HUMKO TUMSE PYAAR HAI is no classic. Nor does it swim against the tide. It’s no foolproof entertainer either. Yet, the goings-on compel you to train your eyes at the screen, especially towards the second hour.
HUMKO TUMSE PYAAR HAI is a vintage love story. It has that old-world charm that worked in the 1970s and 1980s. You can guess what’s in store next, but the execution of the material [Bunty Soorma, Vikram Bhatt] is absorbing most of the times, with certain dramatic moments making you forget the deficiencies.
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TAXI NO. 9211 is more of a Mumbaiya film. Set and shot in the metropolis, the film depicts a day in the life of two individuals whose paths collide on a fateful morning and life is never the same again. Though the identification for a Mumbai viewer may be tremendous, it nevertheless is a film that makes a bold statement about societal pressures and human conditions. In a nutshell, TAXI NO. 9211 may not boast of that archetypal masala Indian moviegoers have been spoon-fed for decades, but it’s inventive and innovative. And, yes, it’s thoroughly satisfying.
To many, the modern image of Bollywood is of fantasy and glitz, with a ‘disco-lifestyle’ of glamour and wealth. On the surface everything looks very simple, but the core values of these films remain immovably tied to 5000 years of religious tradition - most of it Hindu. Let’s not forget that Bollywood emanates from one of the world’s oldest civilisations. In India, religious thinking and values surround you in everything you experience - from the saffron robed holy men in the streets, to the sacred cows which wander freely through the traffic. Religion is so much a part if Indian life - how could it not be in the cinema?

Sunil Shetty…… Anna