Khushi Review

Khushi, like its Tamil and Telugu original, is over-the-top and often hyperventilates to cacophonic levels, but on the whole it's entertaining fare, total paisa vasool. It sails through rather effortlessly for the simple reason that it expressly avoids all that cloyingly mushy stuff and sentimental kibosh that are associated with love stories. Then, of course, the presence of Kareena, Fardeen and a few capital songs.

The Hindi version of Khushi is director Suryah's third take, and it's not surprising why the movie matches frame to frame with its previous versions. Even photocopies may have a slight change in the print resolution as compared to the original, but this one is a scene-by-scene copy-paste job.

It's a love story. So what's new? Khushi (Kareena) and Karan (Fardeen) don't fall in love because they bump into each other on the road, neither do they get their accessories entangled in the college corridor. They are like normal college students in a co-ed college.

Love blossoms gradually when Khushi is trying to help friend Priya get hitched to Karan's best friend Vikki. Khushi and Karan have their share of fights and patch-ups. They experience the familiar possessiveness and awkwardness in the absence and presence of each other respectively.

After a few sweet moments and a few more tense moments, they have one real big fight that brings them to loggerheads. The fight itself is rather flimsy and looks like just an excuse to get the movie going. The entire second half then dwells on how they come together, with another fresh bout of easy and harsh moments.

Incidentally, the best part of the movie is when Khushi and Karan fight with each other like a couple of juveniles. If only Kareena didn't screech so much like a cat with laryngitis and Fardeen didn't take off like an alarm clock with a dysfunctional stop button, Khushi would have gotten into Bollywood's hall of fame list.

The first two back-to-back numbers introducing Khushi and Karan to the audiences are rather irritating, but the lavishly shot Tere Bina and the melodious Jiya Mera Jiya along with the Do Ajnabee number are definitely worth a watch. Kareena and Fardeen appear in seven different avatars - a hippie to a cowboy look - in the Do Ajnabee song which is definitely eye candy.

Even though Kareena plays the title role, Fardeen has an equal footing and actually beats the Kapoor girl at her own game. Top show, dude! While the twosome make an awesome pair, the manner in which they display their offscreen attitude is rather annoying. Kareena thinks she's so hot she's the reason for global warming, and Fardeen tries to come across as so freezingly cold you're afraid you'll get frostbite. Relax guys, we don't need so much attitude on screen.