AS RIGHTLY SAID BY THE REVIEWER ANOTHER HRISHIDA HAVE TO BE BORN TO MAKE FILM LIKE ANAND. IN ANAND RAJESH KHANNA WITH A TERMINAL DISEASE LAUGHS AND MAKES MERRY ON THE SCREEN WHEN THE SUPPORTING ACTORS CRY AND FEEL PITY FOR HIM INCLUDING THE AUDIENCE. IN AASHAYEIN JOHN ABRAHAM CRIES WHEN THE SUPPORTING ACTORS LAUGH AND MAKE MERRY INCLUDING THE AUDIENCE WHO ALSO LAUGHS AND FEELS PITY OF NAGESH KUKUNOOR.
Very few movie makers can hope to be coherent about death and suffering. You can populate your film with all the stark-yet-serene sick rooms of the world, you can get people like Girish Karnad to mouth whatever you consider philosophy, and you can take the help of abstract symbolism; but unless you're a Hrishikesh Mukherjee, you have to work hard - and smart, really - to match up with the sheer sweetness of an Anand (a movie that Aashayein makes a lengthy reference to).
Why we can safely say that Aashayein goes wrong in its very choice of theme is that it's not in the league of film....