Main Aisa Hi Hoon – leaves much to be desired

Rating:- *1/2

Harry Baweja's MAIN AISA HI HOON borrows heavily from Hollywood film I AM SAM, but it leaves a lot to be desired.

Indraneel/Neel [Ajay Devgan] is a grown-up man with the brain of a seven-year-old child. The world for him is a fairy-tale in which no wrong or no evil can ever penetrate. The nucleus of his world is his seven-year-old daughter, Gungun [Baby Rucha].

Gungun's mother, Maya [Esha Deol], had entered Neel's life like a mysterious breeze and left just as inexplicably, after giving birth to the child. And for seven years after that, Neel and Gungun just had each other to live for. Their world was happy, albeit not picture-perfect.

In this idyllic world, on the eve of Gungun's seventh birthday, comes a storm in the form of Maya's father, Mr. Trivedi (Anupam Kher). The man, who has just learnt about the presence of Gungun, flies from London to claim his grand-daughter. Trivedi slaps a lawsuit on Neel for the custody of the child.

Neel can feel his world crumbling and his decision to search for the best lawyer in town lands him at the office of Neeti [Sushmita Sen]. Recently divorced, embittered, terribly ambitious, with a son whom she neglects, Neeti is a far cry from the role model for Neel's case, but she is an outstanding lawyer.

Terribly hesitant initially to take up Neel's case, Neeti finally takes it up, thanks to Neel's unflinching love for his little daughter.

The problem with the film is its screenplay. Sadly, there are glitches in the screenplay. Some instance: after giving birth to a baby girl, Esha suddenly disappears from the scene. Yes, she's shown to be one confused lady, but her sudden disappearance looks too abrupt in the film.

The courtroom sequences look tame and tepid and the fire is clearly missing. For any courtroom battle to leave an indelible impression on the mind of a moviegoer, it ought to be embellished with razor-sharp dialogues. Films like INSAAF KA TARAZU and DAMINI are two shining examples and the courtroom sequences in these films left you completely speechless.

Directorially, Harry Baweja shows his competence in several sequences, but his writers let him down terribly.

While the first half grips you gradually [although it's slow-paced], the post-interval portions have been stretched unnecessarily.

Ideally, a film like MAIN AISA HI HOON should've been a songless flick, but too many songs in the narrative only mar the impact. Although the film does boast of a couple of hummable tunes [Himesh Reshammiya], you only wish that there were valid situations to fit in those numbers.

Cinematography [Ayananka Bose] is striking.

The film is embellished with high-quality performances and by Ajay Devgan, baby Rucha, and Sushmita Sen.The actress displays terrific understanding while enacting this part.

Anupam Kher is, as always, efficient. Vikram Gokhale, Lillete Dubey, Anjan Srivastava and Dinesh Lamba are adequate. Master Raj Gokani is cute.