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Fun, the Khan way

Suparn Verma

The Khan brothers of Bollywood -- Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail -- try to hit the bull's eye the second time around with Hello Brother, after the success of last year's Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya.

The film is a rehash of several others, the main one being Heart Condition. There are a few lifts from The Mask, The Untouchables and Ghayab, a Dharmendra-starrer which, in turn, was a remake of a Kamal Hassan movie.

The story is simple. Hero (Salman Khan) loves Rani (Rani Mukherjee), but she doesn't. Hero, meanwhile, is a loyal worker at A-Z, a courier company helmed by baddie Khanna (Shakti Kapoor). The man actually distributes drugs around the city, the courier company being just a front!

Tough cop Inspector Vishal (Arbaaz Khan) arrives in the city and starts trailing Hero whom he suspects to be involved in the racket. But the poor unsuspecting Hero is innocent. So when he stumbles upon the truth, Khanna has him bumped off. At the same time, he manages to shoot Vishal in the heart.

A heart transplant takes place and -- you guessed right -- Hero's heart is given to Vishal.

But here comes the twist. Hero's spirit comes back to avenge his death, but only Vishal can see him. Since Hero's heart beats for Rani, it is only natural for Vishal to fall in love with Rani. And fortunately, she too falls in love with him.

The climax is about how the revenge mission is accomplished.

Don't expect too much from Hello Brother. It's a light, fresh, youthful and 'inspired' movie which is good for a few laughs.

Be warned: there are some crude attempts at humour (the senior inspector keeps letting off wind throughout the film.)

Salman brings his comic talent to the fore -- sometimes trying to mimic Jim Carey, sometimes trying his own brand of humour. Luckily for him, it works and he is able to carry it off.

Arbaaz is more suited to play serious characters. So when Hero calls him kadwa (Bitterface), the gag works. He is even able to carry off the scene when Hero dupes him into acting like a LC (lower class) instead of being an HC (higher class) to make Rani feel at ease.

Rani is wasted, she doesn't have much to do, not even a comic scene, since the Khan brothers are all over the place.

Johnny Lever is present throughout, doing his gags, some funny, some not. Guess no Hindi film these days is complete without the mandatory presence of this comic who is -- more often than not -- wasted in puerile roles.

The music by Himmesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid , which doesn't sound too appealing on CD, appeals on screen. Even more entertaining is the background score, despite being loud and garrulous.

The special effects, usually tacky in most Hindi films, are certainly better in this one. Though there's still a long way to go before the technique of walking through doors or human bodies -- mastered in Ghostbusters) and exploited to the hilt in Ghost -- is perfected.

The film is visually slick and edited well. Director Sohail Khan's narrative skills keeps improving; hopefully, he will soon direct an original film.

Hello Brother is a loud, garish film; it is funny, if you have an appetite for such fare.