U Me Aur Hum

Ajay Devgan's U, Me Aur Hum is an imperfect film. It will never be taught in a film school. Intellectually, you can make a laundry list of the flaws in the film. Cynics will like to point out the similarities between this and some Hollywood films like The Notebook, Iris and Away From Her - all films involving Alzheimer's and memory loss.

There are some who have even pointed out that Devgan should have done a scene-by-scene copy instead of a thematic one. I wish you had a magnetic cynic-o-meter at the theaters for these cynics so they would not be allowed to watch the film.

U, Me Aur Hum is the realization of Devgan's belief in his film and his conviction in telling a story his way. It is an emotional film and in that sense a very good film. It works because the drama is genuine and Ajay and Kajole are seasoned performers who have great chemistry.

There are some who say that Ajay and Kajole have gotten old. Those people are not only cynical but superficial as well. Such people should perhaps invest their money in a copy of Maxim or FHM instead of this film.

To the passionate independent filmmaker U, Me Aur Hum would be very inspiring. Devgan has put everything into a story he believed and then put a team of people together who may or may not be the who's who in Bollywood, but who are nevertheless talented. These people have obviously bought into Devgan's vision and what has translated on screen is very genuine, very from-the-heart and very moving.

Co-writer Robin Bhatt, co-producer Kumar Mangat, cinematographer Aseem Bajaj, composer Vishal Bharadwaj, supporting cast Sachin Khedekar, Divya Dutta and gang are all to be applauded for their efforts. Special mention to new lyricist Munna Dhiman - seems like another Prasoon Joshi in the making.

Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan - apart from being actor-director-producers - have something else in common: they have always been original in their thinking and tread their own path. They are superstars aspiring to be and remain artists. The coming years in Bollywood are going to be very exciting. The size of the film will not be based on budget or star power, but ideas and heart. Ajay Devgan will also have his part to play in these new 'big' films.

I was very disappointed by Raju Chacha (which was produced by Ajay Devgan) and I was hoping U ME AUR HUM will not go the same way.

And believe me I ended up enjoying the movie. Though I am not yet sure whether this a rip-off of some Hollywood movie, but was impressed with the cute love story, refreshing camera work, eye-catching colors, funny and enjoyable dialouges, good music (though it could have done with less songs) and last very very good acting by Ajay and Kajol.

After Amir Khan, its Ajay Devgan's turn to impress.

Strongly Recommended!!!

8.5/10

Ajay Devgan's directorial debut U, Me Aur Hum is quite interesting for its light and colourful background. But despite a promising combination of romance and drama, beautiful locations and two great actors who are perfect for their respective parts, it loses itself. It is lost within all the unnecessary jokes, the confusing flashbacks and the ever-changing sequences from present to past and vice-versa. It's a good story marred by unstable and average film-making. In the first half it heavily relies on comedy that does not really bring out great laughs. In the second, it is far more interesting but never really manages to remain consistent. The dialogues, the drama are uninspiring, as is the film. The film is generally watchable despite the weak script and has several great things about it. Kajol and Ajay Devgan, a real-life couple, give two good performances, and their chemistry is obviously good as it has always been. Ajay, in a different role, is cool, mature and convincing. Aactually, as a director, he does a relatively impressive debut as well, and he rightly makes his talented wife the centre of attention here. Yeh, and it is our Kajol, who is natural and compelling. I liked the entire concept of Alzheimer and predicted a typical emotionally temperamental film. Happily, it didn't go over-the-top. But sadly, I somehow lost it and didn't see the point of the film. Maybe I should re-watch it.

A story with a message - BUT the message is simplistically simple, the love story is INSPIRED by a few films (Notebook, 50 first dates etc.) and banal, and the dialogs are horrendous. I think a Kajol or Ajay fan can see it (I did). Ajay made this one so it feels exactly like the summary he wrote for IMDb – and that summary was worse than a grade school summary of a book or film. Even the tag line is lifted from the amazing Painted Veil. Unfortunately none of the quality of that marital strife film rubs off on U Me Aur Hum.

I really like Kajol, and thought she looked very good in the first half of K3G (a film I quite dislike) but then they choose to make her haggard in the second half and she has kept that look. What is with all that dark dark eye makeup? Does she want to become the Rekha of her time? There were a few moments when she looked great, but most of the time she was OTT with white lipstick and big black mascara. Ajay just looked dour most of the time and it did not help that the extreme closeup photography enhanced every blackhead, every pore, every wrinkle in the faces of the couple.

A couple of scenes engaged me, but the dialogs were bad beyond belief. The kid has to be named with an F, so F U dash dash E R is a great name? A long winded dialog about 'cutting the arm off' was so stupid I thought at first that I didn't get some profound statement that was being made. Ajay was great in HDDCS - he would say "You know something? Never mind!" and I loved him for that. But this is carrying a great dialog to silly extremes (repeated 100 times in UMAH) without the catch line, which was NEVER MIND and suited the character of Vanraj!

I can hum Dil Dhakda hai - so maybe one song was OK. But the lyrics for all the songs were horrific – here is a sample of lyrics from Dhakda hai! Dil laaya hoon, tang do khunti pe, sapnon mein aajaana, raat ko hoon duty pe!! That Phatte number was simply atrocious in lyrics, melody and choreography. The Saiyyan song - that was the most inappropriate insertion of a song into a situation EVER!

In summary, U Me Aur Hum is a most banal film. With a silly bottom line - if you love you wife/(mother/father) do not send them to an institution when they get Alzheimers or start failing. Forget the fact that most people cannot send them to that 5 star type facility she went to, and for others sending them to any kind of facility is not a financial option. The tragedy of the disease was never really explored was it? For that we still have to look to Maine Gandhi ko Nahin Maara.

As for the marital advice - I've seen better from Dear Abby.

From the way this movie began, I had no idea where it was heading. There was a certain silliness in the opening, but its really a bait and switch situation. In fact, for some time, you are really baffled by what is going on. Ajay is telling a story, and from the way the story is visualized, you have a lot of reason to assume he is telling his own story, even though he doesn't present it that way. Until you get through most of the way into the story, you have no choice but to follow the story as if it is a parable or something.

Then comes the big crunch, the rainy scene where the whole mood completely changes. But still the story-teller keeps his hole card out of sight.

When the true nature of what is going on becomes evident, you realize the story is one of the most frightening anyone can imagine, and only then do you really appreciate the quality of the acting.

So, I think I've seen Ajay Devgan's best movies. And I'm pretty sure I've seen Kajol at her best. And I've liked every movie since their marriage, whether comical or serious, where they played the lead roles. But I'm pretty convinced this is, at least, Ajay's best. And somewhere near Kajol's best. I hope one or both gets at least a nomination in next year's award round.