Aa ab Laut Chalen (1999)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A Disappointing Continuation

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Why do filmmakers like Subhash Ghai show Indians as good people and NY people as bad people? Was a big question in my mind now even Rishi Kapoor feels the same in AALC which is very badI mean please the superficial way of showing America puts people off and in today's overseas audiences dominating times this isn't goodThe first half moves in different lanes and the love triangle is done to deathand the second half gets better a bit Akshaye's realization is well handled and then the film ends well but the sudden change of the other son is too muchThey are many problems in the film like the first half which moves in different lanes and not proper treatment is given to most of itRishi Kapoor directs some dramatic scenes well but he needs to improve his storytelling, overall a decent debut by one of the finest actors as a director Music is okayAkshaye Khanna shines in his role, He was always a good actor but signed bad films those days Barring his receding hairstyle he leaves a huge impact as an actor Aishwarya is plastic as ever Rajesh Khanna is okay Kader Khan and Jaspal Bhati are good Satish Kaushik is funny Paresh Rawal is good

There are several plots within this film so let me just tell you the main one. Aishwarya Rai plays a young Indian woman who comes to NYC from India only to find out that her brother has sent for her with the intention of marrying her off to his boss to get promotions and incentives at work. Terrified, she runs off and is rescued but a cab driver (Played by Akshaye Khanna) who also came from India only to be disillusioned upon his arrival. He takes her to Queens where the men who took him in during the time of his crisis accept her as a sister and she begins to live with them and take care of them. Along the way, she falls in love with her rescuer but he has plans to marry his current girlfriend with the hopes of getting a green-card out of it. She (Rai) takes it upon herself to make sure that he doesn't go down the wrong path with this but his brutal shunning of her sends her running off to seek shelter in the home of her employer in New Jersey. Great songs and locations round out this utterly blissful breeze of a film. A Must see for all! It's almost perfect.

I watched this as an Aishwarya fan. I think it's her 4th movie, so it's interesting for me to see her when she was "younger"--although that's only a few years ago! She looked really skinny--too skinny! In a couple of the songs, she does not even dance--what was the director thinking? That we don't want to see Aishwarya?? This was probably the worst Indian film I have seen in terms of the subtitles. First, they were in white letters, so they were hard to read. Second, they were often very stilted English--quite often humorous without intending to be. Third, sometimes they repeated the subtitles, sometimes they put on a long subtitle for .1 of a second. Fourth, sometimes they were just nonsense--A great example is when they go to the "Grapp Family Lodge" towards the end of the movie. Of course it's really the "Trapp Family Lodge" in New Hampshire, and yes, it's the lodge owned by the Trapp Family who were the subject of "The Sound of Music." I have a feeling all that was lost on the director--it would have been a great opportunity to have a song set in the hills above Salzburg, where Julie Andrews sang. It would have added a nice touch of humor. But no. Oh well, a great opportunity lost. Why not get a native Engish speaker to proofread the subtitles? Leaving the stereotypes aside, which the other reviewers have mentioned, I was more upset at the heavy-handed "lessons" in the movie. Yes, I have seen this in other Indian movies too, but not as many and not as awkwardly done. There was the "Pakistanis are really good Indians too" lesson, the "family is more important than money" lesson, the "women are more than tokens in the marriage market" lesson, the "forgive those as you wish to be forgiven" lesson, etc. etc.--every five minutes, and no subtlety at all. A movie can have a message, but when you have 35 different messages...well, it doesn't work. By the way, how about a lesson on illegal immigrants working on a tourist visa? To Indians sitting in India thinking they can just get off the plane on a tourist visa and start driving a cab or work at Dunkin' Donuts, forget it. You can't.Reality checks: New Jersey boardwalk as an exotic, fun location? Please. Are there no hotels/rooms in New York? --why did Akshay and Aishwarya have no choice but to move in with the taxi drivers? Is India that disorganized that a millionaire would find it impossible to find the wife he left behind? And of course all the coincidences would make Dickens blush.So, as a movie, pretty bad. As a showcase for a young (26?) Aishwarya, OK.

The story line goes thusly :Abroad ! the term itself has a kind of honey-money reminding effect! Indian men are ready to wash dishes and be a waiter, drive cabs, sweep the Airport premises to keep it clean …all this just to be in a foreign land as they get paid in dollars - which when converted to Indian currency makes him a rich and sought after groom in India.Indian parents , of daughters especially, forget everything else when they see that a man is having a bank balance good enough to support their daughter for the rest of her life ! This happens probably in the following circumstances : 1. parents are illiterate and do not believe/ understand / know that literacy can help. So they never educated their daughter as its an age old adage that a woman is but a machine to continue with the progeny of whichever family she weds – be it Pandavs or Kauravs ! 2. Both parents along with children are foreign crazy….some habits die hard – or maybe genetically transmitted . Have you noticed dear Indians…. whenever there is a movie showing struggle for independence, it is usually shown that one or two British officers are commanding and giving orders to their servants- the Indian subordinates – working as soldiers – and in fact they are the ones – Indians ie, who used to charge the freedom fighters (FF) with laathis and even gunned them down.now please do not give me examples of 2-3 such soldiers out of 500-1000 soldiers working as spies to the FF – I am talking about majority – Might is right …? Is'nt it? – here I would in fact like to appreciate the British officers to train the otherwise sluggish Indians and made them work…for them of course ! what motivation they must have had ..by the virtue of which they counseled their Indian soldiers (ie. working under their wing) – to kill the Indian FF.3. Now dear Indian they must have also got married….what does one do after marriage – but of course ! no points for that….they give birth to a baby !- the reason why people get married in the first place ! – to make a woman complete! – she ..it seems is incomplete without the experience of a baby crying at midnight for milk or nappy change …- anyways suffice to say that even their generation has grown – and probably they are the ones who indulge in all the things which cause general ruckus and unrest in the country – like – boozing, mid-night partying, womanizing – collecting wine, wealth and woman in their database – not bothering about anything else – just following the drain culture and copying the foreigners in every possible way….as taught to them by their forefathers ! Select few might not be so..the ones who used to be spies to the FF… 4. Continuing with the circumstances which cause the Indian parents wed their daughters with foreign based men …..in spite of several told and untold miseries such marriages bring about ! – Basically lack of knowledge and education and also probably lots of greed for money – which can buy one new expensive dresses and jewelry …another set of necessities required to make a woman complete…or look good enough in order to turn on the husband who will eventually part with his secretions (refer movie "Look who is talking too" title sequence - where the fertilization is shown in 3-d animation …made the sperms look like devils …traveling through the fallopian tube & later only one succeed in invading the wall of the ovum ) and give the greatest opportunity to a Woman – motherhood !..to be later kicked by them,as shown in Bagbaan… Anyways story of Aa ab laut chalen – So the hero wants to make quick easy money – gets hooked on to a rich girl – who has shown a lot of her skin , cleavage etc.- who boozes and drinks – dances with other boys and treat him as dirt – but greed keeps him clinging to her.In the meanwhile Aishwarya (heroine) also lands up in foreign – she had also come to try her luck in marriage – the only vital reason of human birth, meets him and falls in love with him ! He turns her down as is has a better deal in hand – a rich, well endowed, beautiful , seductress looking woman for whom all men yearn ! Ash, in order to win his heart tries to look voluptuous and seductress by wearing skimpy outfits as suggested to her by Indian cab drivers, and others of their category, but it does not work ...she sings thusly: dear dear turn around your sight – your heart is here – where else are you looking ! …its night there – its only here (with me) that's broad daylight) Heart broken she joins as a nurse to a multi billionaire who is Akshaya's (hero's) actual father actually – had humped his mother and later had settled down in foreign and was living happily ever after with wife and child. His mother , who was a pure, chaste, innocent & religious Indian woman kept the child – which she had conceived out of wedlock ( a momentary lapse had made her forget totally about chastity, purity, innocence and religion btw.).