Poor Kismat, Diskonnected Audience!

If you still remember the innocence of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, the identifiability of the characters in Yes Boss, the foresight behind making something like Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani or the well picturized songs of Chalte Chalte, then Kismat Konnection is not for you- in spite of being an Aziz Mirza movie, this is one outing that does not touch you even remotely as it plays before you on screen.

Aziz Mirza's world is the same again- ordinary people, ordinary problems and slightly extra ordinary solutions- the only thing is that this time around it is set in Toronto for a reason best known to Mr. Mirza. Not that it makes any significant difference to the plot- every person whom we come across in Toronto speaks in Hindi- and you keep wondering whether life in Toronto is as simple as that!

Struggling architect Raj (Shahid Kapoor with a huge hangover of Shah Rukh Khan) and his friend (Vishal Malhotra playing that bumpkin friend for the umpteenth time) are trying to make it big, but they fail miserably everytime. A quirky fortune teller Haseena Bhano Jaan(Juhi Chawla, looking every bit of a cartoon) tells Raj that he needs to find luck to be successful. Luck descends upon Raj in the form of Priya (Vidya Balan, having a bad hair and bad clothes day but endearing nevertheless), a part time social worker. The bone of contention here is the construction of a shopping mall. Raj wants to get the contract for the construction while Priya wants it to be abandoned because she does not want to part with the community centre that stands on the same land. The rest is very predictable where luck plays a major role in the lives of Raj and Priya and how it presents a solution that solves the problems for both of them. Add an element of a two timing fiancee for Priya and lots of misunderstandings between the lead pair, you get your everyday commercial Bollywood love story!

Prima facie, there are not many problems with Kismat except for the fact that whatever happens on the screen never really bothers you. For the first time in an Aziz Mirza film, you feel you dont have anything to do with the characters or the situations that they are in. It is fine if it is a larger than life drama but in a story about ordinary people, it is very important that the audience feel c(k)onnected with the characters.

Cinematography is first rate. Editing is bad. Sound is good and Pritam is not having a great day as the composer here. With an ordinary script and immature direction, Kismat Konnection will have to depend a lot on its own Kismat to get konnected with the audience! Better luck next time, Mr. Mirza!