The film stretches such absurdities to the limit in what is basically an issueless theme. Director Raj Kanwar, the master of ladies cinema (tearjerkers like Judai), is unable to deliver even his melodramatic punch in dapk. He essays more the lack of direction gripping Hindi cinema following the decline of the '90s mush. Conservative romance having exhausted itself, mainstream filmmakers are mainly dancing in the dark trying to rework its basic ingredients.
Abhishek Bachchan is made to appear sober in an incredibly soulless performance. Whether crying or laughing, he looks more like a man taking an uninterested walk in the garden. He plays the character of an orphan in the film. But he behaves more like what he is: a well-fed colt from the Bachchan stable. He is paying the price of the fall since his father's days: directors and scriptwriters now label a character as angry or gaunt without creating the hurt in the eyes and the purpose in the walk. Abhishek is also being made to do what he is distinctly uncomfortable at - he seems unsuited for the song and dance routine now in vogue.
Aishwarya has again started giving those artificial looks, from which she had extricated herself to an extent in Taal and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. An increasing number of directors are trying to exploit her glamorous, suffering Cinderella image, but her stock of expressions is fast drying up. She's a director's star but looks awful at places basically because the director couldn't bring out the actress in her. She has to be careful, for gone are the days when a Hema Malini could get away with murder and yet remained a star.
The camerawork is disappointingly average. Once again, like so many others, Raj Kanwar has turned his back on the classical structure of the masala - songs are now used to fill in a blank rather than stress an attitude.
