-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 18, 2008 8:00:51 PM IST Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network
Ajay Devgan and Kajol may have been married for years but the two still find their hearts beating for each other.
This is what they convey to each other in the number 'Dil Dhakda Hai', the second in the line of promotion for their home production U, ME AUR HUM. After an excellent response that the opening number 'Jee Le' has generated, promotion of U, ME AUR HUM has moved on to the next level with the introduction of 'Dil Dhakda Hai'.
Set on a cruise where Ajay and Kajol meet for the first time and get drunk, 'Dil Dhakda Hai' has Adnan Sami and Shreya Ghoshal at the helm, who sung the opening number as well. A rhythmic number with a catchy beat which should help the track cover some distance, this one is yet another winner by composer Vishal Bhardwaj and lyricist Munna Dhiman.
Love is a profound mystery. It keeps you awake at nights and makes you daydream throughout the days. And the whole world becomes beautiful when you find that someone special to fall in love with. But it is easy to fall in love and difficult to keep it alive through the course of a relationship.
“Sometimes the greatest journey is the distance between two people,” says the tagline of ‘U Me Aur Hum’, a romantic film that brings back to silver screen the real life jodi of Ajay Devgan and Kajol .
Don’t miss the film’s slideshow (story in pictures) at U Me Aur Hum .
The movie marks Devgan’s debut as a director. In Devgan’s own words, the film’s story touched him so deeply that he wanted to direct it himself.
Story
Ajay (Ajay Devgan) was more than tipsy when he first saw Pia (Kajol). For him, it was love at first sight. She served him drinks. But more than alcohol, it was Pia’s natural beauty that intoxicated Ajay.
Pia was not amused when she saw Ajay for the first time. She watched him make a fool of himself over a few glasses of alcohol, and she heard him making lofty claims of true love for her.
Pia was relieved when Ajay passed out. Little did she know that in this short encounter, the cupid had already done its job!
After his disastrous first attempt at wooing Pia, Ajay tries more sober ways. He keeps awake at nights to take lessons to be able to dance with her. He sneaks into her cabin to read her personal diary.
As usual, perseverance pays back and Ajay ends up making a positive impression on Pia. He eventually wins her heart. In each other, Ajay and Pia find an anchor.
But the tide goes against them. Weighted down by lies and deceit, their boat is rocked, and their relationship drowns. Pia walks out of Ajay’s life.
But Ajay waits for Pia. And she comes back to him. With no doubt in their minds about the way they feel for each other, they rush into marriage, despite the advice and failing relationships of their friends.
Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry. Ajay and Pia love each other dearly, and their marriage flourishes, setting an example for their friends.
But no marriage can be complete without problems, and Ajay and Pia also have to face hurdles, some of which seem insurmountable.
Do Ajay and Pia battle against all odds? Or do they simply give up? Will their love emerge victorious? Or is their love story destined to have a bitter end?
‘U Me Aur Hum’ is an extraordinary love story of two ordinary people – Ajay and Pia. There may be no monuments dedicated to them and perhaps their names will soon be forgotten. But their love remains exemplary, unshaken and unchanged through the course of time.
The movie also stars Sumeet Raghavan , Divya Dutta , Karan Khanna and Isha Sharvani .
Sumeet and Divya play an unhappy married couple, while Karan and Isha play a happy unmarried couple.
‘U Me Aur Hum’ has music by Devgan’s close friend Vishal Bharadwaj and lyrics by a newcomer named Munna Dhiman.
The film’s story is written by Robin Bhatt and dialogues are by Ashwini Dheer.
Produced jointly by Devgan and Kumar Mangat , ‘U Me Aur Hum’ is slated to hit the theatres on April 11.
IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE I HAVE WRITTEN TO YOU LOVELY PEOPLE, I HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY IN PROMOTING AND POST PRODUCTION OF MY FILM...WILL BE SEEN SOON ON ZEE TV. SURPRISE!!!!
WATCH MY NEW PROMO CALLED SAIYAAN, WHICH IS BEAUTIFULLY SUNG BY SUNIDHI CHAUHAN
HOPE YOU ALL LIKE IT AND DO NOT FORGET TO COMMENT ON IT
If you thought that Kajol is the only female power in hubby Ajay Devgan's U ME AUR HUM then think again. And that's because the director-actor has roped in not one, not two but as many as four other prominent actresses in his debut directorial venture.
The females in question are Isha Sharwani, Rituparna Sengupta, Sarika and Divya Dutta. While Isha and Rituparna have been playing lead roles in their Bollywood career so far, Sarika and Divya Dutta have pretty much established themselves when it comes to strong character roles.
For Isha, U ME AUR HUM is quite an important project considering her box office turkeys like GOOD BOY BAD BOY, ROCKY - THE REBEL and DARWAZA BAND RAKHO in the recent past. On the other hand for Rituparna too, this is her biggest project till date in Bollywood since her UNNS and GAURI - THE UNBORN have been non-starters.
When it comes to men, Karan Khanna (HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT. LTD.) and Sumeet Raghavan (seen in popular TV sitcom SARABHAI V/S SARABHAI) give Ajay Devgan some company.
Hatten wir schon einen Artikel darüber, wie Ajay Devgan sich für einen der jungen Hauptdarsteller seines Films entschieden hat?
Es geht hier um Aditya Singh Rajput alias Addy, einen Jungen aus Delhi, den Kumar Mangat eigentlich "für sich" entdeckt hatte, weil er einen passenden Schauspieler gesucht hatte, den er mit seiner Tochter zusammen casten wollte. Den hat er dann Ajay empfohlen. So bekam Addy eines Tages einen Anruf, für U, Me Aur Hum vorzusprechen. Als er am ersten Drehtag ankam, ließ man ihn gar nicht vorsprechen, sondern er wurde vom Fleck weg gecastet - eine Empfehlung von Kumar Mangat sei ausreichend, hatte Ajay dazu gemeint.
April 9, 2008 Anil Sinanan, Times Bollywood Film Critic
Rating: 3/5
A beautiful couple meet on a cruise liner, fall in love and sing a couple of songs before disaster strikes. Is this the Bollywood version of ‘Titanic’?
Opening with love quotes from diverse sources like Albert Einstein, Emily Dickson, Leo Tolstoy and David Levesque, we meet Ajay (Ajay Devgan) a senior citizen. He narrates the story of Ajay (Devgan, again) and Piya (Kajol), two twenty-somethings who meet aboard the ‘Super Star Libra’, a cruise ship which is travelling from an unspecified location to Mumbai.
“Let’s party and get tight, cause its love at first sight!” the younger Ajay declares. By the time the journey ends, they are predictably in love. In true romcom fashion, a misunderstanding ensues but they are reconciled and get married.
Post-intermission, there is a dramatic and melodramatic change of gear: Piya is struck not by an iceberg but by Alzheimer’s disease. The rest of the film focuses on how the progressive mental deterioration of Pia’s mind affects the couple’s relationship, ‘Away From Her’-style.
“I think your story is going to be too long,” the elder Piya remarks when her husband decides to narrate their earlier days of clichéd happiness. She is right: nothing substantial happens plot-wise in the first hour and a half which is swamped with juvenile jokes. This is presumably to establish the joie de vivre of the characters lives. Instead it threatens to sink the proceedings and may have the effect of alienating even the most patient viewer.
A-list leading man Ajay Devgan’s direction results in an uneven and clumsy film of two halves. His resort to numerous flashbacks and frequent split screen montages are unnecessary and tiresome. The obligatory salsa inspired songs, inexplicably subtitled in Hindi, are symptomatic of the condition the film addresses: they are forgettable.
It all comes together in the final emotional twenty minutes. This is largely due to the performances of Devgan and his real life wife Kajol who inject much needed dignity into this maudlin tale. It ends on an uplifting note: true lovers never really forget each other.
Like Aamir Khan’s earlier ‘Taare Zameen Par’ which examined the plight of a dyslexic kid, this is another worthy attempt by mainstream Bollywood to highlight a little known medical condition which affects many Indians. This is especially welcome since premature senility is often misunderstood and can be considered a taboo topic in India.
Ein schönes Paar trifft sich auf einer Kreuzfahrt, verliebt sich ineinander und singt ein paar Lieder, bevor das Schicksal zuschlägt. Die Bollywoodversion von TITANIC? SPOILER ANFANG Es beginnt mit Zitaten über die Liebe von Albert Einstein, Emily Dickson, Leo Tolstoy und David Levesque. Wir treffen einen alten Herrn, Ajay, der die Geschichte von Ajay und Piya erzählt, zwei Twens, die sich an Bord der "Super Star Libra" begegnen, einem Kreuzfahrtschiff, das von irgendwoher nach Mumbai unterwegs ist. “Let’s party and get tight, cause its love at first sight!” ist Ajays Motto. Am Ende der Reise habe sich die beiden natürlich ineinander verliebt. Den Gesetzen der Romanze folgend überwinden sie alle Schwierigkeiten und heiraten. Nach der Intermission gerät der Film zum Melodram: Piya wird nicht von einem Eisberg sondern von Alzheimer heimgesucht. Der Rest des Films beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen des geistigen Verfalls auf die Beziehung des Paares. "Ich denke, deine Geschichte wird zu lang," sagt die alt gewordene Piya, als ihr Gatte anhebt, von den glücklichen Tagen zu erzählen. Sie hat recht: In der ersten Stunde passiert nichts, was die Geschichte voranbringt, und dieses Nichts ist mit albernen Witzen garniert. Wahrscheinlich, um die Lebensfreude der Charaktere zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Aber stattdessen behindert das den Erzählfluss und kann den geduldigsten Zuschauer befremden. Ajay Devgans Regiedebut brachte einen unausgewogenen und unbeholfenen Film hervor, der in zwei Hälfen zerfällt. Sein Rückgriff auf zahllose Rückblenden und der häufige Einsatz der Split-Screen-Technik sind unnötig und ermüdend. Die obligatorischen, salsaähnlichen Songs - unverständlicherweise mit Hindi-Untertiteln - sind exemplarisch für den Film: nichts, was in Erinnerung bleibt. Aber alles löst sich in den letzten emotionsgeladenen zwanzig Minuten. Das ist hauptsächlich der darstellerischen Leistung von Devgan und seiner Ehefrau Kajol zu verdanken, die der rührseligen Geschichte viel Würde verleihen. Das Ende baut auf: Wahre Liebende vergessen einander nie. Wie Aamir Khans TZP, der sich mit Dyslexie beschäftigte, ist das ein weiterer Versuch der Unterhaltungsindustrie von Bollywood, ein medizinisches Phänomen zu beleuchten, das viele Inder betrifft. Ein begrüßenswerter Versuch, denn Alzheimer wird oft nicht verstanden und ist in Indien häufig ein Tabu. SPOILER ENDE