Kuch Naa Kaho - Movie Review
Published: April 29, 2011
Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai
Marriage and the lead-up to it, in which Indian families are deeply involved, is the basis of many Bollywood films, but this one has an engaging twist. The hero tries to win the hand of a woman who is already married.
Raj (Abhishek Bachchan) is a content bachelor living in New York. His mother wants him to get married, of course, and he's reluctant to visit India because he knows his relatives there will foist potential brides on him. His cousin tricks him into coming to her wedding in India by telling him that she's being forced into the marriage (when really she's in love with her fiancé). Raj tries to get on the first flight to Mumbai, but he can't get a seat, so he persuades a stranger at the airport, Namrata (Aishwarya Rai), to give him her ticket. Once he arrives, he realizes he was fooled, and just as he expected, the family starts pressuring him to marry.
Namrata turns out to be a family friend (who caught a later flight) and she plays matchmaker for him, arranging one disastrous meeting after another. Eventually, he realizes he wants Namrata—and then learns she's married and has a child and that her husband abandoned her before the baby was born. He's not sure what to do about his feelings and he becomes even more confused when he forges a bond with her young son, who desperately wants a father figure. When Namrata learns how Raj feels, she dismisses the possibility of them being together because she can't conceive of a second chance at marriage and because she's afraid of getting hurt again. But, when she sees how wonderful Raj is to her son and how much the boy needs him, she lets down her guard and opens her heart.
But there's an emotional disconnect between the two. The actors (who married in real-life in 2007) give fine performances, but Rai is hemmed in by the constraints of the writing. Namrata is grateful to Raj—for accepting her and her fatherless child and easing the shame of rejection—but that's the extent of the feelings she expresses for him, which doesn't make for much of a love affair.
What really drags the film down is actor Arbaaz Khan's ham-handed portrayal of her husband, Sanjeev, who reappears to spoil everything. His sinisterness is unintentionally campy.
Kuch Naa Kaho is rated Worth Watching.
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