Tum Mile Review

Tum Mile is the perfect example of how human emotions can withstand all odds - incompatible careers, ravaging floods, and Emraan Hashmi hardly kissing a woman even once throughout an entire movie.

The movie begins on a dark note. Pregnant clouds descend on Mumbai's skyline, ready to unleash one of the worst torrents the city has ever seen. Mumbai's weathermen show exceptional maturity and confidence in handling the crisis - they stop their game of carroms and stare at the 2 flickering red blobs on their computer screens.

In the middle of all those clouds is a plane on which Akshay (Emraan Hashmi) and Sanjana (Soha Ali Khan) bump into each other after 8 years. Their meaningful glances and pithy exchanges hint at the existence of a rather disturbing flashback. It's easy to empathize with that - anyone who watches this movie will also be the owner of a disturbing flashback.

The movie then cuts to the past. Akshay and Sanjana meet in Cape Town. Sanjana is rich enough to host the whole of Cape Town, feed it caviar twice a day, and even bathe it in it regularly. Akshay is a broke artist who must think twice before even thinking about falling in love with a girl like that, but since that would be too much to ask for before the real movie even begins, he goes ahead and falls in love with her.

The two decide to move in together, but since they don't have anywhere near enough money to buy a house as big as Sanjana's, they rent a place that's a whole 3 square yards smaller. They get all cozy until practical life kicks in - Akshay's career has barely taken off. Sanjana supports him throughout the rough patch, but he continues to mope around.

Sanjana cajoles Akshay to do something drastic now - like getting himself a job. His silent brooding gets onto her nerves, while her bossing around jars his senses. And sure enough, they are heading for a break-up really fast.

Fortunately, there's something to make this part of the story look cheerful, and that's the plot track that it is interspersed with - dramatic scenes of the floods in Mumbai, where Sanjana is helplessly trapped in her car, crying for help, and Akshay is desperately looking for her. When they do meet, some inevitable questions crop up. Why did they ever break up? Have they really forgotten each other? Will they get back together happily? Will we get back home sane?

Tum Mile begins on an entertaining note, with a few spiffy dialogues and a promising romance. Soon you realize that the sole purpose of the flashback is to narrate a sequence of events leading to a break-up. As for the present, it's too flooded with water, panic, bottled-up emotions and one best friend's electrocution. And the dialogues go lame, too. The best way to not consider all this depressing is to imagine Madhur Bhandarkar making the movie. An even better way is to imagine Madhur Bhandarkar making any movie.

Emraan Hashmi is suave and acts brilliantly. But he probably ruins it for most by turning in a completely family-friendly role. VJ Mantra, who plays the role of his best friend, is a surprise find, with his acting skills and screen presence. Soha Ali Khan is pretty good.

Pritam deserves as much space in the posters as the lead pair, and probably even more, since he's one of the reasons the movie's being watched. The title song simply lights up the whole experience, and so does the well-written Tu Hi Haqeeqat. The background track is appealing as well, and ranges from soul-stirring to haunting.

The flick has been well-shot, and the effort gone into the flood scenes is quite evident. Only, we wish the makers realized that Titanic has been firmly etched into the memory of several generations together, and even a newborn would hate to watch its scenes being ripped off.

Buy the music and make your own movie at home, provided you're not releasing it any time soon.