Aftab Shivdasani was born with a nappy and an ad film around his waist. He entered the glamour world with the famous ad of Farex (those in late thirties will still remember the famous ad where a kid learns to walk with a spoon in his hand). Time passed and after working in films like Mr. India and others, he was launched by none other than Ram Gopal Verma as a hero in his film 'Mast'. The cute and innocent boy was welcomed by one and all. But the cuteness of this chocolate boy has been the biggest hurdle of his career. After the assassination of its founder, Gulshan Kumar, T-Series saw a big bad phase and then the company regained its gaiety under the leadership of his son Bhushan Kumar. Bhushan wants to make a big name as a film producer but his approach seems to be limited. He is too shortsighted to make a good film. His films right from 'Tum Bin' to 'Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai' to 'Muskaan' all have the same goody look. They have too many songs.
'Muskaan' made by new comers-- Rohit-Manish -- is a stale story with an addition of some dashes of thriller and some elements of a love triangle. The writer Atul Sharma has no clear idea as to what he wants to make and so is the case with its directors who seem to be confused. The film starts with establishing the hero Samir (Aftab Shivdasani) as a fashion designer. He is too soft and too romantic to hardly resist the attraction of a sweet girl. He gets a wrong call from a girl and becomes her friend instantly. She (Gracy Singh) is 'Muskaan'. Both talk with each other on phone for hours. One day they have to take a break from each other as both of them are leaving for outstation work. Oblivious of each other's identity, they meet in beautiful locales of Shimla and fall in love with each other. Soon they are joined by Samir's good friend (at least Samir thinks so) Jhanvi (Neha). Jhanvi loves Samir. The love is one sided. The love triangle takes shape and before the matter gets worse Jhanvi is murdered. The suspicion breeds and Samir finds himself in a dilemma. Samir's good friends -- Sharad (Pravin Dabbas), Satin (Vrajesh Hirjee) and Shikha (Anjala Zaveri) are suspects too. The film soon finds the culprit and every one gets a shock after learning as to who committed the crime. Then the film is back to a regular love story, and misunderstanding and confusion between Samir and Muskaan prevail. The film moves slowly. But it hardly leaves a smile (Muskaan) on anybody's lips.
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The Rohit-Manish duo has attempted on a stale subject. Two persons falling for each other without knowing the real identity reminds of 'Sirf Tum' and other films. The story starts with a love flavor, moves as a thriller and ends with a common touch. There is nothing that could make the film memorable. Songs are too many and work as hurdles in the progression of film. Writer Atul Sharma fails miserably to weave different sub plots into one. His scene distribution is pathetic. 'Muskaan' is like watching some serial that keeps on changing its line after every half an hour. The first half an hour is great bore and it is not clear as to where the film is moving. Screenplay is very poor and dialogues do not have any punch. About other technical details only the cinematography part by K. Dattu is impressive. Music by Nikhil Vinay is just average as there is not even a single hit number. Foreign locales look good' but they do have no connection with the plot.
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The only saving point of the film is performance of Aftab Shivdasani who looks tailor-made for this kind of role. His personality suits the role, but he lacks support from the other cast. Aftab's career is in doldrums because of wrong selection of the films. He walks two steps ahead with a good film and then goes back four steps doing these type of mediocre films. Gracy Singh having entered filmdom with a successful film like 'Lagaan' is wasting her talent. She better look for some meaty roles even if they come once or twice a year. She is also looking plum here. Neha as Jhanvi does well and works hard to leave an impression in a short role. But Vrajesh Hirjee irritates. He tries to copy Johny Lever sometimes but in vain. Pravin Dabbas and Anjala Zaveri have inconsequential roles. Gulshan Grover and Sharat Saxena do not impress at all. Rajeev Verma and Razzak Khan are wasted. On the whole, 'Muskaan' will be a loser for its distributors and may fail at the box office despite the drought of films during the last two weeks.
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