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Teri Meri Kahaani: Movie Review

Director: Kunal Kohli
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra

If you thought that the concept of a bride running away from the mandap on her wedding day is something that Bollywood discovered at the turn of the decade, filmmaker Kunal Kohli would want you to get your facts right. He takes this present-day Bollywood formula to ancient times and shows that it was the same case even in 1910 with the only difference being that it was the groom, and not the bride, who walked out of the D-day then. Likewise, history keeps repeating itself in his film that spans three different eras to narrate the same love story, thrice.

The first episode has an aspiring musician Govind and a popular film actress Rukhsar besotted by each other on the backdrop of the Hindi film industry of the 60s. The second chapter has Krrish 'virtually' falling for Radha over tweets until a social-networking war pulls them apart. Finally there's the quintessential Punjabi kudi Aradhana for whom the good-for-nothing Javed reforms responsibly in a pre-independent milieu.

While the basic idea of presenting three love stories over three different eras might seem as an interesting idea, Kunal Kohli isn't able to explore it to his merit. Unlike Love Aaj Kal where Imtiaz Ali split the story over two epochs to highlight the difference in perspective of love in the two generations, Kohli isn't able to explore diverse viewpoints or human conflicts over the eras. So while the central idea behind each episode is more or less the same, the difference is merely visual. Alas, the artistic restoration cannot make up for literary loss!

While the level of detailing that is put in the revival of the retro era (with a toy-town type ambiance) in the first track is appealing, if even half of that sincerity was put in the scripting of the entire film, the output would have been more beautiful. The second episode seems like an extension of Kunal Kohli's Mujhse Dosti Karoge with the only advancement being that the couple connects through social networking over online chats. The director keeps the (comparatively) better chapter for the last but all that the duo does under the British Raj is sing-and-dance, not just around the trees, but also inside the jail. Further the film opts for a very convenient end and, before you know, the heroine turns widow so that the hero doesn't have to fight anyone to win her. It's a feel-good film after all, you see!

The storytelling is such that each chapter switches to the next when the lovers fall apart. But when the narrative brings each pair together in the climax, you wonder if they had any problems to start with. That's where you realize that the character conflicts were too shallow and the individual stories lacked novelty.

Shahid Kapoor doesn't disappoint but one expects more from the talented actor. Priyanka Chopra is overtly expressive at times. One could blame their average acts or latent chemistry to the mediocre script. From the three stories, both get better scope in the pre-independent era episode but that's not saying much when they could have been thrice as good. Prachi Desai and Neha Sharma do not get much scope.

'Thrice upon a love story' reads the tagline of the film. This one attempts to thrive upon the same love story thrice but in vain. Teri Meri Kahaani is an ordinary kahaani.

Verdict: Average
rating 2.5/5