Story:
Samar Anand (Shahrukh Khan) is an Army officer who works in the bomb diffusing unit. He is fearless at his work but he has a past for that fearlessness and that is known by Akira (Anushka Sharma) when she chances upon a dairy written by Samar.
The past of Samar sees him working as a part timer in London in a number of jobs. He meets Meera (Katrina Kaif) during one such job and instantly falls in love. Meera (Katrina Kaif) however loves God more than anyone and in one moment after an incident she makes a promise to God which changes the fate of both forever. What happens in the end is what basically the film is all about.
Performances:
Shahrukh Khan after some gap gets to do a romantic part which is bread and butter for him. He gives a solid performance which is a mix of his early age romantic Raj and later years serious Kabir Khan. He is splendid in the film.
Katrina Kaif unfortunately lacks what it takes to emote. She puts effort and the more effort she puts the more it’s clear that she can’t act. She is beautiful to look at but that’s about it.
Anushka Sharma can act but is that the only ‘act’ she can act. She plays the bubbly charming full of energy character once again which as movie progresses gets mellow.
Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh have a small lovable cameo together and they are a delight to watch.
There are other characters some playing stereotypes but none manage to create an impact.
Positives:
Main leads
Locations
Cinematography
Songs picturization
Background score
Negatives:
Movie Length
Slow narration
Predictability
Lack of memorable songs
Analysis:
The first half of the film is an absolute drag with very little story. All it does for its entire duration of an hour and half is establish the basic conflict between the lead pair. However this half has most of the songs and entertainment despite lack of any story.
Second half of the film gets into the story but again here the scenes that relate to the actual plot are very few and there is a lot of seriousness going around besides that. The very few scenes that pertain to the basic plot are done with, in a very swift but predictable manner thereby having absolutely no excitement for the audience.
On the whole the second half has the story missing in the first half, but it is not as smooth as the first half and lacks the entertainment offered in the first half too. It has its moments which are neatly done and there are dialogues which strike a chord but such moments are few.
Direction by late Yash Chopra is fine. He tries to narrate a very old fashioned story with modern sensibilities something which he has been doing from ages. And like most of such films this one too only scratches the surface and fails to go much deeper and hence failing to create an everlasting impact.
Music by AR Rahman is alright but he makes up for it with very good background score.
Cinematography is good. Proper editing could have really made the film a lot sharper and lot lesser in duration.
Bottom-line: Only for die romantics and SRK fans
Rating- 3/5