Mere Baap Pehle Aap

Director: Priyadarshan
Producer: Ketan Maroo, Mansi Maroo

Starring: Akshaye Khanna, Naseruddin Shah, Shobhana, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav, Genelia Dsouza, Archana Puran Singh

Priyadarshan is rightly called as one of the busiest Bollywood directors inasmuch as he has always got multiple assignments in his kitty. We haven't heard the director going out on vacation; he is occupied in another venture even before the earlier one is released.

He relaxes but while working though he plays lax during its making. However, this time Priyan seems to have failed in getting the humor come from the story rather than through not very decent dialogues, if not absurd.

The critics agree that the getting Om Puri in an item number mode and making him dance around dusky damsels on dirty beaches might not be the best opening idea for a film.

What predictably starts as the actor's dream sequence ends up being the audience's nightmare for almost the entire course of the film. Further, having the senior actor topless or making him strip to his striped underwear is neither amusing nor funny. That precisely gives the hint of the humour to follow.

The critics agree that the getting Om Puri in an item number mode and making him dance around dusky damsels on dirty beaches might not be the best opening idea for a film.

What predictably starts as the actor's dream sequence ends up being the audience's nightmare for almost the entire course of the film. Further, having the senior actor topless or making him strip to his striped underwear is neither amusing nor funny. That precisely gives the hint of the humour to follow. click for larger view

When both have grown up; Gaurav treats his father just like his son. Both , the father and the younger son manage the household plus their business. Why does Gaurav treat his father like a son? There is a just reason behind it.

He does it to save his father from the latter's prankster best friend Madhav Mathur (Om Puri). Though Puri is a divorcee, but he is desperate to get married. Both the friends - one widower and the other a divorcee - always look for a bride for Madhav. So, they land up in police custody and Gaurav bails them out.

At this point of time, Gaurav gets prank calls from a girl who turns out to be his old college friend Sheekha Kapoor (Genelia D'souza). Sheekha stays with her guardian Anuradha (Shobana) who is also Paresh's first love.

Gaurav and Sheekha notice changes in behavior of Janaradhan and Anuradha and come to know about their past relationship. Now Akshay wants his father to get married to his lost love.

Gaurav and Sheekha start a journey to arrange his father's love marriage and in the process fall for each other. Interestingly, ACP Bhawani (Archana Puran Singh) always comes across Rane and Mathur around girls in a college and arrests them for indecent behavior.

It is felt that Priyadarshan has borrowed the film idea from his Malayalam script of Ishtam. One pities him for doing this. In other departments too, the movie fails as the Manisha Korde overdoes the punches and many of her dialogues don't come close to decency.

Then, Vidyasagar's music is boring and Ranjit Barot's background score contradicts the mood of the scenes. The performances range from average to ordinary.

While Paresh Rawal invokes humour , Akshaye Khanna is intermittently loud and Genelia carries a constant grin with an apparent accent. Om Puri is reduced to a caricature while Shobna is criminally wasted. And what was Rajpal Yadav doing in this film? Do you know? We don't, though.

A movie has been wasted because of Priyadaeshan's habit of making one even though he needs a vacation for some good time.