Indian Babu   Producer: Surjit S. Pandher Director: Lawrence D\\\' Souza Starring: Jaz Pandher, Gurline Chopra, Mukesh Rishi, Johnny Lever, Alok Nath Music: Nadeem-Shravan Lyrics: Sameer Genre: Comedy Recommended Audience: General Film Released on: 07 March 2004 Reviewed by: Abid  - Rating: 4.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

It seems highly undoubtful that director Lawrence D´Souza will continue to stick with his ´one film wonder ´ image and that being ´Saajan´ with 'Arzoo' being the saving grace and even that cannot be called a success.

The profitable overseas market seems to encourage many to go for the ´NRI´ angle after the success of ´Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge´, but in this form, with no familiar faces, a not so popular banner and lack of accurate promotion, chances that his latest, Indian Babu, will make it there, if anywhere, are truly slim.

India Babu is the story of ´Dil´ (Gurleen Chopra), the daughter of a poor farmer ´Babu´ (Alok Nath). Dil gets engaged to Abhay Thakur (Rajat Thakur), who is the son of the village zamindar Suraj Pratap Singh (Mukesh Rishi), because of circumstances beyond her control.

Before long, it is discovered that Dil has something wrong with her dil (heart) and Suraj Pratap Singh, the deemed to be father in law, sends her to London with the help of his good friend Mohan Joshi. As it is very obvious, Dil meets the hero Jeet (Jas Pandher) in London and she realizes that he is the right choice for her as the attraction between them continues to grow. The two start sharing many moments with each other and accept that there is a relationship there. Now, when Dil  returns to India after her successful operation, Jeet realizes that he cannot do without her and so he too lands up at her native place.

After that the usual opposition comes the climax and it is a predictable end. In a nutshell it is the usual NRI theme that has been attempted many times. While the first half of the film can be called reasonable, it´s the post interval phase of the movie that is the weakest link of Indian Babu. The direction falls flat and redundant. 

Performance wise, Jaz has the personality of an actor, but has to brush up on his acting skills. Gurleen looks cute but lacks any acting skills. Johnny Lever is disappointing, as he has been in his last few movies. Mukesh Rishi is just adequate Jaspal Bhatti has no scope and Alok Nath is just about ok as well.

The saving grace of the movie are the melodies of Nadeem Shravan as a few of the songs are hum able, especially "Mera Dil Mera Dil". Even that alone doesn't do much for the film. On the whole, this movie has little chances of succeeding at the box office or of proving itself worthy of your eye, especially as it has a story line similar to Aditya Chopra´s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. As if we haven't seen enough of this in the past years...