Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai   Producer: Allu Arvind- Tips Films Director: K. Murali Mohan Rao Starring: Amisha Patel, Aftab, Jackie Shroff, Anupama Verma Music: Sajid-Wajid Lyrics: Jalees Rashid & Ajay Jhingran Genre: Romantic Recommended Audience: General Approximate Running Time: 2 hrs 45 mins Reviewed by: Rakesh Budhu  - Rating: 6.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review

One hit directors have a tendency to stray when making a film. It appears their sole intentions are to create a film with hit potential. K. Murali Mohan Rao has failed even on that attempt though Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai is bound to do some business, much more than his latest work of perfection Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye. Some times directors could care less about the quality of their films and end up trying to make a film that will work at the box office. Quality matters folks, and most of the time, that is what wins at the box office.

As much as it is touted that love stories are out in Bollywood, many love stories are still released. That said and done, Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai holds its promise on having a twist and tries to be different in its own way, but alas it fails even on that attempt.

Rahul (Aftab) has been in pursuit of the amore of Sandhya (Amisha Patel) for some time with no luck. Throughout his pursuit his brother, Dr. Tiwari (Jackie Shroff) has been his sole confidante. Contrasting medium rich with medium poor, Rahul and Sandhya arise from starkly different families, the former of lavish living and the latter of verbal abuse and mistreatment ala a drunken father.

Humorously Rahul waits at the bus stop for Bus No. 16 where Sandhya travels everyday. After futile attempts at acquiring the beauty Rahul hopes that Neha (Anupama Verma) will assist him, again to no avail. It takes a horrible incident to open the eyes of Rahul and Sandhya. Thus we approach a climax of unexpected results.

Tips films have a pretty decent script to work with and in that sense should have put a little more effort into making it work. In reality, the screenplay is not as candyfloss and typical as it is made to seem and holds a lot of potential in making the audience think. However, it later comes across, as that was not Mohan’s intention. Instead, he begins to add shades to these characters only to later clear them away. Sandhya’s ambition in life is indeed something many young girls can relate to today, but instead, Mohan makes a mockery of it having her change her mind at the drop of a dime. The struggle she faces with her drunken dad, Raj Patil Raja´s (Ashish Vidyarthi), is also another realistic aspect that many may have had the opportunity to understand.

Rahul almost seems like he is going the Fatal Attraction way ala Darr and several other film, but his turn about, again without any divulging into his change of mind, at the climactic portion of the film ultimately leaves us disappointed.

The dialogues by Javed Siddiqi, though not gelling with the film at all, work. The conversational portions between Sandhya and her mother, Rahul and his brother are all well written pieces, but are oddly placed throughout the film. Equally playing hopscotch as the theme of the film does as well.

K. Murali Mohan Rao’s direction is normal, several portions drags others flow smoothly. Still much better than Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaaye, Rao shows that he can make a film, but making it work is another field all together. He should have handled the song sequences much better and come up with a better soundtrack from Sajid-Wajid. The songs are surely enjoyable but lack any originality whatsoever. Still, the soundtrack ends up being a saving grace for the film. Each song, though sadly playing no purpose in the film, (and popping up just as irrelevant) has beautiful scenery and come across as appealing. The comedic portions all need to go. It’s time directors try to make hard-hitting films without needless comedic sequences (which is no different for the scenes between the main protagonists either). Rao wastes almost an hour trying to develop a wafer thin relationship with dragging comedy.

Aftab doesn’t score this time. For an actor who is usually natural and honest in his performances, his role here has that been there seen that feel to it. He performs well but ends up coming across more with aspirations as to “this may be my hit…”

Despite the media being vicious to Amisha’s career, it´s clear that Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai will do no harm to it. The actress clearly chooses her films with the intent of picking good roles and “hit” material. She obviously knows that picking non-mainstream films will brand her with the title that Tabu, Nandita Das and several other excellent actresses hold. A little discretion is advised but hits don’t make a good actress. She performs well enough and is given much more opportunity to than in her last release Kranti. The only clear flaw is her dialogue delivery. She has done better in Gadar, and parts of Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar but needs to work on it here. She does look gorgeous and shows off her dancing skill in “Dil Pe Chane Laga”. Given that the chances are higher that the film will do average business than flop, this should not harm her career.

Jackie Shroff supports well in his role as an elder. It is actually Anupama Verma who is the real surprise as she adds some extra panache with her short role. Perhaps we will see more of her?

Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai is definitely not the worst of films we’ve seen this year. If Rao had put more effort into his direction and the script we could have had a possible classic (chuckle) on our hands depicting a film, which chronicles the ideals of love vs. reality. But, that’s not what we get thus leaving us somewhat disappointed. However, thanks to some mildly entertaining tunes, Amisha, and some beautiful cinematography, the film still ends up being a watchable, but don’t expect much.