Customer Reviews

Kismat Konnection - DVD

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For fans of Shahid Kapoor, KISMAT KONNECTION is a bit of a letdown after the heights achieved by Jab We Met - DVD. This one tells of an NRI romance, this time taking place in Toronto, Canada - and, incidentally, isn't it funny that, in every Bollywood flick staged somewhere other than India, each random person the main characters meet on the street is still able to speak Hindi?

Architect Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapoor), a standout pupil in college, just cannot get play in his profession. Still waiting for that big career break, Raj instead for the past few years has suffered a string of ridiculous bad luck. Consulting a fortune teller, he is advised to seek out his lucky charm... and then to keep it safely with him (well, duh!). Meanwhile, Raj keeps running into this aggravating girl, Priya (Vidya Balan) - and it's only after a while that it strikes him finally that, in her vicinity, fortune seems to favor him.

Meanwhile, we follow a side-plot concerning Raj pursuing a contract with a construction company. The caveat is that this company intends to supplant a community center with a shopping mall, and that Priya is championing the preservation of this community center. Which leaves Raj in a muddle.

The surface premise may be about Raj finding and holding on to his lucky charm, but, clearly, the dominant theme is: does love win out over ambition? So KISMAT KONNECTION is a love story. Thing is, the film does suffer somewhat because the romance is done by the numbers and because of the lack of sizzle between Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan. And that last part can be murder. With the huge influx of Bollywood flicks and the overt sameness of their plots, more often than not, it's the compatibility of the two leads which makes or breaks the movie. Although not as memorable as he was in JAB WE MET, Shahid Kapoor is the clear star of this movie and remains a likeable actor. As for Vidya Balan, I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something just a bit off. I guess I'll play the shallow card and say that, while Vidya is pretty and a good actress, she just doesn't get to me like other actresses in Indian cinema (Genelia D'Souza, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, etc.). Also, the unexceptional story elements fall into a routine pattern. Just one example of the film's predictability features Bollywood's obsession with outrageous coincidences as you're able to easily figure out the identity of that old man, to whom Priya frequently waves across the waters, given also that it's a significant character actor (Boman Irani) playing him.

KISMAT KONNECTION starts off with a voiceover intro by Shahrukh Khan, which is interesting only in that Shahid Kapoor's acting style has been compared by film critics to that of Shahrukh Khan's (me, I don't know that I see it). There are some good bits about this film. I've already mentioned Kapoor's positive contribution, but other highlights feature several nice buddy moments between Kapoor and Vishal Malhotra (who plays Hiten, Raj's sometimes befuddled but loyal best friend) and the not-on-screen-enough Juhi Chawla as the oddball oracle with that very cool name: Haseena Bano Jaan. There are four musical numbers (and one more during the closing credits), and two of them are worth mentioning: the hip nightclubber "Aai Paapi (Tu Hai Meri Soniye)" and the sweet, croony track "Is This Love (Kahin Na Laage)." The bhangra-charged "Soniye Ve (Dhak Dhak Dhak)" is decent enough but sounds much too much like others of its type.

KISMAT KONNECTION runs (and sometimes plods) at 2 hours and 31 minutes, which has a grinding down effect, shackled as it is with shopworn storytelling. I like Shahid Kapoor and it's always neat to see Juhi Chawla, but, to me, this lightweight romantic comedy rates a 3 (okay, maybe 3.5) out of 5 stars. Not a bad flick, with some good moments, but I was expecting more.

Actor Shahid Kapoor followed up his acclaimed hit 'Jab We Met' (2007) with another romantic comedy that's funnier but lacks the emotional zing of his preceding picture. Kapoor's character, Raj, was a popular overachiever in school and voted most likely to succeed by his classmates, but five years after graduation, he's failed to take the world by storm because he's plagued with bad luck. Everything that could possibly go wrong for him does--until he meets Priya (played by Vidya Balan), and his fortune starts to change. He doesn't realize the connection at first because she seems like another source of problems for him, but their confrontations keep inadvertently advancing his career as an architect. There's little sense of underlying attraction in their prickly interactions, and when he catches on that she's his lucky charm and falls in love with her, it isn't convincing. Kapoor can always pull off the pining lover, but there's no magnetism between the leads. Still, it's a charming story about surrendering to the whims of fate. - The Bollywood Ticket: The American guide to Indian movies (Subscribe: The Bollywood Ticket)

This movie moves at a leisurely pace. The acting is average across the board, including that of Om Puri. It was delightful to see Boman Irani towards the end of the movie.

The story is located in Canada (Toronto). Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapoor) is a clientless independent Architect, who manages to get a prospect interested in what turns out to be a dog house project. Then, a "ten dollar" Crystal Grazer (Juhi Chawla) reveals that a lucky charm is imminent. Enter Priya (Vidya Balan), the lucky charm. Shahid's career starts to take off. In one of his "make or break" project proposals, there is talk of giving a human face to Big Business. There is also a Good Samaritan, a "waving friend".

The story is a delightful, goodie - goodie, Bollywood love story, with no villainy or harshness. And, it has an happy ending. However, the songs are nondescript.

You are not missing anything if you miss this movie.

This was a really nice way to spend some hours. It isn't a deep one but it has a certain quality to it that doesn't make it entirely superficial either. For its romantic genre it fits the bill.
The title suggests it's about a couple fated to be together but the story is a little more than that. It is about fate and luck generally and the girl being his lucky charm when things go right for him. There is also a psychic (played delightfully by an eccentric looking Judi Chawla) who coaches the hero about working with fate.
The hero is played by Shahid Kapoor. He is charismatic and draws the eye on screen but he isn't just a pretty face. Not only is he handsome but he acts and moves well. As a trained dancer his dancing is always worth watching and he conveys emotions well.
There is good chemistry between he and Vidya Blan his lucky charm. There are a few good songs and a fairly sustained interest in the pace to the romance.
It is a movie with heart with a co-theme of whether business can work with also finding a way to assist others rather than just going for the bottom line.
The movie is set in Canada and very contemporary in feel. I recommend it for good light entertainment.
I would like the manufacturers of these DVDs to see if they can do something about end credits that accompany a final song. These are reduced to extremely small size when played on a home TV screen. You access this same small format even if you retrieve them through the songs menu. The size and concept work well on a cinema screen but need to be transformed in some way for the home screen.