Dabba!' Dimple exclaims as her character meets Rishi Kapoor [Images], reminding us of her first encounter with Rishi Kapoor in Bobby, more than 30 years ago.

Director Hriday Shetty soaks his autumnal romance about an aging widow and a widower in the vinegar of nostalgia. But the idea never goes beyond the rehearsed rudiments of romance. It's as though the director took up a terrific idea but forgot to expand the thought-processes that define the rather unconventional game of courtship.

There's a bit of Karan Johar's [Images] cinema (shaadi/sagaai songs) and a bit of Hollywood in the autumnal courtship where Rishi and Dimple befriend each other.

But the charm wears thin. Unlike other films on the theme, like Basu Chatterjee's Khatta Meetha and Anant Balani's Jogger's Park, the aging protagonists seem to share a relationship that isn't coherent to them. Are they friends? Do they want to be lovers? Do they care about what their kids and family think?

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Do we care?

Shetty doesn't allow us to come close enough to this cute couple to feel the pulse of their passion.

In fact, passion is sorely lacking in the couple's togetherness, as the narrative zigzags over an over-consciously created pastiche of warm 'moments' threaded together in a family tree as snarled as it is uninspired.

The central romance remains unfinished. The supporting cast just doesn't have a clue. They vacillate between playing it cute within the family fold, and hamming it completely.

What works is Dimple's relationship with her prospective screen son-in-law, Sammir Dattani [Images]. The sheer warmth that the two generate among the indecipherable gaggle of sons, daughters, etc, is comforting to watch. The son-in-law and his girlfriend's(Soha Ali Khan [Images]) mother are so at-ease, that you wonder why the director didn't build on the bonding between the stunning lady and her endearing damaad rather than waste so much footage focusing on the weak supporting cast.

Always a fine actor, Rishi Kapoor does well, but the strained relationship with his son (Vikas Bhalla) and his daughter-in-law (a miscast Deepshikha) providing the sympathetic shoulder looks more like leftovers from a daily television soap than an integral part of a feature film.

The uneven editing takes us on a nervous ride through a series of come-look-at-me characters, huddled together more to create an impression than to generate genuine and intuitive drama.

For a film where confrontational drama seems inevitable, Pyaar Mein Twist is terribly reluctant to pull out the stops. We cease to care whether the old couple finally get a chance to come together. We are never taken in confidence. Instead, we are handed an old-world romance that seems a mere blur of Bobby-meets-Khatta Meeta.

The attempts at nostalgia are also, beyond a point, forced. Rishi Kapoor looks too out of shape to carry off his his 1970's hit, Khullam khulla pyar karenge. The item song is too gimmicky to fit in. We're taken from one sequence into another without a proper impact. A pity, since the film had the potential to tell a full-blooded story about two twilight-zone individuals who want to try out marriage beyond a commonly permissible age.

When kids have reached their consentual age, can their parents be allowed the same?

Good point, but hardly projected in a pondering film. Yes, Dimple with her cascading mane and sherbet eyes still looks like a dream, and Rishi is an overweight but likeable other-half. But it's Sammir Dattani who proves the scene-stealer. His rapport with Dimple stays with you. Here's a fresher who's here to stay.

Pyaar Mein Twist is wine left in the cellar long enough to qualify as vintage. But old isn't always gold.