Tujhe Meri Kasam   Producer: Ushakiron Movies Director: K. Vijaya Bhaskar Starring: Ritesh Deshmukh, Genelia D\\\'Souza, Raja, Shakti Kapoor Music: Viju Shah Lyrics: Mehboob Recommended Audience: Parental Guidance Film Released on: 03 January 2003 Reviewed by: Suraj Das  - Rating: 4.5 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

A rich, spoiled politician´s son (Ritesh Deshmukh) decides he wants to be a Bollywood hero even though he has been trained as an architect and has no experience even remotely related to the film industry. But since his dad has powerful connections, a film is actually set up with an upstart banner (Ushakiron Movies). The script (Neeraj Vohra) is created by mixing together elements from only the most successful Yash Chopra-Karan Johar-Sooraj Barjatya films. The director (K. Vijaya Bhaskar) is picked out of hat because - well, let´s face it - the director doesn´t really matter in films like this. And to make sure that the debutante hero gets all the attention and applause, a complete unknown actress (Genelia D´Souza) with little hope of ever making it big in the industry is paired opposite the lead.

The makers decide that the narrative of the film should play like a clips reel from almost all of the successful candy floss romance films of the recent past. They calculate a mundane plot by taking the first half of "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai," adding a dash of "Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai" and just a pinch of "Hum Apke Hain Koun.” But their plans go terribly wrong when the plot turns out overly melodramatic and audiences realize they had seen the same story handled several times better!

The plot involves a college student, Rishi (Ritesh Deshmukh), and his friend, Anju (Genelia D’Souza). These two are soul mates, but they don´t know it. Rishi just thinks of Anju as "one of the guys." But then Anju meets Akash (Raja) who falls in love with her and proposes to her. She accepts, but when she realizes that after her marriage she won´t be able to see Rishi anymore, she breaks off her engagement. And while Rishi realizes he loves Anju, he doesn´t want to accept her after her engagement is broken. What happens next and how this convoluted mess is sorted out forms the crux of this uninspired melodrama.

As if the plot weren’t routine enough, the director failed to make the execution notable. Mr. Bhaskar tried very hard, but simply couldn’t manage to make any of the events on screen engaging in any sense of the word! The college scenes in the first half of the film were bogged down in comedy sketches to an unbearable extent. And the campy drama in the second half fared no better.

But the worst surprise was yet to come for the poor politician’s son. While he came off as somewhat miscast and awkward on the silver screen, the girl no one thought would make it turned out to be the real charmer in the film. Ritesh was visibly uncomfortable in the film, delivering off-key expressions and emotions. Genelia, on the other hand, managed to steal quite a few scenes in a charming show of genuine talent.

Alas, the architect´s first forray into films had a tragic ending. There was just very little to make the architect´s debut film even worth watching. Overall, Tujhe Meri Kasam is a tepid film with only fleeting moments of worthwhile entertainment.