Kucch To Hai   Producer: Shobha and Ekta Kapoor Director: Anurag Bose & Anil Kumar Starring: Tushaar Kapoor, Esha Deol, Natasha, Yash Tonk, Vrajesh Hirjee, Ashay Chitre, Rishi Kapoor, Johnny Lever and Jeetendra Music: Anu Malik Lyrics: Sameer Genre: Suspense Recommended Audience: General Film Released on: 24 January 2003 Reviewed by: Narbir Gosal  - Rating: 5.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

Yet another weekend, and yet another Hollywood rip-off! That seems to be the trend this year, each weekend since new year we´ve had some really trashy Hollywood rip-offs (Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai, Jism and Dil Ka Rishtaa) and why should this week be any different? This week I had the misfortune of venturing to the theatre to view Kucch To Hai, a film which is a take off of countless Hollywood slasher films. Here they have decided to take the basic premise of the hit I Know What You Did Last Summer and it´s sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and mix it up with some of the basic Bollywood conventions. The result is one mess of a wannabe teen flick.

The story revolves around a group of idiots. We have Karan (Tushaar Kapoor) your typical lover boy, and we have Tanya (Esha Deol) who starts a relationship with Karan after the prom. Oh and we also have a bunch of forgettable actors to fill up the circle of friends. Tashu (Natasha), Yash (Yash Tonk), Pat (Vrajesh Hirjee) and Kush (Ashay Chitre). After Karan and Tanya decide that they love each other, we learn that bechaari Tashu secretly loves Karan but now she´s going to have to suffer silently cause he´s preoccupied. Anyhow that´s one aspect of the film. At the same time Tanya has been caught cheating on an exam by professor Bakshi (Rishi Kapoor) a shady guy who has a mysterious past. In order to save Tanya, Karan and friends decide that it would be best to break in and replace Tanya´s answer sheets. However something goes terribly wrong and they discover a deadly secret. While getting away Tanya causes an accident, killing someone, and unable to deal with her action decides it´s best to leave Shimla (or is it Switzerland) and forget about her past. After she leaves the circle of friends slowly degenerates and Tashu finally gets her boy (Karan of course). Sound a little like I Know What You Did Last Summer yet? Maybe a little but hold on there is more. A Few years later Tanya returns to India for a friends wedding, and this is the perfect excuse for all the friends to unite, however they´re all being stalked by some mysterious dude (in the same getup as the killer from I Know What You Did Last Summer) who is offing them one by one (and I for one was happy that he was getting rid of these brats). Oh and amidst all this bloodshed Tanya and Karan are falling in love again but wait Karan and Tashu have a thing going on. Confused? Well wait till you see the climax! Anyhow the remainder of this ´film´ deals with discovering who the killer is and why he is killing the group of former friends.

Yeah so that´s the silly story of the film in a nutshell. As you can tell Rajeev Jhaveri´s script is a mish mash of all sorts of Slasher flicks and Bollywood love triangles rolled into one painfully predictable and boring script. He tries hard to incorporate something for everyone but the result is half baked on all accounts. As a scriptwriter he fails in developing the story and leaves several loopholes. The climax really takes the cake! Director duo Anurag Bose and Anil Kumar also falter in their department. While the first half is watchable it does drag on a bit. There are a few moments were the film looks like it will pick up but don´t get too excited. The second half is very weak and it´s mainly due to the love triangle aspect. The actual murder mystery takes a backseat to the love story, and this dilutes the impact of the story. The directors obviously forgot that they were supposedly making a horror style film that would leave viewers hanging on the edge of their seats. Instead viewers want to get out of their seats and leave the theatre (a few even did). The murder sequences don´t really register an impact (there´s more relief that another annoying character has finally been killed). but what really takes the cake is the climax which is a giant let down. It is confusing and comes off as a rush job to quickly wrap up the film. It´s pointless to add another plot twist during the last few minutes of the film. The actors look just as confused as the audience.

Technically the film is shot well. When the promos first started airing that was apparent. The camera angles and the cinematography by Johnny Lal and Fawiza Fathima are the best thing about the movie. Amar Mohile´s background score is also an asset. It helps add to the mood of the story. Anu Malik´s score is very weak. Only two numbers stand out, Ding Dong ( a very obvious take off of the Micheal Jackson/Naomi Campbell video ´Out of the closet´) and Kya Pyaar Karoge Mujhse. However there are so many songs and they all pop up in the worst spots, further hampering the film's impact. 

Performances are generally weak. Tushaar Kapoor is not convincing in his role. He needs to quit the industry soon because he cannot act and looks out of place in this flick. He lacks the screen presence and charisma that lead actors should possess. Esha Deol goes the glamour route and looks better than her past films. Her acting is an improvement on her past performances but she gets lost somewhere in the second half. Newcomer Natasha is fun to look at, but that is it. Considering she could have really stolen the show in her role (especially towards the end of the film) she is a big let down. Of the rest, Yash Tonk is average at best, Vrajesh Hirjee is ok, Rishi Kapoor makes the best of his role and somewhat impresses in the climax. Jeetendra is passable and Johnny Lever actually comes off as funny in some scenes.

Overall it would be best to skip this movie for many reasons. It gets zero marks on originality. The plot twists (there are quite a few) eventually become predictable The film itself is a shoddy remake of a Hollywood hit and the climax is one of the worst I´ve seen on the screen in a long time. The film was well promoted and that is why it has taken a decent start, but the business should taper off by the end of the weekend. Kucch To Hai is film which tries really hard to be something new but ultimately it´s the same old stuff. Ekta Kapoor should stick to making her silly serials and please stay away from the Bollywood big screen!