Comedy specialist director Priyadarshan has come out with another not so great comedy story about a widowed father and his authoritarian son – Mere Baap Pehle Aap. The director who has produced good comedies like Hera-Pheri and Malamaal Weekly comes up with just an average entertainer. Anyway, good performances and the dialogues add fizz to the story.
It is the story of an authoritarian son (Akshaye Khanna) who bosses his long-widowed father (Paresh Rawal) about living away the remaining years of his life like a decent old gentleman. But the father, well under the influence of his lusty old friend (Om Puri), is inspired to relive his youth again and marry his childhood sweetheart (Shobhana). And even as the son falls in love with a girl (Genelia D’Souza) who troubles him perpetually, he is worried more about his father’s marriage than his own.
Mere Baap Pehle Aap opens with a dream sequence of Om Puri (with a shoddy wig) day dreaming. He dreams of making merry in the company of a bikini-clad curvaceous model (Mumait Khan) and other under-dressed nymphs.
Gaurav (Akshaye Khanna) is the son, but he treats his father (Paresh Rawal) like his son. Gaurav is on guard with the vigilance of a disciplined parent. He shouts, threatens, and fights – even locks up his father occasionally to keep him away from the bad company of his father’s best friend Madhav who is a divorcee and desperate to get married.
Om Puri takes advantage of his old pal Paresh Raval and convinces to accompany him for bride-hunt for Om Puri, as they go to the college to seek matrimony for Om Puri with a lady professor and in the process, they mess up things and get in trouble with a She-Cop (Archana Puran Singh) who, by bad coincidence, hates nothing in this world more than eve-teasers..
Akshaye Khanna comes to the rescue. Frees them from the attempted legal offence, brings his daddy (Paresh Rawal) home and cautions him to stay away from the lecherous Uncle (Om Puri).
There are some genuine moments like the endearing chemistry between Paresh Rawal and Akshaye Khanna playing an unconventional father-son pair. The father is perfectly adorable and compliant daddy to the son’s authoritarian attitude.
Eventually, after facing obstacles within his family and even his sweetheart’s father, the son manages to marry off his widower father to estranged childhood sweetheart (Shobana). The romantic issue between Akshaye and the lovely Genelia D’Souza breathes life in this somewhat amateurish scripting in the movie.
Overall, this flick belongs to two players – Akshaye and Paresh Rawal. Om Puri is a bit miscast in his role of a leceherous friend, but it is Paresh Rawal as the mild natured father who performs well. Akshaye appears a bit overboard in a few scenes, but does well throughout. Genelia is naturally pretty in the movie, Archana Puran Singh is okay, while Naseeruddin Shah makes a surprise appearance. Rajpal Yadav is roped in for an insignificant role.
Mere Baap Pehle Aap, though begins unimpressively, develops into a feel-good tale of a father-son, the son and his fun-loving girlfriend has the filmy old-fashioned social melodrama towards the end. Making a good comedy is what the director Priyadarshan has mastered. However this film is strictly “just time pass” which means its okay if you miss it and not boring if you go for it.
Cast of Mere Baap Pehle Aap:
Gaurav – Akshaye Khanna
Janaradhan Rane (father) – Paresh Rawal
Mathur Uncle – Om Puri
Shikha Kapoor – Genelia D’Souza
Shikha’s father – Naseeruddin Shah
Inspector Bhawani – Archana Puran Singh
Rajpal Yadav
Credits of Mere Baap Pehle Aap:
Produced by Raman Maroo
Directed by Priyadarshan
Writer, Dialogues – Manisha Korde
Original Music by Vidyasagar
Cinematography by Piyush Shah
Film Editing by Arun Kumar
Production Supervisor – Sanjay Roy
Mere Baap Pehle Aap, movie review
