Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

Movies replete with clichés are not really rare products in Bollywood. Bollywood thrives on the everlasting clichés dealing with sentiments and tears. But a movie that treads the beaten path and yet manages to retain some degree of freshness, and makes the audience have that satisfying paisa-vasool feeling, is indeed a rarity.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, after burning his fingers experimenting on something new in Khamoshi, has found a hit in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. The reason that the movie is a treat to watch, despite its "as-old-as-the-mountains" story, is that the subject has been handled well and the actors perform up to par.

Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) is a daughter of a royal singer (Vikram Gokhale). She’s a spoilt girl, playful but hot-tempered, and very, very outspoken. And she believes that she has the right to choose her husband since she's the one getting married.

Sameer (Salman Khan) comes down from Italy to learn singing from the father and falls in love with the daughter. He plays his standard role - playful, mischievous... a regular flirt. So far, so good. But things have to get complicated. That is the very essence of a Hindi movie.

So, enter Vanraj (Ajay Devgan). He sees Nandini and instantly falls in love with her (can’t blame him - Aishwarya looks too good for words). His family proposes marriage and Nandini's parents accept. In typical Hindi movie ishtyle, Salman musters up the courage to speak to Nandini’s father, but finds out that her marriage has been fixed elsewhere. Nandini’s father sticks to his decision as he has already promised Nandini to Vanraj. So Nandini is duly married to Vanraj and Sameer goes back to Italy.

But the movie is not over yet. It has to run for the mandatory three hours.

So, Vanraj learns about Sameer and decides he doesn't want to live with a woman who's given her heart to someone else. So he takes her to Italy with the intention of reuniting her with Sameer...And the story goes on and on with twists and turns, with Nandini having a change of heart, with Vanraj too having a change of heart, and Sameer having many changes of clothes.

Aishwarya looks too gorgeous to be true. And for a change, she is identifiable as an actress. She does a good job, and has predicably won accolades for her performance. Salman is as irritating as usual. He does tend to get on your nerves and moreover he hams terribly in the emotional scenes. He is good at comedy, though, and gets a few laughs from the audience in some of the scenes.

Ajay Devgun has done a repeat version of the role he did in Pyar To Hona Hi Tha. There, too, he is helping the girl he loves search for her boyfriend. But intense scenes are his forte and he does well here. He is a total contrast to the clownish Salman.

All in all, good performances from everyone ensure that Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is an extremely watchable movie.