INDIAN BABU

Director: Lawrence D'Souza
Producer: Surjit Pandher
Music: Nadeem Shravan
Lyrics: Sameer
Starring: Jaz Pandher and Gurline Chopra

PREDICTED RATING: 2/10

UK based Jaz Pandher had a dream of making it big in Bollywood. A BBC documentary followed the aspiring actor to the bustling streets of Mumbai, revealing his trials and tribulations, auditions and rejections, and finally his return to UK shores no closer to his dream than when he began his journey. However, this didn't discourage the boy and instead persuaded his father to launch him, whose first film was shelved some years ago. Flash-forward a year or so and Indian Babu is born; Jaz Pandher makes his film debut in his father's first feature, directed by a somewhat respected Lawrence D'Souza. Lawrence, who would rather be remembered for his films like Saajan and not Aarzoo, yet again takes on a love triangle but still proves he has a good ear for music. Thanks to Nadeem-Shravan there is one good aspect to what seems to be an extremely dull film.

Jaz plays a flirtatious London-based pop singer who is instantly drawn to Dil (Gurline), an Indian resident who flies into London for a heart operation. Not knowing that she is engaged to be married back home, Jaz follows her to India but is confronted by a series of events that make his attempts to win the girl of his dreams a difficult task. With the added addition of Dil's evil stepsisters the love story won't be as straightforward as expected.

Indian Babu lacks originality in its storyline and reeks of the same old masala mixes. The promos that are currently doing the rounds hardly make the film look anticipatable. Though the music isn't up the usual Nadeem-Shravan standard, the duo have rendered some foot tapping numbers, but this clearly won't help the film sail through the box office. What appears to be a disaster waiting to happen should crash at the box office on March 7th.

SCHEDULED RELEASE DATE: September 21st 2001

PREVIEWED BY RUPA NANDHA