a boat, singing, and some gunda comes along. Check out her thing of a shirt. The next scene shows Jackie's mom showing Jackie a picture of his future wife, Kajol. Interestingly, she is wearing the same shirt in the picture....and a scene or two later, when Aroona meets Kajol, she is wearing yet the same unflattering shirt. Darn those tight budgets!

Outfits/Makeup: Disgusting. Movies like these make me marvel on the amazing artwork that is painted on the actors and actresses to make them actually look attractive. Atul baby needed a hair trim, bad. There's a difference between the tousled sexy bed head look and a bad-hair life. Even Kajol, well, looked HORRIBLE. The outfits were all cutsy baby pink and cheesy outfits. Hairstyles and makeup were outdated.

Casting: Was everyone else booked up for the next 10 years? Why must we dig non-existent careers from their well-deserved graves to make a low-budget movie seem expensive?

Songs/dances: I quite liked some of the songs, particularly Haiyo Hikko Hikko Ni and the title song, as indicated in my music review. The dances were stupid, though Kajol manages to look as if she is having the time of her life singing Haiyo Hikko Hikko Ni, though after awhile even her smile became pained. On the other hand, I did enjoy the uniqueness of Pyar Wale Rang until I saw Ayesha trying to act sexy and seduce Atul and resulting in her looking like a cheap dancer, and well, fastforward fastforward! The rest of the songs suffered the same fastforward fate.

Oh wait, I forgot to mention some gundas who entered and exit the movie like the few people who came probably did while watching this in the theater. Okay, mentioned it. Enough said.

Sum up? Three words: The 80's washout.