khushboo

Uncertainty prevails in Bollywood. How else to explain that either there is no movie or hardly one to release or there are plenty, say, four or five, releasing simultaneously one Friday. Similarly, we find a number of stars without adequate offers and some with plenty in their kitty. Not only that, we come across movies releasing on a Friday with the conspicuous absence of the senior actors and the sudden appearance of new and new faces. We wonder if there is any rationale behind it.

The tinsel town is full of stars but looks falling short this year. Someone has rightly said that 2008 belongs to new faces in Bollywood. Movie after movie is full with new comers, male or female. And, mind it this time new faces don't necessarily hail from filmy families. This is evident, as even the well-known producer Pahlaj Nihalani has introduced two new faces in his latest 'Khushboo'. Pahlaj Nihlani is a veteran film producer who discovered and gifted stars like Govinda, Suniel Shetty, Divya Bhrati and Chunky Pandey during his two-decade stint in the industry, and turned out one of the few top producers of 80s and the 90s.

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However, his career graph seems to be moving down since his last production 'Talaash: The Hunt Begins', featuring Akshay and Kareena directed by Suneel Darshan, failing at the box-office. Though Pahlaj is down yet he isn't out. And, now the long wait seems to be over for him and the he is back with the new film 'Khushboo'. The movie is directed by Rajesh Ram Singh and features new faces of Rishi and Avantika.

According to the story, Raghunathan Iyer (Rishi Rehan) is a project manager of a multinational company and his boss (Raj Babbar) wants to send him to New York but due to some emergency at a project in Chandigarh in Punjab he forgets the boss' instruction to go to New York. Meanwhile, Raghu meets Pinky (Avantika) in Chandigarh and despite having no faith in love the high profile that he is falls for Pinky. Incidentally, Pinky who is a modern girl not only shares bed with Raghu but claims to bear his child.

Consequently, Raghu marries Pinky though after meeting her parents, both keep their marriage a secret! Why? It's not clear. When Pinky's parents come to know about their marriage, they visit Raghu's office to kill him. Since Pinky is the only sister of her five brothers the latter consent to the marriage. However, her father, subedar Arminder Singh (Prem Chopra) doesn't accept her and rather forsakes the relationship with her. Then follow the usual filling in the blanks to make it end on a happy note. Is it possible in the real life? Not, perhaps. So, the plot is to week to stand on its feet.

If the plot is flawed so are the other departments, which have failed to prove a saviour. We pity Pahlaj Nihalani for his weak plot and direction. Besides, other talents like those of brilliant choreographer Saroj Khan, the music composition of Adnan Sami and lyrics of Javed Akhtar. The movie though titled 'Khushboo' lacks fragrance.