Pyaar Ke Side Effects Hindi Movie

Feature Film | 2006
Critics:
Audience:
Sep 19, 2006 By Jahan Singh Bakshi


PKSE Ke Defects!


I have to admit I am a little disappointed. Surely, Saket Choudhary's debut venture is not too ambitious- but after the refreshingly quirky promos, the cleverest casting- from both a script and marketing point of view- in a decade, perhaps and the glowing reviews, I do feel a bit disillusioned after watching "Pyaar Ke Side Effects".


I certainly did not expect the earth from this film. What I did expect was some wackiness, some lunacy, some insanity- maybe even some…side effects. Unfortunately, PKSE remains, as a whole, a mostly tepid and underwhelming experience. The film shines intermittently, every now and then-but on the whole, somehow it turns out to be bubbly sans the fizz.


Before I start ranting, let me list what I liked about the film.


Peripheral, but I probably loved the title credits more than anything in the film- very nicely understated, classy and subtle.


The lead pairing was definitely a stroke of pure genius. Even though Sherawat was not the director's choice, I really feel casting Brains and Boobs- I mean Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat (respectively, if you please) together was a great decision. Besides, they shared some great onscreen camaraderie and chemistry.


Writer-Director Saket Choudhary came up with some genuinely funny lines in some scenes. There is a scene in which Rahul Bose, Ranvir Sheorey and Aamir Bashir are in a club discussing marriage and how there are no married Superheroes- whether it be Superman, Spiderman, Batman or any other one.


And Bashir says - 'Shaktiman- woh to Indian hai, uski ma to pakaa deti hogi usko!'


There is also a scene with Bose and Sherawat bickering- complete with an argument scoreboard. Rahul is leading the score, but the next moment Mallika starts crying and her score effortlessly zooms up, way past his.


Ranvir Sheorey. This guy was definitely one of the best things about PKSE. Playing Bose's housemate, who never changes his underwear, (in a role somewhat reminiscent of Hugh Grant's housemate in Notting Hill) he is absolutely hilarious.


Now for what I didn't like about the film- the defects in Pyaar Ke Side Effects.


For a start, what was 'Baby Girl Volume 3'- Miss Sophie dumb belle Choudhry doing in this film? While preening, pouting, pirouetting and performing an awful 'item number' is all she did in her most irritating role, it could still have been tolerable- had she not been looking like such a cow.


Talking of the problems with this film brings me back to the lead pair. Wait, didn't I say that they were a great couple? Yes, but what I also felt was that though their roles weren't really demanding their performances seriously lacked consistency and spark- something that is very vital.


Rahul Bose tried hard, but all he ultimately managed to offer was a not-so-scrumptious leftover of his wonderfully mad performance as Rishi in the sleeper hit "Jhankaar Beats". And as time passes, much of his histrionics began to get predictable, even boring at times- much like the film itself.


Mallika. Believe it or not- I do not find Miss Sherawat sexy at all. But despite my inherent dislike for her, of late I had begun to somewhat like her. For all her awful loudness, her bluntness, intelligence and carefree charm were kind of disarming. Besides, she was looking quite pretty in this film. Which means I was positively biased towards her, and not the other way round, as one might assume.


The problem is that Mallika had her breasts do most of the acting for her in her previous films. Now since they aren't much on display here, the entire onus of performing suddenly fell on her facial muscles and vocal chords. And though she did manage to pull it off every now and then, she struggled through most of the film with her stilted dialogue delivery and limited facial ex-pressions. Yes, Madame MS certainly still has a long way to go.


Again, despite some terrific wit on display at times, the script on the whole lacked<

Jahan Singh Bakshi

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