BOLLYWOOD

MAIN AUR MRS KHANNA had the potential to be an intense, intricate, complicated story of love. However, the weak writing has let the film down. It's really sad because they had one of the best actresses in Bollywood playing the lead in Kareena Kapoor. They also had Salman Khan, a top draw for distributors across the globe. But the intensity of the romance between Salman and Kareena is wasted away by novice twist, which takes the sting out of the tale.

The meeting between Samir Khanna (Salman Khan) and Raina (Kareena Kapoor), too is not very convincing. But the film does take off after that and then crash lands at the Melbourne airport with the introduction of the 'twist'. Samir marries Raina who is from an orphanage. However, his parents are not too happy with their son's choice of bride. They move to Melbourne, Australia, to begin their marital life. Here, Samir faces some tough financial times, we learn, as he is involved in his firm losing out on a lot of money in the stock exchange. Not able to get a job in Australia, he decides to shift base to Singapore at the insistence of his friend.

At the airport, however, he hands over Raina's passport and ticket and tells her that her flight is to Delhi, while he is off to Singapore. He says that this is in their best interest. Raina decides against boarding the flight back to Delhi and with the help of a friend finds a place to stay and a job at the airport. Here she meets Aakash (Sohail Khan), who works at a cafe. Akash it is who helps her out during her difficult times and they develop a bond of friendship. Though for Mrs Khanna, Akash is just a good friend, Akash has slowly fallen in love with her. He feels Samir will not come back for her and theirs will be a happy ending. However, Samir, after tasting success, comes back to Australia to take Raina with him. Here is when the complications erupt.

In this day and age of instant communication, it's sad that Samir and Raina hardly ever keep in touch on the phone that she does not let him know that she has registered for a marriage with Akash for the sake of her work permit. In addition, the scenes where Aakash and his friend try to barge into their home and all three (Aakash, his friend and Samir) sleep on the same bed is not convincing. I'm sure they had sofas and even carpets to lie down on. Samir and Raina need not have to sleep in different rooms, too.

When there's not much in a script, no actor can do anything. Not even a dashing Samir, or even a stunning Mrs Khanna!