Review: 'Teri Meri Kahaani' is slow and tiring

Film: Teri Meri Kahaani
Director: Kunal Kohli
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Prachi Desai, Vrajesh Hirjee
Rating: *1/2

Poona 1960. Actress Ruksar (Priyanka Chopra) and musician Govind (Shahid Kapoor) bump into each other in a train compartment. Sparks fly. They fall in love. Something happens...

England 2012. Students Radha (Chopra again) and Krish ( Kapoor again) bump into each other on a street. Sparks fly. They fall in love. Something happens...

Sargodh, Lahore 1910. Flirt Javed Qadri and homely Aaradhna bump into each other on a terrace. Sparks fly. They fall in love. Something happens...

Yawn.

Accuse this reviewer of not sounding spoiler alerts, but trust her to have saved you over two precious hours with the above few lines. ‘Something happens’ should be good enough.

From the director of love stories like Mujhse Dosti Karoge, Fanaa, Hum Tum and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, comes another romantic drama starring rumoured off-screen couple Shahid-Priyanka. While their chemistry isn’t exactly crackling, they manage to look convincing enough in three different eras and personalities. There’s only so much they could do as puppets governed by a weak script and unimaginative execution. The humour won’t have you rolling on the floor, but somehow manages to keep you from fidgeting. The viewer feels much like poor Vrajesh Hirjee, who does not have much to do except play spectator staring like an idiot into the screen, trying to feel important in the scheme of things.

The pace of the film becomes its biggest peeve: it is slow, there’s absolutely no character development and gets boring after a point. Your interest wanes as after the first story you know what’s happening in the second and third. There’s so much style that substance takes a back-seat, which is pitiable.

Not all is bad in Teri Meri Kahaani. The couplets recited by Javed are to die for: ordinary, uncomplicated yet stirring. Kohli, who has written the story, screenplay (with Robin Bhatt) and directed the film, set out with one idea: no matter what happens, true love triumphs. He comfortably stretches it over three eras and then tries to tie it all together when there’s no hope left for the already uninterested audience.

Waiting for its television premier would be a wiser choice to catch this kahaani.