Khamosh!!! Bihari Babu is all set for his new "avatar" of a film producer and here comes his first presentation 'Mera Dil Leke Dekkho'. The veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha has been Bollywood icon for decades followed by his influential impact in politics. Now, he is all set to roll camera and create a world of dream merchants. Unfortunately, this time he disappoints completely and the disappointment comes with his first offering 'Mera Dil Leke Dekkho'.
The boisterously pitched actor has proved too meek as producer and it shows in this worst possible comical show. The idea of producing sex comedy is an upbeat trend but it needs enormous amount of efficient directorial skills and talented acting prowess. The concept should have the backdrop of innovative thinking and fun-filled comical gags to tickle funny bones. Besides, the actors should have brilliant comical timing to make things work on the screen. It fails on all the fronts!
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Comedy is a serious business, the tagline has been repeated endless times whenever a comedy film hits theaters. This has been the year of "comedies" and these have lived up to expectations. The flavor of the season comes as the spice and sugar for this film but it fails to live up to audience's expectations. A fractured script, spineless screenplay and below average acting skills are its main villains. The film starts off with minimum media hype and with the lowest possible face value. There have been surprises like 'Pyar Ke Side Effects' but this seems to be a complete disappointment.
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'Mera Dil Leke Dekkho' is poorly narrated "forced humor" that carries the tasteless flavor of the film. It may sound ridiculous that the comical angle seems to be accusing each other with gay relationship. It starts with silly misadventures of accusation and ends up with preposterously planted climax. Debutante Rohit Kaushik proves a complete loser at a time when comedies are ruling the box office. To make things worse the concept has been plagiarized on bunch of amateur actors who spoil the show. They are set of anglicized accented youth with poor Hindi diction and out of proportion acting skills. The director seems to have taken audience for ride with a reckless comical subject clubbed with mismatched performers. Koel Purie forgets Punjabi accent. The actress who made big impact in parallel cinema tries her luck in commercial mainstream cinema but sinks!
Even Jackie Shroff tests comical skills but fails to lift the spirits of this uninspiring comical flick. Archana Puran Singh is the only dependable performer in the entire clan with some performance.
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The film tries to relive the comical flavors of Hollywood 'American Pie' and popular TV series "Friends" but fails miserably. The one big question arises as to why everybody spies on each other for gay relationship? The plot of the film builds from the theme of Bollywood's most appreciated 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge'. The film is a story about an NRI girl (Koel Puri) from England who comes to win her beloved's heart in India. Then, the film moulds itself into sex comedy where the blame game begins.
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The story of the film unfolds through the love relationship of Archana (Koel Puri) and Rahul (Punit Tejwani). Archana is stubborn urbanized girl who promises to win her lover's heart. The bold and brazen girl plans to visit India and meets Rahul. The perturbed Rahul has three other roommates -- Rocky (Premjit Singh), Joy (Carran Kapoor) and Vinay (Neil Bhoopalam) living with his family. Rahul has caring and affluent parents (Jackie Shroff and Archana Puran Singh) with different outlooks.
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Rahul's mother (Archana Puran Singh) believes that her son is having gay relationship with his friend. She is religious by nature but often smells something fishy. On the other hand, Rahul's father (Jackie Shroff) is a womanizer and makes love secretly on Saturday nights. Things get messy when Archana bumps into Rahul's place without the consent of his parents. Rahul resents and finally Archana falls for the charms of his friend Rocky. But the problems arise when she confronts the fact that Rocky is gay. The predictable ends prove to be irritating; a comical misadventure that becomes difficult to digest.
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Why does the director give its actor reckless screenplay that fails to create a comical feast? The film fails to tickle funny bones and proves a damp squib in the end. The lead actors prove to be a bunch of teak wood furniture with minimum possible acting skills. Look at the silly grimaces of Koel Puri and Punit Tejwani (the lead actors) when they are in a comical fix. The sequences where Jackie Shroff and Archana Puran Singh baffle about homosexual relationship are absurdly plagiarized. The supporting cast's interaction with each other shows the naivety on part of script writer.
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Koel Puri makes her "Punjabi" accent so disruptive and noisy that she never seems to be an NRI Indian. Punit Tejwani grins, hams, shouts preposterously to create a feel of enormous comical enchantment with no comical timing. He surrogates the westernized mannerism with imperfect Hindi diction that irritates in every scene. The rest of the young actors have nothing to offer and act mechanically with the script. Jackie Shroff should abstain himself from comical roles as he has already proved a failure in comedies like 'King Uncle'.
Jatin-Lalit's melodious music is the surprise packages that keeps the spirits high in this easily forgettable comical funfare. Two soundtracks "Woh Aanewali Hai" and "Mera Dil Leke Dekkho" are beautifully composed. In a comedy it's better that you don't force people to laugh; they better laugh on their own.
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Debutante Rohit Kaushik's reckless script, mismatched screenplay and below average direction makes it a non-starter. The film projects itself as "yuppie" entertainer but with poor performances and low face value it has grim chances of survival. The film suffers the heaviest competition this week as it faces competition from five other releases. Despite the fact that the biggest hits of this year are comedies, this lackluster comical flick will be a complete washout at the box-office.
In nutshell, it's a comical blunder.
