Formula gone wrong. Review on Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon

The success of previous Rajshri films ensures they have enough money to throw into a film, to cover up for its stale content. So Basu Chatterjee's sweet, simple Chitchor gets tarted up into Sooraj Kumar Barjatya's big-budget designer flick Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.

Set in a fictional North Indian town of Sundernagar, but shot in New Zealand (?), MPKDH is one of those typical fantasy remixes meant for a young crowd more interested in the star clothes than in any genuine emotions or honest storytelling. The fakeness of the Sundernagar ambience (in which Indian small town will girls parade in little-nothings and do heave and shake dances on stage in front of their parents? Where in India could you ski, sail, scuba dive, in a single town?) wouldn't bother anyone looking for timepass for three hours, if it was covered with glossy visuals of postcard perfect foreign locales and tastelessly opulent interiors.

Sanjana (Kareena Kapoor-looks and acts better than any of her recent films) is the treacly sweet daughter of a small time publisher (Pankaj Kapoor) and his shrewish wife (Himani Shivpuri). When she is told a very rich 'boy' is coming to 'see' her, she makes faces and protests against being exhibited, but the 'boy' turns out to be the even more sweet Prem (Hrithik Roshan)-the chronically cheerful dude wins over Sanjana's parents, dog, parrot, servants, army of kinky girlfriends and finally the girl himself.

Of course in films like this, life is an endless series of picnics, games, parties and songs. So after we have been treated to scenes of Prem and Sanjana riding, skiing, bungee-jumping, river rafting, flirting, singing, dancing and smooching, its time for a break.

Turns out this Prem was not the correct one. The real Prem meant to 'see' Sanjana is actually his workaholic boss (Abhishek Bachchan-- subdued). The old Prem is sent away on work, so that the new Prem can show his bag of tricks. Sanjana's mother, behaving more cheaply than a brothel madam, now wants the daughter to forget the old fellow and woo the new - her logic is that since they haven't ''done anything'' it's okay to make the switch.

Sanjana, who otherwise chatters non-stop, doesn't muster up the courage to tell Prem No 2 and his mother that she loves the other guy. Like in every other film, the Big Scene is created at the engagement party. (The ending of Chitchor, in which the girl runs after the departing train and the hero jumps off has been copied many times by other filmmakers!)

MPKDH is formula fare - a song every ten minutes, a comedy scene after this much gap, a dash of emotion here, some romance here-which may be watchable, but is not exciting filmmaking. It's like eating leftovers, re-cooked with more masala to disguise the stale taste-edible but non-nutritious.