He was in the wilderness for a while. But with the success of ‘Life Partner’, the original darling of the B’town box-office, Govinda, seems to be back in full form and for good.

‘Life Partner’ has clicked with audiences and the Govinda-magic seems to be working all over again. For one, how could a film released on the holy day of ‘Janmashthami’ or ‘Govinda’, as it is called, not be a hit for the actor, who takes his name from it?

The film, which sees him paired up with the beauteous Amrita Rao, features the actor in the quirkiest role of them all, as a marriage-averse divorce lawyer. But the audiences have just lapped it up, even braving through the Swine Flu epidemic, to get their dose of Govinda, both inside and outside the theatres.

While his last big success was the similarly titled ‘Partner’, ‘Life Partner’ shares no connection with the earlier movie, apart from Govinda as the common factor. While ‘Partner’ saw him share screen space with Salman Khan, ‘Life Partner’ stars Fardeen Khan, Tusshar Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza and Prachi Desai alongside Govinda and Amrita Rao. The movie has been directed by Rumy Jaffrey, with Abbas-Mustan as producers.

Now one wonders, if the ‘Partner’ tag is a lucky gem for Govinda and whether we ought to expect more such titles in the future.

However, the most interesting aspect of it all is the fact that originally, Govinda was just meant to appear in a cameo role in the film. But with him working his magic, the makers realized that ‘Life Partner’ needed to have him in a longer track and kept extending the role, till it eventually turned into a starring role.

With the actor in such fine form, it truly seems like his golden days are back. For once again, Govinda ala re!