Recipe of a Bollywood potboiler -
- Take any Hollywood film or a South Indian film or even an old Bollywood film.
- Over cook it on a fire of controversies, rumours and news right from the time it goes on floors.
- Either burn it a little here and there by unnecessary twists and turns or leave it half baked by unjustified storyline.
- Add a dash of contemporary masala like romantic plot, mother-son or father-daughter rona-dhona and melodrama.
- A spoonful of lost and found drama for example re-uniting couple/bothers or parent and child.
- A tadka of hot and sexy promotional song.
Voila! Your film is ready! Hema Malini's Tell Me O Kkhudah seems to have followed this prescription to the T!
One definitely goes great lengths when it comes to assuring a secure future his/her offspring even if it means putting your life/repute or career on line. The original dream girl of Hindi film industry Hema Malini is surely among those people. The legendary actress achieved all due accolades in her career span, earned the tag of a good wife and a great mother too. But one thing she couldn't achieve was to establish her elder daughter Esha Deol's career. Many a veteran film personalities have provided a perfect launch pad for their sons or daughters but jumping late in the bandwagon is Hema Malini who finally re-launches her down and out daughter Esha with Tell Me O Kkhudah.
A rip off of her directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai, Hema Malini's Tell Me O Kkhudah is the story of Tanya (Esha Deol) a popular novelist who keep knocking on various doors in search for her real father.
Plausible Father # 1 - Raja of Pratap garh Abhay Pratap Singh (Vinod Khanna). She goes to Rajasthan (Pratap Garh) only to realize that he doesn't accept her as his daughter as he was told the day his wife died she delivered a dead boy. In a small town when male child is preferred over female, Tanya Sets out to win her plausible father's heart and change his mind set
Plausible Father # 2 - Altaf Zardardi from Turkey (Rishi Kapoor). Tanya goes all the way to Turkey only to find a retard mother who thinks her daughter is still alive despite being dead almost 25 years ago and a father who refuses to accept her in the start. Eventually she sets out to sort the situation once again only to win them over.
Plausible Father # 3 - Tony Costello from Goa (Dharmendra) - Tanya once again sets out to Goa only to be caught between the dons of Goa one among them who happens to be her father. He too denies accepting her from the start but refusing to believe her father could be a goon she doesn't really tries so hard. But as they say fate had a different story for her in the cards.
Now one amongst them is her father and if you really want to know who it is, you must dare to watch the film.
Directed partly by Hema Malini and partly by Mayur Puri, TMOK not only happens to be a remake of Hema Malini's directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai but also has it's 'inspiration' lying in Hollywood Hit Mamma Mia. But this is one of the most shoddy works in ripping films off.
Right from the start there's a customary prelude just for formality sakes in order to jump to the main focus of the story that's of finding a father. If Tanvya was adopted and her foster parents, played by Faroukh Shaikh and Deepti Naval, wanted to hide that fact why would they leave it carelessly in the basement for anyone to go and find it?
There are some glaring errors in the film that just can't pass from a keen observer. For example, a morning scene set at the dining table for breakfast and the time in Faroukh Shaikh's watch says 2pm! Esha Deol gets out of the car with the headlights on and the moment she is out the headlights switch off on their own. Plus there are a lot of other continuity glitches which make for a bad production and direction. Guess nobody bothered to get to the details.
The climax of the film is as funny as it could get and instead of you feeling for the characters you end up crackling up at their inanity. Say a lean and haggard Dharmendra jumps in the sea to save a drowning Esha Deol and instead of bringing her out from the water there's a long underwater scene of both hugging each other!
Both Faroukh and Deepti's character have no depth. Arjan Bajwa's character is very sketchy and senseless. Chandan Roy Sanyal is royally wasted and so are other main actors such as Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Madhu etc. Dharmendra's portion in the film is ludicrous. His appearance is tawdry and he looks haggard throughout. Hema Malini's guest appearance only adds to the agony.
Music is best ignored while it's better to not even consider other technicalities like Editing and Cinematography.
Over all, Tell Me O Kkhuda may just be the flower in the grave of Esha Deol's career. Best Avoided.
0 Responses to Tell Me O Kkhuda : Movie Review