Life Partner

It felt like it had been a really long time since I had watched a movie – and the missus also felt the same. Yeah we had watched Kaminey, but I guess after a full day of boozing on the beach, it isn’t the same thing :) ! And the promos of Life Partner showed some promise, so off we went last night.

And surprisingly, Life Partner is actually quite a fun movie, especially in the first half ! The dialogues of the movie were pleasantly witty and with absolutely no slapstick !! Govinda is back in his old touch and one thoroughly enjoys the first half. However Life Partner is not without its flaws as the second half gets a little more sentimental and comedy takes a backseat.

The movie is about two NRI couples in Cape Town - Karan-Sanjana (Fardeen-Genelia) and Bhavesh-Prachi (Tusshar-Prachi) and their lawyer friend Jeet (Govinda). Karan is the suave metrosexual and his girlfriend is Sanjana, the spoilt-brat daughter of Anupam Kher. Bhavesh is the gawky Gujrati bought up with ‘strict Indian values’ – who is waiting to gift his virginity to his wife. Prachi is well ... just Prachi Desai – saccharine sweet smile and not much else.

The first half of the movie introduces us to Karan-Sanjana and Bhavesh and their families etc and ofcourse, Jeet ! He is a divorce lawyer who is perennially looking for opportunities to break up marriages. And he himself has just once policy - No marriage !! Govinda is definitely the strongest point of the movie and his tete-a-tetes with Genelia are fun to watch. Though at his age, Govinda just cant carry off two firang babes on his arms (and though he looks really thin on the posters, those are just photoshop effects – he looks just as fat in the movie)

Sample Govinda's dialogue from the movie
Love marriage mein aadmi apni marzi mein kuen mein koodta hai
Arranged marriage mein aadmi ki poori family usse kuen mein dhakka deti hai
Lekin dono case mein, aadmi jaata kuen mein hi hai …

Trouble arrives in the form of marriage – Bhavesh goes all the way to Gujarat to find himself a wife and gets hitched to Prachi, a rich heiress. In a moment of marriage madness, Sanjana and Karan also tie the knot there. And when they come back, the decibels start increasing. Sanjana doesn’t like the Karan who has become a little responsible and Prachi is at loggerheads with her ultra conservative Bapuji (father-in-law Darshan Jariwala). Genelia is especially screechy, though overall she plays the wife-from-hell part pretty well. And the song Koke Koke is so atrocious its not even funny !!

In the second half, we see very little of Govinda and probably a few more scenes with him could have made this movie a complete blast – like the “tum chup raho” scene. However director Rumi Jaffrey decides to give a gentle preaching on marriage. Consequently, things slow down and the Prachi Desai scenes sometimes resemble an Ekta Kapoor show. But there is one more gem in the movie – veteran comedian Jagdeep. His scene with Fardeen & Genelia will have you falling out of your seat laughing !!

The climax where all the issues are sorted out was a letdown and so was Amrita Rao in the movie. Songs are also a completely waste - though only Koke Koke is abominable, the rest are just boring. The visuals are pretty slick though – and that honeymoon suite balcony view is really fantabulous. Definitely wish to visit it someday. Overall, the movie is an entertaining watch, and an extra 0.5 for Jagdeep.