DE THAALI

The movie is titled after its most popular item song! Great!! Earlier, it was named ‘Jalsa’, though. When each and every member of the cast and crew began calling it ‘De Taali’, it was named so, it is said. Though its director E. Niwas is known for completing his every movie within two months , this time he took more than six months. Why? He attributes the delay in this movie to the dates problem of its cast as E. Niwas wanted to shoot certain scenes in the presence of the entire cast. The movie’s lead actors - Aftaab Shivdasani, Ritesh Deshmukh, Ayesha Takia and Riya Sen found it too difficult to adjust common dates among themselves. Hence the deferment of the shooting schedule several times. Later, the director decided to shoot eighty per cent of the movie on the splendid sets of Filmalay and Film city studios in Mumbai.

Though the movie looks good on its face value and according to the performances rendered by its cast, it falls short of a plot—good or bad. There isn’t much suspense as is usual in a movie to evoke constant interest of the viewers in watching each and every scene. Here, one knows what will follow next. As the title indicates the movie centers on friendship and love, but when the lights switch off in the theater , its music hints at the seriousness of the flick. No sooner the main cast breaks into a peppy song than the audience realizes the truth!

In the story, Kartika played by Rimi Sen uses the situation to her advantage and her would-be husband (Abhi) Aftab Shivdasani has no problems when she gives up her desire to marry him even though she is in the midst of just getting married! The movie is about three great friends -- Abhi played by Amu, Ayesha Takia and Paglu played by Riteish Deshmukh. They are very close to each other and therefore support each other. Ayesha , though a female, is treated like boy in their company. Abhi is always ready to fall for some one : This comes out when Kartika enters Abhi's life, and Paglu is set to see Abhi and Amu married. How they try to avoid the Kartika’s scheming is what the movie is all about. So, the plot of the story or the script lacks a lot to convince the viewers.

Performance-wise, Riteish Deshmukh has played his role excellently well; it seems that comedy is his forte. Though older in the filmi line, Aftab Shivdasani doesn’t match his junior (Ritesh) in profession but undoubtedly strives too hard in doing his assigned role. Ayesha Takia, however, surprises though after a long time, by involving herself completely in her character. Rimi Sen plays her character of Kartika quite well by indulging in scheming though her role requires it. One doesn’t understand the role of Anupam Kher, though. What’s the great deal in his imparting lessons to his pet dog to follow his orders. After all, his isn’t a guest appearance, we feel.