We Are Family

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 2nd September, 2010
Time : 115 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Siddharth Malhotra; Co-Writer : Karan Johar (Remake of Step Mom); Music : Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Starring : Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Nominath Ginsberg, Aachal Munjal, Diya Sonecha
The film is created / constructed with the sole objective to lubricate your eyes & give your tear glands a thorough work out. Also, since I’ve not seen Stepmom, I can only comment on this film, not on how good or bad it is as a remake.


Arjun Rampal has divorced Kajol three years ago. She lives separately with their three kids (eldest daughter is 13, son is 7-8 or thereabouts and youngest daughter is about 5). Arjun and Kajol seem amicable enough about this relationship, he seems to have free visitation rights, takes kids home for the weekend, attends b’day parties, school functions etc. Arjun now dates / lives in with Kareena and decides its high time she became friendly with the kids. Kareena makes an honest effort but it doesn’t seem to be really working, leading to fights between Arjun, Kajol and Kareena. Will they ever be able to make this work ?


The first half is reasonably frothy. Kareena’s sometimes misplaced efforts are fun to watch as is the kids reaction to them. The rare moments of fun between Kajol / Arjun and the kids also occur around here. The scenery is lovely, the beauty of Australia coming through.


The issues, though are many. We don’t really understand Arjun’s character. What does he think of Kajol ? Or Kareena ? How important are either to his life ? Cause he seems to flit from one to another reasonably randomly. We don’t have any dialogue where Kajol and Arjun really communicate without sinking into platitudes or the routine ‘where are you’ kind of phone calls. Actually, thinking about it, most of the good dialogues are already revealed via the promo’s and apart from the tear-jerker stuff, there’s not much else to discover in the film.


The kids acted well but were given horrible characters to play. They were made to behave like kids of yore, too innocent, too sweet, too clingy, almost like the kids portrayed 15 years ago in Hindi films. Not at all like the street smart kids of today who’re sometimes even more aware than the parents of whats going on around them. Arjun, throughout the film, seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, perpetually frowning. Kajol is fine, her eyes expressive as always. I found Kareena quite vivacious, her expressions spot on and mannerisms great in a reasonably tough character role. She brought some much needed life into the film.

Someone told me that the film brought to life the worst nightmare that she as a woman could think of. For most guys as well, the film will be their worst nightmare, but for entirely different reasons.