Movie Review: Main aur Mrs Khanna

Director: Prem R Soni
Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sohail Khan
Rating: **

Main aur Mrs Khanna... aksar yeh baatein karte hai... ke agar Mr Khanna hote to aisa hota... Mr Khanna hote to vaisa hota
That precisely sums up the story of this film in short.

Samir Khanna (Salman Khan) has lost riches and respect in Melbourne city after being accountable for a big beating in the business world. Without a job, his ego is hurt when wife Raina (Kareena Kapoor) becomes the sole breadwinner of the family. He decides to shift to Singapore and strangely doesn't want to take along his beloved wife.

Samir asks Raina to migrate to India but she stays back in Melbourne and finds a job at the airport terminal. There she befriends Akash (Sohail Khan) and together they only end up talking about Mr Khanna.

Raina who has been working for months in Melbourne is suddenly questioned on her job permit. Does the film intend to say that women with their husbands away aren't allowed to work in Australia? Such inanity is only induced so that Raina and Akash are forced to pose as couple to save her job.

Predictably Akash falls for Raina and by the time he decides to propose, Mr Khanna is back. Expectedly a love triangle is set with Akash trying to win Raina by outshining Samir and the one-upmanship reminds of Salman-Akshay's Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Of course you know who wins the girl and the loser is given a consolation prize through the decade-old done-to-death starlet special appearance in the last scene.

The film desperately struggles between being a comedy and a sensitive emotional drama but miserably fails on scoring in either genre. The character conflicts seem too insignificant which make you indifferent towards the resulting drama. The narrative lacks depth and ends up being a conventional love story. Prem R Soni tries too hard to add a shade of sensitivity in his direction but loses the grip as his writing is too fragile. The pacing is slow but thankfully the length is short.

Sudeep Chatterjee's cinematography fails to capture the beauty of Australia as the setting just doesn't move beyond the Melbourne airport. Sajid-Wajid's music is easy on the ears. Of the redeeming moments is the one when Sohail invites Kareena for an impromptu jig on the yesteryear soft number Bade Achche Lagte Hai.

Of the cast, Salman Khan looks dull and disinterested and his biting-words dialogue-delivery disappoints even more. Kareena Kapoor is regular and should clearly avoid doing drunken scenes where she overacts outrageously. Sohail Khan attempts hard to infuse life in this dead-drama with his buffoonery but fails to impress.

Preity Zinta's item number evidently modeled on the lines of Kajra Re is certainly not happening. She looks too old to play a seductress. Yash Tonk makes up for a cheaper version of Rajpal Yadav. And for god's sake, is Bappi Lahiri following Himesh Reshammiya to be a fulltime actor? Every time he speaks a frog croaks in the background score. Meanwhile what were Dino Morea, Nauheed Cyrusi and Mahek Chahel doing in the film?

You can conveniently say alvida to Main Aurr Mrs Khanna.