Sukanya Verma

Twenty good, bad and ugly ways of making it big in the big bad city of Bombay -- all highlighted in Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega.

Enter highly ambitious Prakash (Saif Ali Khan). He takes the simplest route to Richie Richland by hooking Sapna (Sonali Bendre).

His dreams are shortlived. Sapna's dad, Rajiv Chopra (Dalip Tahil), turns out to be a real smartass who sees through Prakash's moneymindedness.

Enter Rahul (Fardeen Khan) and Harilal aka Harry (Aftab Shivdasani). Rahul and Harry are the 'non-paying' paying guests in a south-Indian household.

The former is a graduate hunting for a job whilst romancing the tomboyish daughter of the landlord -- Anjali (Twinkle Khanna). The latter does absolutely zilch in the name of work, besides showering false praises and pumping up the ego of local goon Aslambhai (Johny Lever), who secretly aspires to be an actor.

Now you are thinking I'm taking too long introducing the characters, right? Well, blame the director, too. That's precisely where he goes wrong, too.

To get back to the story. Desperate as hell to get a job before Anjali is married off to someone else, Rahul, along with Harry, hatches a plot to loot someone (now posing as underworld people -- Khalid Mohammed and Sultan Ahmed).

They goof up a few times, and bump into Prakash, who hires them to kidnap Sapna instead, in the hope that his smug father-in-law might shell out a few crores.

Thereafter follows a riproaring roller coaster ride till The End.

Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega is director E Niwas' second attempt. A fairly good one, considering this is in complete contrast with the intense Shool (Manoj Bajpai, Raveena Tandon). Although he takes his own sweet time in the initial narrative, the film catches on slowly, yet steadily.

Though it might appear to be Fardeen Khan's film, it isn't.

Too bad for the good-looking Khan, who joins the likes of Twinkle and Sonali in the film, who have nothing to do in the film but look pretty. Boy, do they do a good job of it or what!

Surprisingly, it's Aftab Shivdasani who's got the meatiest part. His Harry is straight out of Aamir Khan's Amar in Andaz Apna Apna.

His performance might not be in the same league as the versatile Aamir but the perky guy shows vast improvement compared to his tame Mast and Kasoor.

Saif Ali Khan is at home with comedy, his forte. Check him out in the hilarious scene in front of the mirror trying to get his emotions right.

But. But. But. The real hero of the film is Aslambhai -- Johny Lever. What would the industry do without this rocking actor? He needs no catchy lines, no buffoonery to make his presence felt.

Technically, the film has a trendy, urban look about it with some good visuals by Venkat R Prasad, animated choreography by Ahmed Khan and action bits by Allan Amin (Mission Kashmir). Although the songs by Vishal slacken the pace of the film and pop up on unsuitable occasions.

The film takes a dig at practically everyone from the film industry. Be it Raj Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, even Khalid Mohammed. No one's spared.

Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega is mostly watchable for its bubbling enthusiasm and, of course, Aslambhai.

CREDITS
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Sonali Bendre, Twinkle Khanna, Johny Lever and Dalip Tahil.
Director: E Niwas
Producer: Nitin Manmohan and Ramgopal Varma
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj
Lyrics: Abbas Tyrewala
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