Bewafaa   Producer: Sahara One/Boney Kapoor Entertainment Director: Dharmesh Darshan Starring: Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen, Manoj Bajpai, Kareena Kapoor, Shamita Shetty, Kabir Bedi, Nafisa Ali. Music: Nadeem-Shravan Lyrics: Sameer Recommended Audience: Parental Guidance Approximate Running Time: 145 mins Film Released on: 25 February 2005 Reviewed by: Shahid Khan  - Rating: 4.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

There are worse films to sit through than “Bewafaa”, I kept reminding myself as I groaned at every cheesy moment rolled out in Dharmesh Darshan’s epic.

Grand houses, never-ending stairs, luxury cars combined with fake emotions and insincere acting form the make-up of “Bewafaa”.

Kareena Kapoor is Anjali, a girl in Canada who is in love with Indian Raja (Akshay Kumar), an aspiring pop-star. Her first scene is when she is being woken up by her mother in the morning (just like countless other heroine introduction scenes in many films) and when you see Kareena getting out of bed with her hair and make-up perfect, you soon realise that what you are watching is a glamorous melodrama. In other words, there is going to be no semblance of realism here.

It seems like Raja lives on a boat because he is always there singing his romantic numbers and doing the naughty dance moves with Anjali. His orange goatee has obviously worked its charm because Anjali is smitten with him. Enter didi Aarti (Sushmita Sen) out of nowhere with a baby bump in tow. She is married to the “invisible man” (Anil Kapoor as Aditya) who is a businessman (working for some “invisible business”). After Aarti has sung her song, it is time for her to die. And indeed she does kick the bucket right after she has given birth to twins (poor Sushmita doesn’t even get a dying scene speech!).

Before you can say, “when is the intermission?”, Anjali marries Aditya to be the mother of those unfortunate twins. All this happens without even a word of explanation to Raja. Looks like his orange goatee just was not charming enough. Anjali tries her best but the problem for her is that Aditya is too busy being engrossed in his work or pining away for his dead wife. So when a newly packaged Raja (with lovely sideburns and no orange goatee!) comes back into her life, she is tempted to be a bewafaa. It is not made easy for Anjali as Dil and Pallavi (Manoj Bajpai, Shamita Shetty) escape from the Clown Academy to torture her.

Manoj Bajpai is the biggest disappointment in this soap opera. It is no secret that he is a talented actor yet his hammy acting is the main downfall of this movie. His main catchphrase is “yaaahooo” and his creepy sense of humour has every character in splits. Just what are they laughing at? Anil, especially, chortles away like there is no tomorrow. Maybe there is a button which Manoj presses that automatically makes Anil go “Ha Ha Ha”. Shamita Shetty as his wife fares little better as she also comes across as being completely loopy and dizzy (when she is meant to be intimidating).

As the main protagonist, Kareena Kapoor does justice to her role. She has become an expert at crying scenes and indeed she has plenty of those to chew her way through in here. Akshay Kumar doesn’t bother with acting. He just says his lines and experiments with his hair. Sushmita Sen looks good and shows off her infectious giggle. Anil Kapoor is wasted, as all he seems to do is go to work and then come home. With such an interesting cast, only Dharmesh Darshan could waste most of their efforts. As for the remainder of the supporting artistes, Kabir Bedi and Nafisa Ali, they are just about bearable.

The film was promoted as being different because apparently it talks about adultery and whether adultery is ever right or wrong. This is just an old mink dressed in a new coat because “Bewafaa” never tackles anything new or thought provoking. It skims over the issue. Kareena and Akshay’s characters do meet up but they are not shown consummating their affair so whether adultery has been committed or not is a debatable argument. Essentially, the script belongs to the old school of thought and if you are familiar with the endings of all Dharmesh Darshan films, you can predict the outcome of “Bewafaa”.

While the story is too predictable, it is hard to understand just why Anjali never informs Raja about her decision to marry her dead sister’s husband. This shows her up as being selfish and unfeeling (ironic, considering her sacrifice) and her later regret does not seem genuine. The second half is too slow and lacks the momentum that can grip an audience. The climax is a letdown.

There certainly are worse films to sit through than “Bewafaa”. The director’s previous “Haan… Maine Bhi Pyar Kiya” is one such example. But it is with “Bewafaa” that you feel remorse at such a waste of talent and story potential.