Tumko Na Bhool Payenge (2002)
Starring: Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Diya Mirza
Director: Pankaj Parashar
Music Directors: Sajid Wajid, Daboo Malik
Synopsis: Total mess of a mystery thriller from once promising Pankaj Parashar
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

It's been almost a year since Salman's last outing, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, a reasonably enjoyable and involving film. It's also been almost five years since Pankaj Parashar last directed a feature, and unfortunately the lay-off has done him very little good because Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge is a thoroughly disappointing affair.

Vir (Salman Khan) is the adopted son of Thakur Pratap Singh (Sharat Saxena), living the idyllic village life with bulging muscles, a permanently heaving chest and a curiously mouse-like expression fixed upon his face. He appears to have everything, including the love of the impossibly bland Muskaan (Dia Mirza), but Vir is plagued by disturbing visions—violent flashes of a past that he cannot connect to his present life.

It's an intriguing premise.

Sadly, the film takes an eternity to get there.

Had someone taken a pair of scissors to the first seventy-five minutes and removed at least sixty of them, the result might have been a considerably more entertaining film. Instead, Parashar stretches the opening beyond endurance until, during Vir and Muskaan's engagement party (with Salman sporting the unforgettable combination of dhoti, achkan... and boots), four mysterious gunmen suddenly attempt to assassinate him.

Only then does the story finally begin.

Vir discovers that he is not actually the Thakur's biological son at all. Years earlier, after losing their own son in the war, the grieving couple discovered an unconscious young man floating in a river while immersing their son's ashes. After eight months in a coma, the stranger awoke uttering the saintly word "Ma", convincing the bereaved couple that God Himself had returned a son to them.

The entire village dutifully maintained the deception.

No wonder Vir has spent years wondering why nobody would ever give him a straight answer about his past.

His suspicions are only heightened during the gloriously melodramatic shirt-ripping scene when he discovers five bullet wounds perfectly decorating his chiselled torso.

Vir heads to Mumbai determined to uncover the truth. The moment he arrives people either shoot at him or recoil in horror at the sight of him.

Was he a criminal?

A police officer?

A hired assassin?

Gradually the mystery unfolds before lumbering towards an inevitably bloody climax.

The greatest disappointment is that the central idea genuinely has potential. An amnesia thriller revolving around a man discovering a violent past could have made for an engrossing piece of entertainment. Instead, Pankaj Parashar buries it beneath endless padding, lifeless romance and every commercial cliché imaginable.

The first half is particularly painful. The relationship between Vir and Muskaan is so devoid of chemistry and interest that every scene feels like an obstacle preventing the actual story from beginning. By the time the mystery finally takes centre stage, much goodwill has already evaporated.

The second half is marginally better.

At least things begin moving.

The action gathers pace, Sushmita Sen enters the picture, and the narrative finally remembers it is supposed to be a thriller. Unfortunately, Parashar cannot resist falling back on the same tired formulas, and what could have developed into a genuinely suspenseful mystery becomes little more than another routine action film.

This ranks amongst Salman's weakest performances. Having shown surprising restraint and maturity in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, he seems strangely disengaged here, sleepwalking through much of the role with little expression or conviction.

Dia Mirza fares even worse. She is undeniably attractive but delivers her dialogue awkwardly and never establishes any screen presence whatsoever. Unless she develops considerably as an actress, the road ahead looks like a very long one indeed.

Sushmita Sen, despite a comparatively brief role, leaves a far stronger impression than the film's leading lady, underlining just how much charisma and confidence she brings to the screen.

The music is equally disappointing. Not a single song lingers in the memory after the end credits have rolled, which for a Salman Khan film is almost an achievement in itself.

A potentially engaging premise is squandered by sluggish pacing, lifeless romance and formulaic storytelling. Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge eventually finds its feet, but only after testing the audience's patience far beyond reasonable limits.

This one is best forgotten.