Unlike many American Bollywood fans, I have no particular Govinda
issues. Sure, he’s about as subtle as being hit in the face with a
brick that has helpfully been labeled “brick”, but he’s one of
Bollywood’s best dancers, and give him a good script and the right
leading lady and he can be very funny indeed. And long term Gorilla’s
Lament readers (both of you; hi, Mom!) will already know that I love
Preity Zinta. So I was actually looking forward to Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen (2005). He’s funny. She’s funny. What could go wrong?
Damania (Prem Chopra) and Vardhaman (Kader Khan) are crime lords who just can’t get along, and when crime lords are fighting, business tends to suffer and hundreds of people tend to die. So Trikal Anna (Sadashiv Amrapurkar), the big boss, summons the pair to his secret lair somewhere in America to solve the problem. As is so often the case with feuding crime lords, Damania happens to have a daughter and Vardhaman happens to have a son, and both children happen to be of marriageable age, so Anna orders them to get the kids married right away, which will make them relatives instead of enemies. (Because relatives always get along.)
The pair promptly return to India, and Vardhaman breaks the news to his son Vicky (Mohnish Bahl). Vicky isn’t pleased, since the wedding plans will seriously cut into his dating, but when the big boss threatens to kill your entire family if you refuse to get married, you agree to get married.
Damania’s daughter Preeti (Preity Zinta) isn’t home to receive the news, though. She’s on a shopping trip with friends, when she gets her purse stolen, and chases after the thief. Raja (Govinda), a passing bus driver, hears the commotion and chases what he assumes is the thief. He catches up to Preeti (who at this point has pulled a knife on the actual purse snatcher), subdues her, and drags her to the police station. The truth is quickly revealed and she’s promptly set free, of course. Unlike many Bollywood gangster’s daughters, though, Preeti is not a fragile innocent completely unaware of her father’s real business. After a few more wacky misunderstandings, the travel agency Raja works for has been leveled, and a smitten Raja is out of a job and forced to leave town.
After a bit of scheming, Raja manages to catch a ride with Vicky, who is on his way to Gujurat to meet his fiancé. A convenient car accident leaves Vicky held prisoner by a shady village doctor, while Raja wakes up in Damania’s house, where he’s mistaken for Vardhaman’s son. When he sees that Preeti is his presumed fiancé (and that the family is immensely rich) Raja decides to play along.
Preeti, though, is less enthusiastic, though, to the point that she hires a local goon (Johny Lever) to drive Raja away. Thanks to the thug’s bad eyesight (the subtitles say that he has a squint, but Lever is as bug-eyed as ever) the plan backfires, and Raja finally wins Preeti’s heart through the time honored method of saving her from a wandering gang of rapists. Of course, their good times can’t last forever; Vicky eventually shows up, and wackiness ensues in earnest.
There are some things I liked about Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen. The plot is a nice reversal of Bollywood cliché, as while Raja is living with his love’s family under an assumed identity, he doesn’t make everyone’s lives better; indeed, he makes some lives notably worse. Govinda plays his part with enthusiasm, and Preity is clearly having a ball brandishing guns as the mobster’s daughter. The dancing is okay, and some of the jokes are good.
Too many of the jokes fall flat, though. Preity and Govinda display a notable lack of chemistry, both romantic and (more importantly) comedic. They have wildly different comic styles, and they never quite mesh. It doesn’t help that the main characters are deeply unsympathetic. Raja has occasional moments of compassion, but in the end he’s an unrepentant liar who manipulates everyone else for his own gain, and never displays any of the filial piety Bollywood usually uses to soften such behavior. Preeti is no nicer, and is considerably more violent.
Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen isn’t bad, per se, and there are moments of real entertainment. Still, you’d be better off spending the time watching a good movie.
Damania (Prem Chopra) and Vardhaman (Kader Khan) are crime lords who just can’t get along, and when crime lords are fighting, business tends to suffer and hundreds of people tend to die. So Trikal Anna (Sadashiv Amrapurkar), the big boss, summons the pair to his secret lair somewhere in America to solve the problem. As is so often the case with feuding crime lords, Damania happens to have a daughter and Vardhaman happens to have a son, and both children happen to be of marriageable age, so Anna orders them to get the kids married right away, which will make them relatives instead of enemies. (Because relatives always get along.)
The pair promptly return to India, and Vardhaman breaks the news to his son Vicky (Mohnish Bahl). Vicky isn’t pleased, since the wedding plans will seriously cut into his dating, but when the big boss threatens to kill your entire family if you refuse to get married, you agree to get married.
Damania’s daughter Preeti (Preity Zinta) isn’t home to receive the news, though. She’s on a shopping trip with friends, when she gets her purse stolen, and chases after the thief. Raja (Govinda), a passing bus driver, hears the commotion and chases what he assumes is the thief. He catches up to Preeti (who at this point has pulled a knife on the actual purse snatcher), subdues her, and drags her to the police station. The truth is quickly revealed and she’s promptly set free, of course. Unlike many Bollywood gangster’s daughters, though, Preeti is not a fragile innocent completely unaware of her father’s real business. After a few more wacky misunderstandings, the travel agency Raja works for has been leveled, and a smitten Raja is out of a job and forced to leave town.
After a bit of scheming, Raja manages to catch a ride with Vicky, who is on his way to Gujurat to meet his fiancé. A convenient car accident leaves Vicky held prisoner by a shady village doctor, while Raja wakes up in Damania’s house, where he’s mistaken for Vardhaman’s son. When he sees that Preeti is his presumed fiancé (and that the family is immensely rich) Raja decides to play along.
Preeti, though, is less enthusiastic, though, to the point that she hires a local goon (Johny Lever) to drive Raja away. Thanks to the thug’s bad eyesight (the subtitles say that he has a squint, but Lever is as bug-eyed as ever) the plan backfires, and Raja finally wins Preeti’s heart through the time honored method of saving her from a wandering gang of rapists. Of course, their good times can’t last forever; Vicky eventually shows up, and wackiness ensues in earnest.
There are some things I liked about Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen. The plot is a nice reversal of Bollywood cliché, as while Raja is living with his love’s family under an assumed identity, he doesn’t make everyone’s lives better; indeed, he makes some lives notably worse. Govinda plays his part with enthusiasm, and Preity is clearly having a ball brandishing guns as the mobster’s daughter. The dancing is okay, and some of the jokes are good.
Too many of the jokes fall flat, though. Preity and Govinda display a notable lack of chemistry, both romantic and (more importantly) comedic. They have wildly different comic styles, and they never quite mesh. It doesn’t help that the main characters are deeply unsympathetic. Raja has occasional moments of compassion, but in the end he’s an unrepentant liar who manipulates everyone else for his own gain, and never displays any of the filial piety Bollywood usually uses to soften such behavior. Preeti is no nicer, and is considerably more violent.
Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen isn’t bad, per se, and there are moments of real entertainment. Still, you’d be better off spending the time watching a good movie.
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