Hum To Mohabbat Karega is a tribute to MTNL. After a building has been bombed to splinters, a trill emanates from the rubble. The phone is ringing! Now you know the secret of MTNL's success: Never go by the rules.Journalist Karisma Kapoor hosts a live television show and will go to any lengths to get a scoop. But the novice does not take the trouble to verify whether the sensational stuff being fed her is factual. She believes restaurant steward Bobby Deol, who says he witnessed a murder she is investigating, and drags him over to her studio for a live chat. However, Bobby is a fan, and lied to her about the murder just so she wouldn't leave his home in a huff.The film is in good part a comedy, but the funny scenes come up in all the grim situations and leave you wondering how seriously you should take the goings-on. The best part is when Bobby is called upon by the police to give a description of the killer. He shoots off his mouth like he were relating the menu, and what is the image that comes up on the computer screen? That of his friend, employer and landlord, Johnny Lever!Villain Shakti Kapoor is characterised by a trademark tattoo and clenches his teeth every time he is agitated. The police come in for their share of ridicule. During an ambush, Sadashiv Amrapurkar laments how everybody in the city has machine guns save the cops. Again, when he asks the driver of his jeep to chase escaping convicts, the guy promptly drives offleaving him behind!The performances in Hum To Mohabbat Karega are above mark, with Bobby Deol, Johnny Lever and even Rohit Roy as the restrained channel chief, doing a good job.As you would have noted already, the music of the film leaves much to be desired. Now that we know that Majrooh Sultanpuri wrote to a tune, we know he didn't find Anu Malik inspiring enough in this film. In fact, Maan ja is rather similar to his own Daiya yeh main kahan aa phansi from Caravan. R Verman's sets, especially for the title song, are colourful and impressive, even though one of them has been lifted from Krishna Shah's film, Shalimar.And note the allegedly utopian world of TV journalists. Karisma is a seductive glamour doll with not a hair out of place, hardly working so hardly harried, and still has fans queuing up outside the studio for autographs. Hum To Mohabbat Karega is good for a few laughs.- Bella Jaisinghani
