Review: Tum Milo Toh Sahi

Star cast: Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia, Rehan Khan, Anjana Sukhani, Sunil Shetty, Vidya Malvade, Mohnish Bahl.

Plot: Dimple Kapadia runs a café which Sunil Shetty’s boss is eyeing for a takeover. Shetty, who is a family friend of Dimple, tries to cajole her into selling off the café to his boss. But when Dimple refuses, the matter reaches the court. Nana holds brief for Dimple in court while Mohnish is the lawyer for Sunil Shetty’s boss. On th epersonal front, Shetty’s wife, Vidya, has walked out on him and is supporting Dimple. Rehan and Anjana also muster public support for Dimple.

What’s Good: Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia’s acting.

What’s Bad: The wafer-thin story which is more suited for a TV serial.

Verdict: With no young and saleable stars in the cast and with a script devoid of novelty, the film has bleak chances at the turnstiles.

Loo break: The high-voltage scenes between Shetty and Vidya because they are unintentionally funny when they ought to have been serious and emotional.

Fourth Wall Entertainment’s Tum Milo Toh Sahi is a slice-of-life film about ordinary human beings. Raja- gopal Subramanium (Nana Patekar) has given many years of his life to a law firm but his boss, Sood (Mohnish Bahl), doesn’t take even a minute to humiliate him in front of the staff and ask him to retire as he is not required any longer. Dilshad Nanji (Dimple Kapadia) runs a cafe in Bombay, which is more than 50 years old and is the favourite meeting place of a lot of college youngsters and old people alike. Bikramjeet Singh (Rehan Khan), an army man hailing from a family of army people, wants to meet common people before he joins the army full-time and he comes to Bombay after prevailing upon his strict father (Surendra Pal). He meets Shalini (Anjana Sukhani), an assistant director, and falls head over heels in love with her. After being thrown out of the college hostel for no fault of his, he begins to stay with Rajagopal Subramanium as a paying guest. He is devastated to know that Raghav Sachar (Raghav Sachar) and Shalini love each other because of which he doesn’t tell Shalini of his love for her. Amit Nagpal (Sunil Shetty) works for a real estate company. His boss (Amit Behl) is eyeing Dilshad Nanji’s cafe which he wants to acquire. He puts Amit on the job because Amit and Dilshad are family friends. Amit’s marriage is not a happy one as his wife, Anita (Vidya Malvade), thinks he has no time for her and their child, Ankur (Yatharth Kansal). Amit Nagpal tries to coax Dilshad into selling her cafe to his company and when she is unwilling, the company sends her a legal notice to vacate the cafe, accusing her of occupying it illegally. The company’s legal attorney is Sood. The company also appoints a hoodlum who troubles Dilshad.

By now, Amit Nagpal’s wife has walked out on him with her child. The mother and child are staying with Dilshad. Meanwhile, in a bid to remain in his boss’ good books so that he keeps climbing the career ladder, Amit digs out information from old records for presenting in court to prove that Dilshad is not the rightful owner of the cafe.

Subramanium dons the lawyer’s robe to fight Dilshad’s case in court. Bikramjeet Singh, Shalini and their friends take to the streets to muster public support for the cafe and even prove that it needs to be protected as it is a heritage property.

What happens in the court? Is Dilshad the rightful owner? Who is Irani, after whose death Dilshad had come to manage the cafe? Is Jimmy (Vrajesh Hirjee), a college-going youngster and a close friend of Bikramjeet Singh, the real owner of the cafe as claimed by advocate Sood? What is Amit Nagpal’s stand in court? Will the court case create a further rift in his personal life because his wife is on Dilshad’s side? Will Subramanium be able to prove in court that Dilshad be considered the legal owner? These and a host of other questions are answered in the climax.

The film moves on several tracks but none of the tracks in the story (penned by Rajen Makhijani and Kabir Sadanand) offers anything novel. Sameer Siddiqi and Rajen Makhijani’s screenplay is quite childish and, like the story, lacks novelty. The courtroom drama holds the promise of excitement and thrill but when the truth about the ownership of the cafe is revealed, the audience gets the feeling of much ado about nothing. Quite rightly does the judge (Smita Jayakar) chide one of the litigants for withholding significant information from the court and thereby wasting the court’s time. In other words, rather than the courtroom drama unfolding with arguments and counter-arguments on points of law and facts, it gets over in a jiffy when a piece of vital information is revealed for the first time. That piece of information may gladden the hearts of a tiny segment of the audience but the majority would remain indifferent to the revelation either because they couldn’t care less or because they expected it. Even Amit Nagpal’s witness in the court does not have the desired impact. Likewise, the efforts of Bikramjeet Singh, Shalini and their group of friends and the impact of the public outcry (which, in any case, looks far-fetched, given the circumstances of the case and probably because the cafe is not established as being so dear to anyone) as also the whole over-played angle of heritage property seem useless once a new angle is introduced in the court. Resultantly, hardly any of the heroes appear heroic, something which the audience will not approve of.

Unlike the story and screenplay, the dialogues (by Sameer Siddiqi and Rajen Makhijani) are at least natural and entertaining at times.

Nana Patekar lives his role. His poker-faced dialogue delivery will be loved by the viewers. Dimple Kapadia is also very good as the Parsi woman. She does an extremely natural job. Rehan Khan is fair. Sunil Shetty is quite good. Vidya Malvade has just one expression on her face for a good part of the film. Anjana Sukhani is earnest. Mohnish Bahl does a very sincere job and puts himself completely into the character. Amit Behl performs ably. Vrajesh Hirjee has his moments. Smita Jaya- kar leaves a mark in a special appearance. Tanishaa Mukherjee adds star value in an item song-dance. Raghav Sachar is average in a special appearance. Master Yatharth Kansal is okay. Master Sarang Soni is cute in the role of Dilshad’s grandson, Aryan. As Dilshad’s daughter, Mehrengez Acharia is natural. Surendra Pal and the others lend ordinary support.

Kabir Sadanand’s direction is average but the same can’t be said of his story and of the screenplay. Sadanand does need to improve in his handling of sensitive scenes, though. Music (Sandesh Shandilya) is appealing. The title track, ‘O jaaneman’ and ‘Bekhauf mohabbat’ are well-tuned numbers. Background music (Sandesh Shandilya) leaves something to be desired. Pushan Kripalani’s cinematography and other technical values are of a good standard. Kuldeep Mehan’s editing is okay. Sets (Akshay Vayeda) go with the mood of the film.

On the whole, Tum Milo Toh Sahi looks more like a television serial which is good for free viewing. At the ticket counters, its journey will be far from smooth.