Main Aurr Mrs Khanna - Watchable for Salman, Sohail and Kareena..

Movie - Main Aurr Mrs Khanna (Hindi)

Director - Prem R Soni

Producers - Sohail Khan, Ronnie Screwvala

Cast - Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sohail Khan, Nauheed Cyrusi, Mahek, Yash Tonk, Bappi Lahiri and Preity Zinta

Music - Sajid/Wajid

Cinematography - Sudeep Chatterjee

Editor - Chirag Jain

Story, Screenplay, Dialogue - Prem R Soni

Release Date - 16th October 2009


I went in to Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai along with a friend today and took a ticket for a show called Blind Date. Blind Date at Sathyam is a special show on thursdays which would screen a surprise movie which is being released on the very next day for the first time. Only when the movie actually starts, you know which movie you are going to watch. So there is a certain suspense till the movie actually begins. We sat in the hall, waiting for the movie to begin. We were expecting Aadhavan, All The Best or Main Aurr Mrs Khanna to play. (Blue is not getting released in Sathyam. WHY!!). After a trailer of a forthcoming movie Kurbaan, the censor certificate of Main Aurr Mrs Khanna was shown and the suspense was revealed. The movie began and soon proceeded into the melodious song 'Dont Say Alvida' by the time I messaged my other friends that i was actually watching that movie before its official release. 

The movie is Salman's second release this year, coming after the blockbuster Wanted, which released just about a month back, and is still running successfully. But this movie is completely different from Wanted, since it is basically falls into the romance genre, the candyfloss type, to be more specific. This is something Salman hasnt done in a long long time.  He has always been doing comedy roles continuously over all these years (except for maybe Yuvvraaj). He broke that pattern with Wanted, and is trying to do something different in this one. The director is a debutante and is backed by one of the most sensible producers we have, Ronnie Screwvala, along with Sohail who also does a major role in the film. 

The film is about Mrs Khanna and the men in their life. Sameer Khanna and Raina meet at a church, fall in love and get married, all too soon. After 2 years, Sameer goes through a financial crisis, is out of his job and is forced to leave Raina and go searching for a stable job. In the meanwhile, Raina tries and finds a job for herself and meets Akash there and becomes friends with him. All her friends keep saying that Sameer has left her, but she still feels that he would come back for her. Akash slowly falls in love with Raina and tries to woo her in different ways. What happens when Sameer comes back to get Raina forms the rest of the story. 

The story is completely ordinary. Nothing new about it. There are no major conflicts, no twists and turns and the movie is very predictable. But there is something about the movie which makes it extremely watchable. I think it is majorly because of the performances. Each and every member of the cast (except Bappi Lahiri) have given completely controlled performances. 

This movie is more of a Sohail Khan movie than a Salman Khan movie. Sohail has more screen time than Salman and it is one of the best performances of Sohail, who had impressed us earlier with his comic roles in Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya and Salaam-E-Ishq. He balances romance and comedy very neatly and has done a very fine job without going overboard anywhere. Kareena's controlled acting in this movie is such a relief after the atrocious overacting she did in Kambakth Ishq. She looks wonderful in certain scenes and songs, but very ordinary in many other scenes. Her performance was good, but not as memorable as, say a Jab We Met or an Omkara. Salman is very good, completely breaking away from his usual comic roles and the action mood of Wanted, he has given a controlled and mature performance. The last time he showed some signs that he can act like that too, was in Jaan-E-Mann. He is hardly there in the first half, and it is only when he comes in the second half, some fun actually happens in the movie. There is nothing much to mention about the other members of the cast. Bappi Lahiri's acting was really funny, and perhaps that is why they cast him in the first place. I wonder what Dino Morea was doing in the film. Preity Zinta looked nice, but her song was a blatant copy of Aishwarya Rai's chartbuster item number 'Kajra Re', though it is choreographed very well by Farah Khan.

The director Prem R Soni certainly has a long way to go. He is heavily influenced by many other directors, right from Karan Johar to Shirish Kunder. In  fact, the making seems extremely inspired by Shirish Kunder's wonderful debut, Jaan-E-Mann. The cinematographer of Jaan-E-Mann has been roped in, and many shots are repeated. In fact, the visuals of 'Sau Dard Hai', a brilliantly visualized sad song with Salman in it, has been repeated in a song called 'Rabba' in this film. If it was New York in Jaan-E-Mann, it is Melbourne in this movie. The dialogues are really of the candyfloss variety, something which Karan Johar has specialized in. The only factor that makes him hold this film together are the performances from his lead actors. 

Songs are pretty good. 'Dont Say Alvida' is the pick of the lot. 'Tumne Socha' has Kareena and Salman looking extremely good. 'Mrs Khanna' is forgettable. 'Rabba' is a direct rip-off of 'Sau Dard Hai', visually. We get to see an old, but gorgeous Preity Zinta in 'Happening', but it looks like a repetition of 'Kajra Re', as I already mentioned. Farah Khan has added some qawwali steps from her own Main Hoon Na in the song as well. The usage of the old RD Burman song 'Bade Achche Lagte Hain' in the narrative, worked very well. The background score was really good, especially in the comic scenes. Sudeep Chatterjee's cinematography is a poor repetition of his own brilliant work in Jaan-E-Mann.  The movie is actually quite fast moving and gets over within 2 hours, thanks to editor Chirag Jain.

One good thing was the way the movie ended. It was pretty hilarious with one sweet surprise appearance also at the end. A smart ending to a very ordinary movie, which is watchable only for its lead actors and some melodious songs. The movie may not perform that well, but its certainly not bad. You can watch it if you have some time to kill and if you like Salman, Kareena or Sohail. One good thing the movie does is that, it makes you like Sohail Khan, who is usually very irritating in all his movies. All in all, though the movie is not great, it is not bad either. It is watchable for the lead actors, one or two good songs and the funny ending. 

Rating - 2.5/5