Dil Bechara Pyaar Ka Maara Review

A new farcical formula of filmmaking has erupted after Ram Gopal Varma's "Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega" and N. Chandra's "Style" -- three boys obsessed with girls and money out to have a whale of a time in the concrete jungle.

The trio's tittering tale reached a lewd climax in Indra Kumar's "Masti" earlier this year. "Dil Bechara Pyar Ka Maara" falls in the same league.

Like Tharun Kumar's "Nayee Padosan" last year, the three heroes of the new film about a bustling threesome are pretty much dimwits with only one agenda in life: how to catch the girl they love without using their brains. The plot aids them all the way in remaining blissfully brainless.

Aslam Khan, a businessman, must pretend to be a cricketer when he hates the game. Vikaas Kalantri must pretend to be a tycoon when he'd rather be a singer. And Aman Sondhi who loves cricket must pretend to be a singer to woo the girl next door.

Bits of old classic comedies are used to liven up what's essentially a dead and disembodied dedication to drollery.

Debutant director Onkar Nath Mishra seems to believe in the cut-and-paste technique of filmmaking. The farce blast is undertaken in fits and starts whereby the three protagonists are either running from one pasty set to another or down the Mumbai road with a couple of goons in hot pursuit.

Oh...here I must interrupt to comment on the way pot shots are taken at our neighbour. A Pakistani intelligence agent, forever a scowling menace in Hindi films, is reduced to a puny figure played by old-time villain Ajit's son Shehzad Khan. He plants bombs that don't go off, hatches plots that don't take off.

"Dil Bechara Pyar Ka Mara" is a diffused bomb, an intended laugh riot that peters into a pathetic dead-end where the characters don't know whether they're coming or going.

Khan and Kalantri were earlier seen together in "Nayi Padosan". While the former is mildly mirthful for his syncopated comic timing, Kalantri's lisping interjections are purely annoying. As for Sondhi, his character can't sing in the film. But can he act?

The three heroes, shall we say romantic interests, scream, squeal and squirm in unison. If only there were quality-control measures for the glamour queens. Rajpal Yadav is enamoured of all three ladies. Will someone impose a restraint order on him...and such films that try to pass off a few sick jokes as a full-fledged comedy?