Film Review: Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke

Starring: Dev Goel, Adaah Sharma Directed by Jyotin Goel No Rating Shammi and Priyanka, played by newcomer Dev Goel and semi-newcomer Adaah Sharma, are chaddi buddies. To prove it, he even flashes his chaddi in her face. Thankfully he isn’t wearing it when this occurs. This is one of the many irreverent scenes showing the couple’s comfort level that keeps recurring with discomforting frequency in this film with the potential to make us laugh out aloud. Alas, the laughter is often waylaid. This film comes from a banner that has given mainstream Hindi cinema such blockbusters in the past as Dus Lakh and Ek Phool Do Maali. Devendra Geol who made these successful films is much respected. And when his grandson Dev Goel makes his acting debut in a film directed by Devendra Goel’s son Jyotin we expect something special to happen. Hum Hain Rahi Car Ke doesn’t quite deliver the kind of juicy punch-filled material that would showcase the Goel scion’s talents. What we see here is a film that tries very hard to be “young” (read: plenty of below-the-hip jokes, and conversations preambled by ‘Hey Dude’, ‘Kewl’ , ‘Check This out’ and ‘Waddever’). It also in the same bustling breath tries to pay a backhanded homage to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s love classic Hum...Dil De Chuke Sanam. Ambitious, yes. But not quite up to the task. In the midst of trying to be hip/cool and attempting to a salute a classic the narration packs in two hours of crazy out-of-control adventures that take our protagonists through a ziz-zag of zonked-out adventures that involve a notorious computer hacker on the prowl, a gorilla who chases our hero while he is relieving himself in the jungles, suitors dressed in Spiderman suits, a goon named Alamadi who is supposed to be the son of the alleged Commonwealth scamster Kalmadi, and 5 different roles for Chunky Pandey. Playing a Parsi employer, a Sikh dhaba owner and so on and so forth Chunky certainly seems to have fun. It’s Juhi Chawla’s cameo as a paan-chewing Lucknowi doctor trying to explain herself to a South Indian nurse that brings the house down. Wish the rest of the film conveyed the same sparkle. Hum Hain Rahi Car Ke is a fun-filled road movie zestfully driven by the director, but alas the road is littered with too many sleeping dogs. Dev Goel makes a confident debut. Hopefully he will be provided with better material next time. Maybe a remake of Dus Lakh upgraded to < em>100 Crore?