'Laga Chunri Mein Daag', 'Aaja Nachle' and to an extent 'Tashan' too failing to hit the box office like its other movies the Yash Raj Films is back this time with 'Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic', a children centric subject. Maybe the banner thought of attracting the special audience and not let the school summer vacation go waste this year. Besides, Yash Raj has repeated the lead pair of its earlier movie 'Ta Ra Rum Pum' - Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee. Not only that Yash Raj Films has even used the same name of Saif Ali's character - Ranbeer - in this movie as in 'Ta Ra Rum Pum'.
The movie's story is somewhat strange inasmuch it revolves around a businessman who accidentally kills a man leaving four kids to survive. The judge punishes Ranbeer (Saif Ali Khan), to look after the deceased's kids or face the prison term. The children in turn harass the culprit's several relatives who are asked to look after them. They come to Ranbeer's home and meet his striking girlfriend Malaika (Amisha Patel). The latter tries to be friend them, but the kids take an instant dislike to her, who is a kind of vamp; fashionable to the extent of wearing revealing clothes and talking non-stop on the phone!
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The children want to revenge their parents' death and aren't happy with Amisha though Ranbeer gels well with bubble-headed Amisha . Then, enters Rishi Kapoor in the sky, painting clouds and holding a meeting with his lady angels. He entrusts his favorite and most "badtameez pari" Geeta (Rani Mukherji). She arrives on earth to help the kids out, and wins over their hearts. She wins Ranbeer's heart , too. But, being a pari ( fairy) she has to choose either her magical powers or love. The four children named Akshat Chopra, Shriya Sharma, Rachit Sidana and Ayushi Berman render their roles excellently well ; they act as little adults with problems, confusion and feelings of their own, usually lacking in other movies.
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Saif plays impressively, Rani excels all and leads the cast . In fact, she carries the movie on her shoulders. But alas, the actress is made to wear the heaviest clothes, presumably to look like a pari. Her cycling down a rainbow and floating on water are sure feats to elicit shrieks from kids. Amisha is lucky that way and plays a supremely funny character deserving kudos .
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Thus, the movie bears the title of 'Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic'. Songs like Bulbula where Geeta transforms the moon into a boat and Beete Kal Se that has the fairy and the kids in the museum with a dancing, toothy dinosaur are superbly picturised. However, her asking the kids to imagine participating in a game show where points are awarded for every good deed like a sort of law of karma remains a mystery.
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Sandeep Chowta has provided peppy background music. Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music based on Prasoon Joshi's lyrics is excellent. So is Dileep Subramanium's sound designing. Kunal Kohli and Rohena Gera's dialogues are nice too though with few exceptions. Overall, the movie is worth watching, especially because of Rani Mukherjee's natural performance.
Kunal Kohli's direction to a Yash Raj banner movie has indeed succeeded in getting the best performances out of its talented cast though their characters fall much short of freshness in their roles.
