GOVINDA FAILS TO LEAD AND PREITY FAILS TO DO KARISMA
By Pankaj Shukla
Critic's I-view
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Biggies of Bollywood have tied the saddles and have announced their comeback in a big way. The crusade starts with Govinda, now Member of Parliament, with his long held film 'Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen'. Next will be Urmila Matondkar in 'Naina' followed by Aamir Khan in 'Mangal Pandey' and so on and on and on. But, right now focus is on 'Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen', once Hero Number One Govinda returns with his slapstick comedy. The film is last of the trilogy made by Harmesh Malhotra starting from 'Dulhe Raja' and then followed by 'Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare'.
Preity Zinta who is on a high post- success of films like 'Kal Ho Na Ho' and 'Veer- Zaara' is paired with him in this film. In fact, when 'Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen' was being made some four years ago, there used to be a competition among heroines to grab the role against Govinda in any film. But, he had lost his charm and that was the reason why this film 'Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen' had been lying in cans for almost two years. Would Govinda who had been away from the filmdom since his election to Parliament return to his fans? 'Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen' is a stereotype film that has been made in the past by the likes of Man Mohan Desai and David Dhawan, but in the age of realistic films, the slapstick genre may find little takers.
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KKPK follows the often-repeated path of comedy of errors again. The formula has worked many times in favor of Govinda in the past, let's have a look on how it turns in his new movie. KKPK is the story of Raja (Govinda), a commoner who works in a travel agency. One day he is sacked by his employer (Satish Kaushik), and heads for his hometown in Bihar. On the way he takes a lift in the car of a young man named Vicky (Mohnish Behl) who is going to see a beautiful girl. Vicky is son of an underworld don Govardhan (Kader Khan) who operates in Mumbai. He is not in good terms with another don Damaani (Prem Chopra) who is based in Surat. Supremo (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) wants both of them to shake hands, and on his instruction Vicky goes to meet the daughter of Damaani. The plan is to get the kins of both the dons married so that peace prevails between them.
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On the way, Vicky meets with an accident and Raja reaches Dammani's place instead of Vicky. Raja is given a red carpet welcome. Accepted as Govardhan's son, Raja finds this new situation in his favor and starts enjoying it. Damaani's daughter Preity (Preity Zinta) doesn't like Raja at first. However, with the passing away of time they fall in love with each other. On the other hand, after some days Vicky reaches back home and Govardhan gets furious to know that someone else has posed as his son. He sets about to eliminate Raja, but Raja is smarter and declares himself Govardhan's illegitimate son. The climax has many confusions, clarifications and confrontations that lead to a happy ending as always in Govinda's movies.
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KKPK comes to theatres at a time when people no longer want to see jokes turned into scenes and those too seen many times before. Most of the films that Govinda has to his credit had relied heavily on the type of comedy that doesn't require a common sense. But, viewers are no more insensible and cannot be taken for granted. KKPK also lacks novelty of any kind. Director Harmesh Malhotra is in awe of Govinda and seems to have forgotten to take care of anything else. The story progression goes haywire right from the start and to establish enmity between the dons of Surat and Mumbai, he wastes too much of time. Even, sequencing of scenes is not appropriate; sometime scenes jumble and sometime they do not have any connection between them. Harmesh Malhotra puts bizzare things in between and makes the whole screenplay senseless. KKPK also lacks technical credibility. Songs have been played many times before the release of the film in public. Anand Milind may feel lost in the past but even the picturization of these songs is very ordinary, and fails to meet the standards of a director who has given super hit films like 'Naagin' and 'Nagina' in the past.
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Among actors, KKPK is the biggest drawback for its lead actress Preity Zinta. Failure of this film will not make any impact on Govinda's prospects because he has nothing left for his film career. He has moved on to become a political leader, but Preity Zinta cannot afford such a kind of film, at a time when her career is going headstrong. She is an actress on her own and to put her in the bracket of Raveenas and Karismas is a bad idea. She is not comfortable in doing all this. It shows on screen too in KKPK. Kader Khan and Prem Chopra have passed their ages of acting and they do not act, rather hamm now. Even Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Himani Shivpuri, Razzak Khan and Mohnish Behl fail to lift the spirits of the film. The only saving grace are some lighter moments created by Johny Lever and Satish Kaushik. Sorry, Govinda! Time has changed for you to move on from slapstick comedies. Maybe some situational comedy brings in some relief in 'Sukh'!
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