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By Joginder Tuteja **1/2
There is a point in the film where you end up exclaiming - 'This character is really quite 'kameena''. And a split second after this thought crosses your mind; the villain of the piece himself takes pride on this vitrue of his and tells the hero - 'Koyi To Kameena Hai Jo Tumse Ek Kadam Aage Soch Raha Hai'. Now if not for some witty moments like these and ample thrilling sequences, 'Kal Kissne Dekha' may have just fallen flat.
Reason? Even though the film is the launch pad of two newcomers, there is no love story embellished in the screenplay. Ok, so the two kiddos - Jackky and Vaishali - meet in a campus and predictably fall in love; but there are not many romantic moments that the two share. Yes, Vaishali does sit cross legged with Jackky on a moving bike and their midnight rendezvous does catch attention as well. But sadly, such moments are far and few. Even otherwise, the love-hate saga in the campus is quite dull and though the 'friend' characters are straight out of 'Main Hoon Naa', they do not hold much excitement.
The drama begins though once Jackky saves Vaishali from a bomb which was ticking under her. Well, literally! After a rather impractical insulting session that Jackky suffers at the hands of Vaishali in full public view, he starts imaging something even worse that could happen to him and soon, he starts getting visions of a bomb, the hands that kept it and heck, even the colour of wire that has to be cut in order to diffuse it. Bomb experts be damned!
His expertise starts taking a new dimension as he now starts working on a big project where he unknowingly becomes a part of a mission that involves exploding an entire Mumbai. And once he realises this 'kal', he gets started on his own mission to save everyone's 'aaj'.
Sounds like an interesting idea, right? Of course yes, and this must have surely prompted producer Vashu Bhagnani to launch his son in a film which promised total 'masala dhamaal'. To give credit to director Vivek Sharma, thrilling portions in the film work well too. The BIG plan, the conspiracy, the use of hero's twin combo of technical and visionary expertise, a heartless villain, the chase sequences, the background score, jumping from skyscrapers - all of this gets a good adrenalin rush which makes the interval point and the last 30 minutes of the film pretty interesting.
This is why one tends to believe that if 'Kal Kissne Dekha' would have stayed on the thriller route from beginning till end, it would have been a much better outing. That's because the opening 30-45 minutes are way too stretched, the campus fights are meaningless (the villain turned friend Akshay Kapoor disappears once he has extended a 'dosti-ka-haath'), the love story is 'thanda' and there is not even any attempt made to get some comic sequences in place.
Due to this, one has to give it to Rishi Kapoor who, after getting a chance to sink his teeth into something really meaty, doesn't let go of the opportunity and thoroughly enjoys himself. He manages to show a different side of his in this youth entertainer and along with Jackky features in most of the best scenes in the film. After 'Luck By Chance', this is another extended role he gets to play if one is willing to forget 'Delhi 6'.
Which brings me to an all important question - 'Does Jackky deliver'? The answer is a firm 'Yes'. Let's not just say that he has a potential to perform. The fact is that he 'does perform'. What strikes most about his presence in the film is that he is quite confident and neither overplays nor underplays his part. Even though the film is a show reel for the young boy, a better script would only help his cause.
Vaishali's role is such that she is mainly required to be a pretty face and a good dancer. In both the aspects she does well. However, her presence in the story's scheme of things is pretty marginalised and though she does decent in whatever is offered to her, she would have to rely upon her next film to prove her calibre as an actor.
Overall, 'Kal Kissne Dekha' is a reasonably decent affair that can be given a watch mainly for it's thriller element and the twist in the tale that emerges at the interval point. Now if only the film would have remained on the thriller terrain, 'Kal Kissne Dekha' would have been a much exciting summer film of 2009.
