Tum Mile - I tried hard to like this film, but couldnt.

Movie - Tum Mile (Hindi)

Director - Kunal Deshmukh

Producer - Mukesh Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt

Cast - Emraan Hashmi, Soha Ali Khan, Sachin Khedekar

Music - Pritam

Cinematography - Prakash Kutty

Release Date - 13th November 2009

Tum Mile was promoted as the first natural disaster film in India, based on the floods that happened in Mumbai on 26th July 2005. And it has been released alongside a multimillion dollar disaster movie, 2012. But let me warn you, dont go in for Tum Mile expecting a portrayal of the calamity and havoc of the torrential rains and floods of 26 July. Tum Mile is a love story set in Cape Town, and the natural calamity part just acts as a catalyst in uniting the lovers. If you want to watch it for that part, you will be really disappointed as it hardly has any adventure or tension-building moments. Those parts doesnt make any impact. The love story is interesting to watch in the beginning, but gets tedious towards the end. 


Akshay (Emraan Hashmi) and Sanjana (Soha Ali Khan) meet on a flight from Cape Town to Mumbai, six years after they had broken up. Akshay drifts into memories of their relationship during the journey. Akshay was an aspiring artist then, who worked as a waiter in Cape Town to make his living. He comes across Sanjana one day and after 2-3 encounters, they both form a close bond, which evolves into love pretty soon. The couple move in to an apartment together and have a lovey-dovey life. But Akshay feels miserable that he is getting nowhere in his life or career with his art. Many arguments and 2 job offers later, the couple part ways. When they meet again, on reaching Mumbai which is unimaginably flooded, both of them get reminded of the past and a sense of longing comes back into them. How they survive through the disaster and rekindle the love forms the rest of the story. 


Director Kunal Deshmukh chose an interesting way to narrate the story by cutting between the present and the past. But it doesnt work beyond a point. For people who had come in expecting a lot of action and adventure amidst the floods, there is nothing in the movie. The love story, is narrated at a snail's pace, but is good nevertheless. The dialogues and the interactions between the lead pair are very real, or in fact, too real I should say. There's not enough drama in the love story to make it an engrossing watch. After a point, it really begins to bore you, in spite of good performances from the lead pair. And I still dont understand Hindi Cinema's obsession with foreign locations. Why cant the hero and heroine live and fall in love in India? Why do they always have to be abroad in film after film? Seriously, it wouldnt have made any difference if the flight was going from Delhi (instead of Cape Town), to Mumbai and the love story could have been set in any part of India. South Africa doesnt serve any purpose in the film, except that of providing some rich visuals (which we've obviously gotten tired of). The floods part does not work at all. There is no thrill or tension whatsoever and you will feel hugely disappointed after watching those portions. The film has its moments, but by the end of the film, you'll be so bored that you end up forgetting those few good moments. And the most stupid part is that the director has shamelessly ripped off a famous scene from the all time blockbuster Titanic. A wall is broken apart by the force of water and the lead pair get stuck in water. The scene that follows would certainly make you remember Jack and Rose. Ripping a scene from a lesser seen movie is okay, but what is the point in copying a scene from a movie which every Tom, Dick and Harry must have watched? And the climax is utterly ridiculous to say the least.


What works though, are the perfomances. 
Emraan Hashmi is a hugely underrated actor. Anyone who has seen his films will be pretty sure that he is a good actor. I myself have seen only 3-4 films of his (Gangster, Awarapan, Jannat, Raaz 2) and I've liked him in all these 3 movies. But the general public have a pre-conceived notion about him that all his films are about sex and infidelity, and nothing else. In fact, many people in the audience today were trying to predict when all Emraan would smooch Soha. But seriously, I think its high time Emraan is considered one among the mainstream actors. He played a painter in his previous movie (Raaz 2) also, but his performance in this movie is quite different from that one. He is natural, spontaneous and realistic and emotes a lot through his eyes. Tum Mile would probably be his best performance till date, but sadly he does not get a good script to make full use of it. 

Soha Ali Khan is cute and is quite natural. You feel she could have been better in a lot of scenes, but she's good nevertheless. But I dont understand what is the point of her showing so much cleavage in almost all the shots? It was very wannabe type. It was pretty much evident that she was trying to say, 'Oh, look at me.. I'm also pretty hot!!'. Well, this wasnt the film to do that. And it can distract you from paying attention to the performance, at many places. ;P. 
Well in spite of those distractions, Soha makes her character very believable. 


There's a new guy who plays Emraan's friend in the film. He looked like an older version of Imran Khan and acted pretty well too. In fact, he got some of the best lines in the movie too. But his character meets with an abrupt end. Sachin Khedekar is there in one scene, and thats it. There are no other major characters in this film, which essentially focuses on the lead couple. 


Music is superb. Pritam has come up with a wonderful soundtrack for the film. The best one of the lot is 'Dil Ibaadat' and it comes at the right time too. 'Tu Hi Haqeeqat', 'Is Jahaan Mein' and the title song 'Tum Mile' are lovely songs which are picturised well too. 'O Meri Jaan' serves as the mandatory sad song. In fact, music is a major saving grace of the film, after the performances. Cinematography by Prakash Kutty is nice. South Africa serves its purpose as a beautiful location and Prakash Kutty captures some nice frames there. I think the editor slept off while watching the movie. Otherwise majority of the scenes would have been easily cut out. The cutting between the past and the present was good though. Special effects and art direction is pretty mediocre and makes the whole flood part look very artificial. We realize that it is all shot in a set, the moment you see those shots. 


I usually like most of the movies that come out from the Bhatt camp. I even thought Raaz 2 was okay (despite a horrendous performance by Adhyayan Suman). I wanted to like this one so badly, but sadly, I couldnt. The relationships and the love story was very realistic and natural. But it became too slow and boring after a point. And I had gone for the movie expecting some thrilling sequences in the backdrop of the floods. I didnt have any. What the movie had, were good performances by Emraan and Soha and a good music score by Pritam. So I'm pretty much disappointed with this one, as it had the potential to be an engrossing film, but is not quite like that. 


Rating - 2.5/5