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Plot: Gashmeer loves Twinkle who, in turn, gets engaged to be married to Hiten. Who gets Twinkle in the end and why is what the film is all about.
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What’s Bad: Anurag Kashyap’s screenplay.
Verdict: There will be simply no reason to smile.
Loo break: Plenty.
Chitra Creations’ Muskurake Dekh Zara is a love story. Vivek (newfind Gashmeer Mahajani) comes to Bombay with Amar (Sunil Sabarwal) whose family has raised him, after his marriage with Amar’s sister, Gauri (Simran Suri), has to be called off because she elopes with another guy whom she loves, right on the day of the wedding. In Bombay, Vivek meets Preeti (Twinkle Patel) in odd circumstances and soon becomes friends with her. While Preeti considers him a great friend, Vivek falls in love with her, mistaking her actions for love from her side.
All hell breaks loose in Vivek’s life when Preeti’s father, at her birthday party, announces her engagement to Prakash Raj (Hiten Paintal). Vivek for the first time expresses to Preeti after the formal announcement that he loves her. This disturbs Preeti who later explains to him that she did not love him and that he had misinterpreted her actions. Here, Gauri returns home after being jilted by her lover who, it turns out, is none other than Prakash Raj. Vivek ensures that the angry family accepts Gauri whole-heartedly after forgiving her. Meanwhile, Prakash Raj asks Vivek not to reveal to Preeti that he had ditched Gauri. Besides being self-centred, Prakash Raj is a greedy guy who will do anything for money. Slowly but surely, Preeti herself realises that Prakash Raj is not the man for her and that she actually loves Vivek.
Does Preeti get married to Prakash Raj or Vivek? What happens to the other man in her life? Answers to these questions are revealed in the climax.
Anurag Kashyap’s story may not be novel but it at least has some merits. However, his screenplay has so many holes that the drama just doesn’t interest the viewer. Vivek expressing his love to Preeti on the day her engagement with Prakash Raj is announced and insisting that he is not wrong is not something the audience will digest or, even if they digest, not something which they will approve of. The very announcement of the engagement also comes like a bolt from the blue because before that, Prakash Raj has never been presented in front of the audience. The third major drawback of the screenplay is that in spite of knowing that Prakash Raj is a man of dubious distinction and having proof of that (in the form of Gauri being ditched by him), Vivek chooses to hide this from Preeti although he keeps saying that he loves Preeti. What kind of love is this, which precludes him from warning her? After all, she is all set to get married to a man who had ditched a girl.
The climax is also one of convenience and hardly shows Vivek in a heroic light. But it must be said that although the screenplay (by Anurag Kashyap) is weak, Kashyap’s dialogues at many places are entertaining and enjoyable, besides being weighty. Comedy is quite dull.
Gashmeer Mahajani looks quite okay and does well in his debut film. Twinkle Patel is average-looking and her performance is also just about okay. Hiten Paintal acts ably. Sunil Sabarwal is natural. Simran Suri, Chirag Sethi, Arijit Sengupta and Rajshree Choudhary are average. Ranjeet, Om Katare, Jiten Mukhi and Reshma Merchant are ordinary. Comedians Tiku Talsania, Mukesh Bhatt, Atul Parchure, Sudesh Lehri and Khayali irritate more than entertaining, more so because of the poorly scripted comic scenes.
Som Shekar’s direction, limited as it is by the dull screenplay, is below average. Ranjit Barot’s music is fair. Cinematographers Cella Durai and Jatinder Sharma have done a job that passes muster. Allan Amin’s action and Santosh Kumar’s editing hardly deserve mention. Production values are so-so.
On the whole, Muskurake Dekh Zara will not give the audience and those connected with the film reason to smile even meekly. Flop.
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