Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke (2001)
Starring: Ajay Devgun, Madhuri Dixit, Preity Zinta
Director: Deepak Shivdasani
Music Director: Sanjeev-Darshan
Synopsis: A putrid, dull, intensely boring Raaste to nowhere! Avoid at all costs.
Reviewed by: Faiz Khan

 

Love is a journey, not a destination, proclaims the film's tagline.

Methinks it's more akin to a bus ride going absolutely nowhere—rather like London's Circle Line, endlessly going round and round without ever arriving anywhere worthwhile. Such is the experience of sitting through this astonishingly poor excuse for entertainment, released, unbelievably, in direct competition with Dil Chahta Hai. The gulf in quality between the two films is so vast that one wonders why films like this are made at all.

Then again, perhaps there is an answer.

This is precisely the sort of old-fashioned melodramatic tripe that still finds favour in smaller centres where sophistication and originality often take second place to formula. While Dil Chahta Hai struggled outside the major cities, this kind of film had every chance of finding an audience.

Sorry folks—but this is dog food.

Vicky (Ajay Devgn) and Saakshi (Preity Zinta) are lovers who earn a living conning people and stealing cars. During one scam, Vicky accidentally kills one of a gangster's henchmen, prompting the villain (Deep Dhillon) to swear revenge.

The gangster pursues the couple through the streets of Delhi, trying repeatedly to run Vicky over. Saakshi hides in the bushes while Vicky escapes into a nearby hotel—where, by sheer coincidence, his exact double, Rohit, appears at precisely the wrong moment.

Naturally, the villain mistakes Rohit for Vicky and promptly runs him down.

Saakshi arrives, sees the body and understandably assumes her beloved is dead.

Meanwhile, Vicky escapes on a bus to Manali, which—surprise, surprise—happens to be Rohit's hometown. Everyone mistakes him for the deceased Rohit, except Rohit's father, who explains that his son died on his honeymoon and that his widow Neha (Madhuri Dixit) has never recovered from the trauma. Suffering from partial amnesia, she remains psychologically trapped in the past.

The family's solution?

Pay Vicky forty lakhs to impersonate Rohit until they can recreate the circumstances of Rohit's death and somehow cure Neha through another carefully staged accident.

Yes, really.

Initially tempted only by the money, Vicky steals a valuable necklace and returns to Saakshi, only to discover that Rohit died because he had been mistaken for him. Wracked with guilt, he returns to help Neha, although not before being instructed to lace her nightly drinks with sleeping pills and—rather oddly—not to take advantage of her.

If only he had, the film might at least have become more interesting.

What follows is complete and utter bunkum.

Everything is predictable from the opening frame to the closing credits, and the absurd premise requires a director with real flair to make it remotely convincing. Shivdasani simply isn't that director. The screenplay lumbers from one cliché to another, offering neither believable drama nor worthwhile comedy.

I suspect audiences in smaller towns may well embrace it, but for anyone expecting coherent storytelling, this is an endurance test.

The film's one saving grace is Madhuri Dixit.

She doesn't appear until almost an hour into the film, and it's no coincidence that the film immediately becomes more watchable once she arrives. Her effortless charm and screen presence inject some much-needed life into proceedings, although once again she has chosen a project that is utterly beneath her considerable talents.

Why she turned down Astitva in favour of this remains one of Bollywood's great mysteries.

Ajay Devgn has lost so much weight that he appears positively gaunt, and his performance reflects the material—uninspired and sleepwalking. Preity Zinta, replacing Karisma Kapoor, fares little better. She is a lively, engaging actress, yet here she is completely wasted in a role that offers her virtually nothing to do.

Musically, the film disappoints as well. The only track that leaves any impression is Madhuri's number, composed by Adnan Sami and sung beautifully by Asha Bhosle. The remainder of the soundtrack is instantly forgettable.

By the end of this very long journey, the only destination you'll be desperate to reach is the exit.

A thoroughly tiresome film and one journey I certainly wouldn't recommend taking.