Review of Ishkq in Paris

Ne t'inquiete pas, personne n'est parfait. Nevertheless, this movie directed by Prem Soni/Prem Raj indeed had a rough production in 2012. Shot mainly on locations in Europe, at very great expense, the film suffer financial issues afterwards in post-production where they couldn't pay the crew to finish the film. To add to that problem, the director was also being treated for Cancer, so, nobody was unable to edit the movie. It got so bad, that the film got postponed multiple times before finally being released on 24 May 2013 with really bad editing cuts. You see examples of some, after the Eiffel Tower scene. To add insult, the film also couldn't find its target audience. It doesn't know, if it wanted to be, a French movie or a Hindu movie. More bad luck came when the film was unable to compete for audience against the Indian Premier League cricket finals held, during its opening weekend. So, nobody bother to go see it; and it slowly fell into obscurity. I just happen to catch the movie, on DVD at my local library. It looks somewhat interesting, so I decided to check it, out, even if I don't speak, a word of Hindi. Sadly, after watching it, I couldn't get eperdument amoureux with this Bollywood movie. The love story about two complete Hindi strangers, Akash (Rhehan Malliek AKA Gaurav Chanana) and Ishkq Elise (Preity Zinta), falling in love, after having met on a train from Rome to Paris, end up spending the evening together in the romantic city, was highly clichés. It really does nearly hit all the romantic tropes such as our lovers pretend to be engaged in order to solve a pointless exterior plot problem like going to a wedding, often with a set of elaborate rules and limitations for their relationship, adding family expectations, cultural traditions, or religious beliefs bring our lovers together or try to keep them apart, follow up by a stupid reason to break up, cue to the heartbreak cry in the rain, and last ditch run attempt to get one of the lovers, from leaving the city by transportation. I wonder, where I have saw that before. Oh yeah, many of other romantic movies, before this. The movie was highly predictable. The other problem with this film, is the lack of conflict. You would think, that the misunderstanding for reasons, why they couldn't be, together, would play out, more. After all, it really did seem like Ishkq wasn't going to commit to Akash's advances for a relationship after what her supposedly last boyfriend did to her. Instead, that part of the story, is never brought up, and the second half falls back to love montage routine, until the childish weak subplot about Ishkq having Daddy's issues come up, resulting in a very awkward ending, with her movie-star mother, Marie (Isabelle Adjani) having to solve it. It was a very weak climax. I also found it, very jarring that both of the lovers, were able to find each other, so easily, after separating the first night. You would think, they would have some trouble with that, since both of them, barely talk about their lives. I was really disappointed with the destiny metaphor. I was hoping the film would had a more 2001's 'Serendipity', feel to it. Much of that movie's charm and humor, comes from the fact, that both of these characters, barely miss connecting with each other & the conflict that comes with moving on, or staying still for a relationship. Instead, the movie was humorless, and somewhat creepy. It's weird to see Akash stalk her through Facebook, which, the movie doesn't establish her, having nor her, telling him, her last name, while Ishkq stressfully seem to move on. It also, weird to see Akash magically out of the blue, find out, where she lives, without establishing where she work, before this point in the film. It also puzzling that none of the clues, the film try to introduce, were used in, rediscovering each other. You would think, that note in the coffee store or the psychic bellow dancer, would play out, more. Sadly, it does not. There is a lot of loose ends. Secondly the narrative format of the voice over is quite confusing, as it seems like the movie-star mother is talking about fictional characters of her stage play, but it turn out to be about her real-life daughter's relationship with Akash, whom she happen to write a script call 'Autumn in Paris', way before they ever met. If that isn't bizarre enough, that includes, having fake scene where Akash and Ishkq act out scenes out of a fake movie, while being in a movie, where events happens between them, where there is no way, Marie could had known what was happening, like a made up scene in Rome with a Italian waiter. Also, if we're to believe that Ishkq told her, everything about her relationship with Akash, are we to believe, that her night was made by a magic dice, follow by a weird nightclub Hindi music video with characters like Ghostface from 1997's 'Scream', serving them drinks, and a wedding scene where actor, Salman Khan, randomly show up for a dance number. How would anybody in the right mind, believe that? Trust me, it's all strange like why Ishkq was wearing a random Harvard t-shirt in the end. It's also bizarre to see, how many people in France, speaks Hindi. I was really wishing for more fish out of water, type comedy, here with the Hindi trying to understand French cultures. Sadly, it doesn't. Instead, it relays on too many cheesy sound effects to get the unfunny jokes over. However, even with the weird parts, the main plot was blasé. Despite that, the acting in the film was fine for the most part, and the music was enjoyable. I just wish the movie could had been better. It was no coup de maître.