Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic

Geeta is a very staid name for an angel. But it seems to suit Rani Mukherji8217;s plain vanilla 8216;pari8217;, who roams the blue skies with a flutter of her wings, and backchats a white-suited, pink-cheeked God. Her mission on earth is to create a connect between a super-busy, brusque businessman and four orphans, which she aces with a little help from her celestial pal.

Ranbir Saif is handed the kids, fresh from the trauma of the accident which killed their parents, to clothe, feed, and love. He manages the first couple of things with a flick of his platinum credit card. Get them whatever they want, he orders his girlfriend Amisha. It8217;s the last commandment he falters over: love, what8217;s that?

Kunal Kohli8217;s latest helps shake off our lousy memories of Saif and Rani, who, armed with two kids and dog, graced one of Yashraj8217;s cheesiest movies, 8216;Tara Rum Pum8217;, last summer. This time around, the same lead pair has to contend with double the number of children, an equally fluffy dog, and a hamster. And inspiration from 8216;Sound Of Music8217;, and 8216;Mary Poppins8217;, or is it 8216;Nanny McPhee8217;, and a flavour of a popular teen novel series which has angels-doing-the-earthly-thing.

Saif and Rani look a great deal more comfortable with what they are asked to do, despite it being a fantasy: there is some cheese here as well can8217;t be helped, with angels riding rainbows, with pretty little white flowers in their hair, but, praise be, only a little bit of preciousness, so teeny as to be negligible.

And that8217;s got to do with the fact that the kids are believable: the oldest, close to being a pre-teen, holds on longest to his resentment about being made to live with a man whom he hates ; the younger ones, including a cute 8216;sardar8217;, lose their dislike a little faster. Amisha, in a small role, is delightfully ditzy, her chief preoccupation being tarot card readers and Prada bags. Rani is mercifully reigned in, in her cheery Dilli-ki-Punjaban act that8217;s her earthly guise, as nanny to the bereaved children. She says 8216;sho shweet8217; only once. Promise. Rishi Kapoor, as the affable 8216;bhagwaan ji8217;, does it nicely. But mostly it8217;s got to do with Saif, whose little crease-between-the-brows disappears with great felicity when he becomes pals with 8216;his8217; kids.

The angel learns the value of tears; the not-so-nice man gets to know the whole deal about 8216;pyaar8217;, and becomes a good guy. And the 8216;bachcha8217; party gets the best of everything : for 8216;Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic8217;, your essential accompaniment is a kid. Take yours, or borrow one.

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