Kambakkht Ishq Movie Review: It's an all out entertainer

Finally, after all that hype, Sajid Nadiadwala's Kambakkht Ishq, directed by debutant Shabbir Khan is here. The film's promos and its music have already created a stir all over and now it is the turn of the movie. First of all, it would be best to state that the film does not really have much in the name of a story. But what it does have is a lot of tamasha, funny gags, catchy music and of course, Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards, Brandon Routh and a whole lot of high class stunts. Our home spun stars, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora put up a spirited act and give us a film which delivers on its promise of providing entertaining fare.

It is also good to clear up another fact that there is no great cinema happening here and neither are the dialogues or the screenplay to be taken seriously. Also there is no logic to many of the events that happen in the movie. Everything is to be taken with a pinch of salt. The film's story is about our two protagonists, Viraj (Akshay Kumar), who plays a stuntman in Hollywood and Simrita (Kareena), a supermodel. One believes that women are good for only one thing while the other believes that men only want one thing from women. The knives are out in this battle royale between the sexes as the two come face to face during the wedding of Lucky (Aftab Shivdasani) Akshay's brother and Kamini (Amrita Arora), Kareena's friend. The conflict takes a new twist when Akshay gets injured during a stunt and is operated upon by Kareena, who has been modelling to make her dream of becoming a surgeon come true. Kareena leaves her watch inside his stomach during the operation. In her bid to lure him back to the operating room, she decides to change tactics and turns on her charm on him. Suffice to say that in the end, both Akshay and Kareena are united in holy matrimony.

The film seems to hook you from the second half onwards, once Kareena accidently leaves her watch inside Akshay's stomach. There seems to be more logic to the turn of events that take place in this half. The first half is lost in a lot of tomfoolery, some of which is definitely way over the top. The semblance of a story starts only from the second half onwards. The gags in the first half are quite crude and the situation does not improve in the second half. One would have loved to see a lot more wittier gags in the battle of the sexes between Akshay and Kareena. The quality of the jokes is not great but what makes them palatable is the star persona of Akshay and Kareena.

Akshay does a marvelous job of executing the stunts. He is quite a treat to watch. His deadpan style of comedy also works for his character in the movie. He is ably supported by Aftab and Vindoo Dara Singh, who plays his sidekick. In fact, one would have preferred to see a little more of Aftab, who seems to be looking and sounding better every day. Vindoo is a revelation. One will probably see a lot more of him in the future.

Kareena too fits into her role very well. She is apt as the arrogant manhater who has a soft vulnerbale side to her. Amrita Arora has hardly anything to do in the movie. Page 3 socialite Kehkashan Patel makes an appearance as Kareena' sister. Kirron Kher does her ususal bit and is in real danger of getting typecast. Javed Jaffrey, though extremely funny, does not have a role which is properly integrated into the main screenplay and hence fails to make much of an impact. But Boman Irani is impressive in his solo scene..

The film's production values are very good. One can see the big bucks in almost every frame of the movie. Kambakkht Ishq is glitzy and over the top in just about every department. The cinematograhy by Vikas Sivaraman is impressive. The film's music is another major draw. One cannot help but rave about Anu Malik's music and the manner in which most of the songs have been picturised, specially 'Om Mangalam' and 'Bebo'.

And finally, the star power of Stallone. He makes his appearance in a couple of scenes and his persona is nothing short of impressive. Kudos to director Shabbir Khan for making his debut with such a mega film. It is to his credit that he has not become over awed by the scale af his movie. He acquits himself decently with this genre. But his real strength has been his actors, specially Akshay, who literally carries the film on his shoulders. If it were not for his presence, there would be little to hold the movie together as the plot is paper thin. But the film wraps up quite satisfactorily.

At the end of the day, Kambakkht Ishq is an all out entertainer. It calls to be enjoyed.