Milenge Milenge

Even for a film made a few years ago, it does have rather outdated views on relationships.

The tarot card reader tells the girl she is going to meet her man on a beach in a foreign country one morning. The reader (Kirron Kher) is so clairvoyant, she could well have been the screenplay writer of Milenge Milenge.   

It’s a story idea that starts to peter out by the time Immy (Shahid) sneaks a look at the diary of Priya (Kareena) on a tour of Bangkok. He figures out that she’s a sucker for destiny relationships, and arrives on a beach fortuitously one early morning to strum a guitar, look romantic, talk cute and appear appropriately ordained.   

But like a dog with a bone, director Satish Kaushik is determined not to let go of his ‘destiny’ theory. With his perfectly linear mind, he takes us through a minutely-detailed narrative to demonstrate that even though Immy has cheated by reading Priya’s diary, that too is part of the larger scheme of things. So determined is he to prove that it is providence that shapes our ends, he casts himself as a second-hand bookseller in Delhi who receives a book on numerology with Priya’s cell number inscribed on the inside page. 

Priya had thrown the kitchen sink at Immy in Bangkok when she found out that he had read her diary and hoodwinked her. Back home, she misses him and he misses her. Incredibly for a movie on contemporary dating, they have no way of getting in touch.  The film is hopelessly outdated on modern romantic discourse and is bracketed with a sensibility from the 1980s.

Even though the film was shot a few years ago, when the actors were a couple, the prehistoric approach to relationships stretches credibility and you just don’t believe that young, hip lovers in this information age are so big on destiny and lead such star-crossed lives. Who writes an intimate diary these days? Every damn thing you want to know is pasted on your wall on Facebook.

About The Author

Ajit Duara