An energetic, careening Bollywood story of love at first sight that embraces tragedy, comedy and everything in between.
All that can be said about U, Me Aur Hum is implicit in its truly barmy plotline that borrows from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Dirty Dancing, and 50 First Dates. A distinguished looking man and his teenage son are in a restaurant when they strike up a dare to woo some women. The son picks his father's target and he endeavors to win her over by telling what at first appears to be a love story about a couple he used to know.
All that can be said about U, Me Aur Hum is implicit in its truly barmy plotline that borrows from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Dirty Dancing, and 50 First Dates. A distinguished looking man and his teenage son are in a restaurant when they strike up a dare to woo some women. The son picks his father's target and he endeavors to win her over by telling what at first appears to be a love story about a couple he used to know.
The film-within-a-film begins, the couple played by the same actors, but it will take some time, three hours to be precise, to discover the reason for this. Ajay (Devgan) and Piya (Kajol) meet on a cruise ship. She is a bar steward. He is a psychiatrist, and accompanied by two couples, one 'unhappily married' and one 'happily unmarried' we are told.
One drunken night in the cruise ship's pole dancing club, Ajay falls in love with Piya. She is unamused by Ajay's advances, so he sneaks into her room to leave flowers, and discovers her diary or 'Book of Possibilities' - a scrapbook of memories, hopes and dreams.
Ajay sets about putting this knowledge to good use, and manipulates Piya into falling for him over the course of several early morning salsa dancing lessons. Ajay is pressured by his friends to confess, and eventually does so, causing Piya to renounce him immediately.
Months later, Ajay has bought a Labrador (Piya's favourite breed) and an all-white apartment with a huge portrait painting of his true love hung on the wall. One day, Piya arrives on his doorstep professing her love.
They roll around on the off-white carpet, they walk around barefoot holding glasses of wine, they kiss on the balcony, and they get married. Piya becomes more and more forgetful, until Ajay finds her wandering outside their apartment, having blanked on their address, his number, and his name.
A doctor diagnoses the 27 year-old Piya with Alzheimer's disease. She's also pregnant. Her condition worsens with the progress of her pregnancy, and when the baby is born, she has a full-time carer. After a near-tragedy when the baby is left alone in the bath tub, Ajay decides Piya must go into a care home. He has a crisis, resolves this crisis, and decides to bring Piya home.
They roll around on the off-white carpet, they walk around barefoot holding glasses of wine, they kiss on the balcony, and they get married. Piya becomes more and more forgetful, until Ajay finds her wandering outside their apartment, having blanked on their address, his number, and his name.
A doctor diagnoses the 27 year-old Piya with Alzheimer's disease. She's also pregnant. Her condition worsens with the progress of her pregnancy, and when the baby is born, she has a full-time carer. After a near-tragedy when the baby is left alone in the bath tub, Ajay decides Piya must go into a care home. He has a crisis, resolves this crisis, and decides to bring Piya home.
Every day he must make her fall in love with him all over again. Although the audience will guess the film's conclusion an hour or so in, it is still pleasing after all the highs, the lows, and the improbabilities.
"Colorful, noisy, and spanning the extremes of the emotional scale "
The song and dance numbers are few and far between, crow barred into the plot as it takes the downhill slide into depressing illness territory. Although Piya's Alzheimer's disease leans heavily on the frivolity of the first half of the film, this change of gear revives flagging interest and makes for a gripping finale. Bollywood movies are made to be watched with an excited and involved crowd, as an afternoon long outing, involving an interval in which the audience can brace itself for the twists and turns of the second half.
As such the convoluted and hyperbolic plot is not only fitting, but fundamental to the experience. U, Me Aur Hum celebrates the cinema experience, it's colorful, noisy, and spans the extremes of the emotional scale. It valiantly strives and succeeds to tirelessly entertain.
"Colorful, noisy, and spanning the extremes of the emotional scale "
The song and dance numbers are few and far between, crow barred into the plot as it takes the downhill slide into depressing illness territory. Although Piya's Alzheimer's disease leans heavily on the frivolity of the first half of the film, this change of gear revives flagging interest and makes for a gripping finale. Bollywood movies are made to be watched with an excited and involved crowd, as an afternoon long outing, involving an interval in which the audience can brace itself for the twists and turns of the second half.
As such the convoluted and hyperbolic plot is not only fitting, but fundamental to the experience. U, Me Aur Hum celebrates the cinema experience, it's colorful, noisy, and spans the extremes of the emotional scale. It valiantly strives and succeeds to tirelessly entertain.
Verdict: A cliched rollercoaster that is no less enjoyable for being just that.
Director: Ajay Devgan
Release date: April 2008
Director: Ajay Devgan
Release date: April 2008
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