MOVIES

The Kucch Toh Hai review

By Sukanya Verma
January 25, 2003 00:28 IST

Sonal: I know what you did last summer!

Sameer: You do?

Sonal: No silly. I mean Kucch Toh Hai is inspired by I Know What You Did Last Summer coupled with generous doses of Scream, Urban Legend and even Gupt.

Sameer: What's new? Mujhse Dosti Karoge and Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi too were a mish mash of several films.

By the way, isn't I Know What You Did Last Summer the one starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar. They are so wow.

Sonal: Excuse me, Ryan Phillipe and Freddie Prinze Jr too had an important role to play.

Sameer: Yeah, yeah, whatever. So give me more gup on this movie.

Sonal: Here's the deal, Tusshar is this regular Archie who day dreams about Veronica aka Esha. His best friend is Natasha. She fits in as Betty. Yash Tonk plays a Reggie character. They form the youth brigade along with some flashy sidekicks.

Sameer: Wait a minute, you said it's a slasher flick. So far Kucch Toh Hai sounds like teenage mushy crap.

Sonal: Shh! There's more. They all study at St Xavier's College. Only this one is located in Shimla. Can you imagine they have the gall to pass off Kala Ghoda as Mall Road? Plus, they romp around in skimpy short skirts and sleeveless tops.

Sameer: Wonder what Father Joe Dias [former St Xavier's principal in Mumbai] has to say about that? He is known to be very strict.

Sonal: Beats me! So anyway, Tusshar and Esha hit off at the prom night and start going steady, while Natasha nurses her broken heart. Unlike I Know What You Did Last Summer where all guys had their respective gals, Kucch Toh Hai wastes a lot of time in romantic triangles.

Sameer: How uncool! They simply insist on adding Bollywood flavour to every movie.

Sonal: Now there is this freaky professor (Rishi Kapoor) Bakshi who is rumoured to have murdered his wife. During the final exams, he catches Esha copying red-handed.

Sameer: What?

Sonal: It's all a big misunderstanding actually. Nevertheless, Tusshar decides to replace her answer papers by sneaking into Professor Bakshi's apartment with his circle of friends in the night.

Sameer: That sucks!

Sonal: Of course. What's more? They discover a deadly secret in his spooky apartment. Then an accident takes place. From then onwards, Kucch Toh Hai becomes I Know What You Did Last Summer. Esha, who was behind the steering wheel, becomes a nervous wreck and decides to leave town.

Sameer: Such an escapist.

Sonal: After a couple of years, one of Tusshar and Esha's common friends is getting married. So they all meet up once again. And someone who knows their well-kept secret is out to finish them one by one.

Sameer: Now you are talking, girl!

Sonal: Trust me. It's not as exciting as it sounds. Scream and I Know… had you at the edge of your seat. One anticipated fear, gore and high pitched drama. And that's exactly what they gave you. In Kucch Toh Hai, there are so many songs popping after every two minutes that one doesn't care for the hooded guy with a garden knife anymore.

Sameer: Does he wear a mask?

Sonal: No, but he sports the typical black leather long coat, boots, hooded, carrying a deadly sickle or knife look.

Sameer: How are the performances? Or should I even ask?

Sonal: Lousy -- all of them. The characters barely converse in the film. Either they are singing and dancing or they are busy getting slaughtered by the psycho on loose.

Sameer: Are the killing sequences too gory?

Sonal: In I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ryan Phillipe and Sarah Michelle Gellar's dying scenes sends a shiver down your spine. Nothing of that sort happens here. One thing is common though.

Both movies offer silly justifications for all the butchering.

Sameer: I quite like the music.

Sonal: Hmmm. Not bad. But the picturisation of the Ding dang ding song is an inspired rip off of Michael Jackson's In the closet video. Only here, they have added some semi-naked punks strutting in the background.

Sameer: For a movie with an unoriginal theme, that doesn't seem unusual.

Sonal: Tusshar Kapoor doing a Salman Khan! He actually bared his torso clad in a white unbuttoned shirt and red jeans. Can you beat that? Considering Ekta Kapoor keeps dishing out those saans bahu stereotypes on the idiot box, it's quite hypocritical for her to resort to exposure of flesh so explicitly.

Sameer: Bottomline is: skip this movie?

Sonal: Unless you are a die-hard Johnny Lever fan, yeah, pretty much. He is hilarious. He is the best thing about the movie.

Sameer: I see.

Sonal: hmm…so what did you do last summer?

Sameer: Er…Scream!

 

Sukanya Verma

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