Cine Talk A chilled-out rom-com

stop grinning at the sparkling warmth and the cute quips shared by the lead pair. Curiously, debutant director Shakun Batra opts for an open ending. Finally we only know that some day Rahul might win the feisty Rihana over. But here’s the glimmer of hope. Even if he doesn’t win her over he gets to keep her company for as long as they share a common

Here is a film that doesn’t score high on groundbreaking ideas on romantic relationships. Instead it weaves itself into commonplace ideas on love romance and commitment and comes up with vignettes of terrific sincerity. A lot of the film’s gently persuasive energy comes from the discernible respect that the lead pair has for each other’s space as actors. No oneupmanship here, thank you. Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah too are delightful as Imran’s la-di-dah parents. They reminded me of Pran and Sonia Sahni . In comparison comes across as one sparkling with vigour with warmth and what-have-youth, you know Rahul will meet Ms Fun-Feisty-Full-On before Reel 1 is done.

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (EMAET) comprises a series of elegantly-written, confident but never in-your-face scenes about what happens when two opposites meet in a city as all-embracing as Las Vegas. Of course, sparks fly.

But neither Kareena Kapoor nor Imran Khan is in a hurry to set off a combustive

Unlike, say, Siddharth Anand’s Anjaana Anjaani where the on-screen rapport between the protagonists suffered because one of the actors was constantly trying to steal scenes from the other, here neither Kareena nor Imran is in a hurry to hijack a single moment from one another. This is one of the most immaculately cast romantic comedies in recent times.

Sure, Kareena has an edge. Her character is less passive than Imran’s and she has

Imran is good at playing the attentive, obedient, faithful boyfriend. He did the invisible-halo act effectively in Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na, Break Ke Baad and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. He does it even better here, probably because of the company he keeps in this film.

There are episodes in this boymeets-girl, girl-tweaks-boy’s-life saga that leave you smiling for a very long time. Indeed EMAET is a high-concept ever-grin mellow-drama. You just can’t

Within two weeks Dharma Productions has given us two diametrically opposite genres of cinema from two debutant directors. If Karan Malhotra’s Agneepath took us back to the grand formulistic revenge drama of the 1970s, EMAET takes us into the future of Bollywood where actors don’t have to sing. They don’t have to act. They just have to be as normal as people in love tend to be.

This is a perceptibly urbane love story, told in a style shorn of gimmicks. There is no attempt to capture our attention. The narrative gets us watching without getting sweaty with anxiety.

A very chilled-out romcom indeed.

Subhash K. Jha