REVIEW: Aloo Chaat

US returned Nikhil (Aftab Shivdasani) is Lajpat Nagar's most eligible bachelor. And every Punjabi girl in the neighbourhood simply loves him. The problem? He is already in love. His bigger problem! The girl is a Muslim.

Aware of his parents' orthodox ideas and in order to buy time - Nikhil tells them he is in love with an American girl. That's because his father would always accept an American girl over a Muslim. Nikhil decides to ask his girlfriend Amna (Aamna Sharif) to accompany Nikki (Linda) – who is hired by Nikhil to pose as his fiancée. With both girls in the same house Nikhil's parents start warming up to Aamna's Indian values. And slowly get over their religious prejudices. But will they agree to the marriage?

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From here on you don't need to be an Einstein to figure out the rest. Ten minutes into the film and you can predict how it will unfold. But the film's predictable storyline is the least of its problems. As long as the situations are funny, one doesn't really care about the plot in a comedy. Aloo Chaat sadly fails on both accounts.

Barring a few laughs here and there, most of it is a drag. It's boring screenplay and slow pace fails to create an impact of a good comedy. By bringing in the element of mistaken identity, the director tries to do a Chuple Chupke. But despite all the confusion between the characters, the energy doesn't translate on screen. And when the humour fails, the director repeats the oldest mistake of most Bollywood comedies. Take the melodramatic - emotional route in the climax.

What saves the film from disaster are the dialogues. Kulbhushan Kharbhanda and Manoj Pahwa (who play Nikhil's father and uncle respectively) mouth some of the film's most hilarious lines. Kharbhanda however delivers a flawless performance as the strict, orthodox Punjabi father.