Muskaan   Producer: Bhushan Kumar Director: Rohit Manash Starring: Aftab Shivdasani, Gracy Singh, Neha, Anjala Zaveri Music: Nikhil-Vinay Lyrics: Sameer Genre: Suspense Recommended Audience: General Film Released on: 26 March 2004 Reviewed by: Shruti Bhasin  - Rating: 3.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

Let’s get right down to business. Bollywood churns out another film that slowly begins to make you realize that filmmakers purposely want to mesh different concepts together: romance, music, fashion, mystery, friendship, sacrifice, and the list goes on and on.

There’s a guy, who’s a fashion designer, named Sameer (Aftab Shivdisani) who is searching for his dream girl to wear the dress he designed. He works with his close friends Janvi (Neha of Rahul and Fiza fame), Sharad (Parvin Dabas of Monsoon Wedding), Satin (Vrajesh Hirjee of Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai and other sidekick roles) and Shikha (Anjala Zaveri, who is more famous in Southern film).

Its obvious that Janvi loves Sameer, but he is too blind to see it. Sharad loves Janvi, but she is too blind to see it. One day, Sameer dials a, OOPS, wrong number to Muskaan (played by Gracy Singh). Now this wrong number is strange because for 1) it goes to a hostel, and 2) it seems as if Muskaan is the receptionist who is the only one who ever answers the phone. Frankly, Gracy does not suit the school girl role, because she does not fit the profile (she looks old and tired).

Anyway, Sameer and Muskaan begin talking but do not tell each other their names. And surprise surprise, they fall in love, but do not bother telling each other. Both must leave town so they decide to meet on January 1st at . . . (you can guess where because its been seen in so many other films).

So, they both head to Shimla. Sameer needs a runway model and Muskaan fits the bill. After meeting each other (but not knowing they are phone friends), they hate each other, then become friends, and then fall in love. Huh? But they are already in love with their phone friend. Yes yes its very confusing. And a song insertion every 5 minutes does not help the plot move on.

Janvi gets killed right after she threatens Muskaan to stay away from Sameer. Before she dies she write the letter S in blood. But wait, by coincidence, the remaining friends all have their names begin with the letter S. Who could the killer be? Do you really want to know? What happens to the love story? Is it all wrapped up by the end? You bet, but was it worth the trouble? No.

The problem with Muskaan is that there are so many plots that the viewer loses track that a movie is going on. I must admit Aftab and Gracy make a valiant effort to share on-screen chemistry but the director fails in this casting. Their acting is average at most and neither of them truly shine to their acting capabilities. Aftab is more suitable to comedic roles and Gracy needs to pick more diversified roles to gain better exposure in Bollywood. The friends, could’ve been played by any side characters seen in films because their roles seems forced in the story.

The movie’s name, Muskaan, seems pointless, since the second half is on guessing the murder mystery, in which Muskaan has no role. Typical screenplay errors make the filmmakers look desperate to release any film for the financial gains rather than quality cinema making and entertainment.

My overall recommendation: watch the film only if you want to see another romantic thriller and/or guess why Neha was killed and for what idiotic motive. Enjoy!