One of the favourite ploys used by the marketing mandarins in the Hindi film industry is to talk of a “fresh pairing” or an “unusual pairing”.
Entertainment supplements, hungry for stories, will pick up the angle obligingly. Thus were vast amounts of newsprint expended when the Bachchans, father and son, worked together for the first time in “Bunty Aur Babli” or when Aamir Khan and Kajol teamed up in “Fanaa”. And if there is a sub-text to the pairing (‘Aamir to romance Shah Rukh Khan's favourite!') all the better.
How much all this matters to the film's quality is a bit of a mystery, unless you talk of two powerhouses coming together for the first time. Especially if one of them is a director. How, for instance, would Vishal Bhardwaj fit in with the terribly polished Saif Ali Khan in a film set in the Hindi heartland? What would the combination of Raju Hirani and Aamir Khan throw up in “3 Idiots”?
Now, Kareena Kapoor, Imran Khan and debutant director Shakun Batra are not quite in the same league, but “Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu” is being promoted largely on the strength of these two stars coming together.
Perhaps to bypass all the talk of its storyline sounding suspiciously like that of the Cameron Diaz-Ashton Kutcher starrer “What Happens in Vegas”, one of those glossily mindless romcoms that Hollywood churns out with metronomic regularity.
Two good-looking strangers meet in Vegas, get smashed, then get married in a drunken stupor. The next morning they want to annul the marriage but can't wriggle out for complicated reasons. You know how it will all pan out, of course. Director Shakun Batra has denied his film is a copy of “What Happens in Vegas” and producer Karan Johar has pointed out that if he wanted to do so, he would have bought the rights to the original, as he did with “Stepmom” for “We Are Family”. He has a point, but the similarities are far too obvious to overlook. “Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu” is, would you have guessed, based in Vegas, has two young people who get drunk etc, etc. So what will it offer you that Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher didn't? The new urban Indian take on marriage and relationships, glossed up as you might expect in a Dharma production. Colourful songs ‘n' dances, but naturally. Some irreverent young dialogue. And of course, that fresh pairing of the Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan, which, it must be admitted, looks crackling in the trailer.
And the casting does seem perfect for this story.
This is the classic weekend film for 20-somethings — two sexy young actors, a fun story, an exciting backdrop. If you like popcorn on and off the screen, your weekend choice should be easy. “Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu” is being promoted largely on the strength of these two stars coming together.
Bottomline: Will the chemistry between the leading stars work its magic in the boxoffice?
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Randhir Kapoor; Director: Shakun Batra; Releasing February 10, 2012