Hello Darling

The problem with Hello Darling is that it is not ambitious at all,leading to a lack of focus.

Satyawati Eesha Koppikhar,a Hariyanvi small-town girl,lands in Mumbai and starts working for a company in which the branch boss is Hardik Jaaved Jafferi. She soon realises that the man is a complete lecher and is sexually exploiting the guileless Candy Celina Jaitly,another employee. His next-in-command,Mansi Gul Panag keeps him at bay but has to suffer other indignities because of this,like making coffee for him and seeing the rewards of her own hard work taken away by the man.

Soon,Candy realises how she is being used and the three ladies join forces. However,their efforts to bring the boss to book hopelessly backfire all the time,leading them to finally kidnap him. But things get worse till the unexpectedfor them happy ending.

The problem with Hello Darling is that it is not ambitious at all,leading to a lack of focus. It tries to give the message that women should not tolerate sexual or other harassment at work,but even as a comedy,it seemingly cannot make up its mind to be a mad caper,a slightly ribald tale or a proper comedy.

The script has too many loopholes,like how the boss telephones only one person when held prisoner,and how the phone is available within his reach. If the idea of an organisation bringing errant husbands to heel Hardik is married is fresh and the way it is depicted genuinely funny,the film too often resorts to excessive buffoonery,as in the corpse sequence at Mumbais Marine Drive or the meeting between the wife of the boss and Satyawati and the kidnapped Hardiks encounter with a gay crook.

The director also does not pay attention to details 8211; Satyawati either speaks proper Hindi and takes to the Hariyanvi accent at will,and for someone with a lech for a boss,all three girls wear curiously provocative outfits 8211; all the time. Is there a hint somewhere that girls themselves bring such troubles onto themselves?

The films premise does justify some double-entendre and to give the devil darling? its due,the adult humour is only occasionally tasteless like Hardik being spelt sic Harddick!,but the scripting of the climax could have been more convincing. A loophole is the way the boss Sunny Deol in a listless cameo comes to know the truth about Mansis hard work and Hardiks errant ways 8211; it is illogical in every way. Also there are almost no situations or lines that are truly witty,hilarious or side-splitting.

The music does not help either,and the film clutters its cast with too many cameos Sanjay Mishra,Mustaque Khan,Vrajesh Hirjee,but the main artistes do try to salvage the film. Gul Panag and Celina Jaitly get the acting honours despite not very-well-etched characterisations. Gul is correctly intense,and Celina aptly dumb. Eesha is good,and Jaaved pitches it just right. Divya Dutta as his loyal wife and Chunky Pandey as Celinas boyfriend are surprisingly good,given his recent atrocious turns,while Seema Biswas as the errant husbands Nemesis scores in an unusual role.

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Rating: One star for the main performances and the few amusing aspects that prevent complete ennui.

n Rajiv Vijayakar