- Direction
- Acting
- Story
- Music
I am still finding the “running successfully all over” prefix to “Ishq In Paris” unsettling. At the risk of sounding brutally blunt - “Ishkq In Paris” is a waste of time, money and effort, if there was any.
Pitched as a love story set against the backdrop of Indian fav haunts, Paris and London, this one was Preity Zinta’s baby, and boy has it been a cranky one. Boy meets girl, decide to play boyfriend girlfriend for one night, have fun, party, dinner and conversations, a little heart to heart (it’s easier talking to strangers) and part ways, leaving it to fate. There was a “Serendipity” moment there, but it’s the dullness and drabness that weighs down the film. Right from the word go, it’s characters are unbearable.
Zinta as the bubbly perky botoxed Ishkq, Rhehan Malliek (crazy spellings!) as the thunder-less Akash and French actress Isabelle Adjani as Marie Elise and Ishkq’s clueless mother. There is a brief mention of Shekhar Kapur too, as Ishkq’s estranged father.
I am actually wondering whom to blame – the director Prem Raj Soni, the writer Prem Raj Soni and Zinta or the actors, Zinta and Malliek. Zinta has these guilt pangs of missing her father, she clearly has daddy issues, divorce and marriage nightmares, commitment phobias and addiction to short term relationships. Somehow, Malliek turns from lover to shrink, and in one sweeping statement and sach ka saama maneuver, cures Zinta of all this baggage! Wow!
It is pertinent to mention here once again that there was absolutely zero chemistry between two people who are supposed to be in love. Even Paris fails to bring that out in them. Zinta’s character, born and raised in Paris speaking chaste Hindi was horrific, more traumatic was listening to Adjani lip sync to her Hindi dialogues! Malliek is a stiff mannequin and Zinta’s is bored and disinterested. Save your money folks, let the television screen this one for free.
