Pyaar Ke Side Effects

Pyaar Ke Side Effects -- The Side Effects of Love

MAIN CAST
Rahul Bose -- Sid
Mallika Sherawat -- Trisha

BRIEF PLOT OVERVIEW:
PKSE is an upbeat, urban-centered romantic comedy featuring Sid, a club DJ, and Trisha, one of those "Delhi girls." Sid loves Trisha, but he's not sure if he's ready to take on "the side effects of love," especially when the subject of marriage comes up. Will he man up and marry Trisha? Or will the side effects outweigh the benefits?

FILM -- 4/5
Pyaar Ke Side Effects is short and sweet, just like any romantic comedy should be, so its script remains fresh and entertaining. The comedy is really hilarious and features a mixed bad of physical, slapstick, and banter-style humor; I laughed a lot during this film and had an almost constant smile on my face. This humor DOES rely on gender stereotypes a bit, but not enough to be truly annoying, and it's about par for the course as far as romantic comedies go. Also, this movie features a lot of sexual references, but nothing too extreme by Hollywood standards--Americans would probably rate it a PG-13. My biggest complaint about this film's production is the dubbing: sometimes, when the actors dubbed their voices back over, they were off by a few seconds, and it's really noticeable in a few scenes.

CHARACTERS -- 4.5/5
Mallika is a mediocre actress, and with the noteable exception of Dil Se's "Chaiyya Chaiyya"** I rarely find her anything beyond "cute" or "sassy" (her nostrils REALLY freak me out). Yet PKSE really works for her; it's not a very demanding role and it makes the best of her star presence, so she handles it really well. Rahul Bose is, as always, great. I knew he was an amazing actor, but this film shows that he is multi-talented and can branch out in the genres beyond drama. And at the risk of sounding super-shallow, he looks REALLY hot in this movie! The chemistry between Mallika and Rahul is wonderful, and I thought they were just the cutest couple. The supporting cast is first class as well. I really loved Ranvir Shorey's performance as Noona, Sid's less-than-tidy roommate and a poor excuse for a womanizer. I also liked that you got to see ladies with a variety of skintones, including the dusky Poov who shows up in the club at the very end. (India is a diverse nation, so when even the extras are all fair-skinned, I twitch a bit.) The only downside to the cast was Sophie Choudry, who looks good from the neck down but has an absolutely hideous, plasticine face and wears some of the worst outfits known to man. She should just stick to VJing.

SOUNDTRACK --3/5
The best part of the soundtrack is probably the background music. Because Sid is a DJ, you get to hear a lot of remixes comprised of pop music and film songs. I just about peed when I noticed a filmi song (for example, a club mix of "Sajna Ve" from Chameli is the song Sid and Noona play 15 times at Trisha's wedding). The dance mix he plays in the club after Trisha's birthday is especially catchy! "This is Love" immediately struck me as being a total rip-off of "My Way," and its lyrics are so-so, but it looks cute in-film. The item number is REALLY stupid and involves some very sexual rapping, so like most of this movie, it's not for the kiddies. "Feeling Blue" is super bubble-gum-poppy and was a bit much, considering the movie's older age demographic.

OVERALL -- 4/5
You don't watch movies like Pyaar Ke Side Effects because you want intellectual stimulation or a groundbreaking performance, you watch it because you want to be entertained, and that's just what Pyaar Ke Side Effects does. With the exception of Sophie Choudry's run-of-the-mill item number, I enjoyed this movie from start to finish; it made me laugh and it brought some freshness to the usual "straight-laced," "love-at-first-sight" Bollywood fare. Pyaar Ke Side Effects is definitely worth a rental, and its replay value will probably prompt you to buy a copy for keeps.

TOTAL SCORE -- 15.5/20 (great)



** Correction: Malaika Arora was in "Chaiyya Chaiyya." They look a good bit alike, so I boo-booed and thought it was the same Malaika. I apologize for the error, and thanks to my readers for pointing out my 2am stupidity!