Hum Tum

Where has Bollywood been all my life? It's rare that after I watch a BW film, I am anything but happy. Hum Tum, scandal and all (those of you familiar with the unspoken rules of BW and have seen the film know exactly what I'm talking about), is wonderful. It's basically a BW remake of When Harry Met Sally, only I think I like Hum Tum better (I can't take Billy Crystal seriously as a romantic lead). There seems to be no end to BW remakes of Hollywood movies. Watch out for Dhoom 2, which is somewhere on the horizon. It's the sequel to, you guessed it, Dhoom, a sort of Fast and the Furious meets Torque. The sequel does star Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai--arguably the two best looking people in BW, so I might see it against my better judgement. And then there's the BW version of French Kiss, Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, starring real life couple Ajay Devgan and Kajol. If only Netflix carried this movie...

Anyway, back to Hum Tum, starring Rani Mukherjee and Saif Ali Khan. It's rather extraordinary that every movie I've seen Rani in she has amazing chemistry with the leading man, be it a romantic relationship or not (see Black, Veer-Zaara, K3G, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai...). This is really a testiment to her acting ability. She's now called the best actress working in India, and I'm starting to agree (along with Tabu and Kajol, of course). She's mesmorizing. And she's not like Shah Rukh Khan or Tom Cruise who can do one character really well but aren't so convincing otherwise. Even when SRK plays a bad guy, he's still the same character; same thing goes from Tom Cruise, who managed to be Tom Cruise even in Collateral. I've seen Rani play a woman deaf, blind, and mute, a feminist Pakistani lawyer fighting for a wrongly accused Indian man, a rejected suitor, a dead mother, and she's done them all convincingly.

So what about Bollywood actors? Saif Ali Khan? He's good in this movie. This is only my second Saif experience, and he hasn't disappointed me as an actor, but he hasn't wowed me either. Apart from Aamir Khan or Akshaye Khanna, no BW actor has impressed me. I blame it on their looks. Shallow, I know. But in a film industry with gorgeous women, some of whom are former Miss Worlds, Miss Universes, and Miss Indias, the lack of gorgeous men is disappointing. Granted, what these men lack in movie star looks, they make up in charm--a little singing and dancing always helps. I just can't help but think that Saif belongs on Sesame Street.

I didn't expect this to be a Bollywood rant. I had hoped to write a review about Hum Tum. Oh well. I highly recommend it, even if Saif looks like a muppet. But muppets are cute, right?