Mumbai, Aug 08: For one brought up on a staple diet of Terminator(s), ETs, Alien(s), Star Wars and other assorted Star Treks, I waited with bated breath for India's answer to Hollywood Sci Fi; expectations sky high.
And as the credit titles of Rakesh Roshan's gift of the second coming (!) to son Hrithik rolled, I felt a sense of déjà vu. Much like Star Wars backward rolling titles, the names rolled into a parallel (somewhere in Filmcity) universe. And I sat back from the edge of my seat. I knew that I was going to be dished up an Indianised version of a phoren smorgasbord - familiar, yet as tasty as a Mickey Dee's 'tandoori' burger.
So we have some close encounters in the beginning, when space scientist Sanjay Mehra (Rakesh Roshan himself) invents a super-computer that plays musical tunes on what resembles an interstellar Casio Vieltone.
His belief that there is life on other planets is laughed at by various scientists (all with East German accents, achtung ). But prodded on by his pregnant wife Sonia (Rekha), he continues sending out musical notes of Om Om Om Om into the great black yonder. Simply because the holy word Om was one which apparently contains all the vibrations of the Universe.
Imagine his surprise when one night in Science City, he receives the same signals back on his computer.
After that, it turns out to be Close Encounters of the weird kind when a spacecraft hovers overhead and blows the fuses of the Mehra car. The accident causes the death of Mr Mehra and a brain injury to the unborn foetus of Mrs Mehra because she landed on her stomach in the alien imbroglio.
And thus Rohit (Hrithik) Mehra is born. With a heart of gold and a brain that's always on hold-stuck at the time when he was a 11-year-old - the lad loves his scooter and his band of little boys and gals (yes, he's still stuck in the 7th grade because his mind is still that of a lad) and his mother. The mother, of course, suffers from an acute case of xenophobia (fear of outworldly foreigners) and shrieks if she sees anything remotely alien.
For the selfsame reason, she doesn't let Rohit access the (Casio?) melody-making computer. Neither does the sulking professor at the school. So Rohit cannot play 'scientist scientist' with his junior buddies. Poor babies. They're left with no alternative but to sing songs at exotic locations, watch movies and carjacking rides with beautiful damsels seeking directions.
Then there is the villainous element in Raj (Rajat Bedi) and gang who torture poor Rohit mentally, and sometimes physically batter him with basketballs just because he can 'scoot' faster than they can bike. What basket cases they be.
But the wafting of Nisha (Preity Zinta) into his life awakens the 'man' in the man-boy. And with his friends convincing him that she is his 'girlfriend', he starts lighting up like a spaceship in St. Elmo's Fire each time he sees her.
This aggravates Raj a lot more, since he has his beady eyes cast on the dimpled eve. But now Rohit has set new sights for himself. Heavenwards.
He asks God why he gets punished for no fault of his, in a truly poignant scene. And he retires to his room and plays with daddy's Casio comp. Om Om Om Om the tones go out into the universe. And this time the spaceship lands on the third rock from the sun. What fun.
A bunch of aliens, resembling Ewoks from Star Wars, scurry into the woods and scurry out in a hurry when they spot a herd of elephants. What nerds. All except one cute little 'un who is left behind in the stampede, left lonely and blue (his colour too).
The story then switches to the track where the alien (nicknamed 'Jadoo') creates a world of magic for his friend and rescuer, Rohit, and how a transformation happens to Rohit, from boy to Superman.
This is where Rakesh's story telling expertise takes over. Telling us a gripping tale of kids leaping in the air and making chhutti of tall bad boys in basketball games. Of how Hrithik gets muscles, dancing prowesses and amazing strength.
To give anything else away would be to rob the film of the Jadoo that it delivers to an audience starved of novelty and freshness.
Much like Mr India had broken the shackles of grating action in the eighties, and created a magical world of invisible men and laughing kids, so does KMG create an extra terrestrial world of magic, aliens, spaceships, and a world of children. And therein lies its strength.
The children are bound to go nuts about Jadoo and his antics. As well as all the SFX that are a delight to watch. With all the baddies, scientists and bad cops trying to hunt down a creature alien to humans. Much like in 'Splash' and 'ET' itself.
Okay, so the film borrows heavily from Hollywood biggies of the genre, but given the director's resolve to want to do something truly different, it is excusable; especially in a world where directors watch DVD movies in their Vanity vans and ask their assistants to copy even basic action, comedy, etc.
Full marks to Rakesh for his valiant attempt to break the mould.
And he does a remarkable job too. Smoothly explaining to the layman what an alien is (in a clever scene where Hrithik asks Preity, "yeh alien kya hota hai?´ And she explains in lay language).
The only place Roshan senior falters a bit is in the climax, which is all over the place in its attempt to justify the friendship between terrestrial and extra-terrestrial.
As for the performances, Preity is fresh and inspired. Bringing empathy to her role where she is almost governess to the mentally stagnant Rohit; and then sees the transition through large brown eyes. It's a credible performance.
Rakesh himself, as the underdog scientist, plays a brief but important cameo.
Rekha, in her role of paranoid mom, lets out a few more screeches than she should, but we guess in a sci fi flick it's allowed.
The kids giggle and play as all kids should.
Rajat Bedi makes hissing sounds and red eyes at all.
Jadoo, the alien, manufactured by an Australian, has a ghastly twisted smile and an innocent blink. But is an endearing little Indian answer to the Ewok. And if his target audience, the kids, take to him, he may well become India's first merchandising success.
However, when you leave the hall, the one performance that stays with you, is an out of the box knock out performance from India's most underrated actor.
Hrithik blows away all doubts, theories, criticisms and disbelief with an extraordinarily touching performance of a mentally challenged boy in a rough man's world. He surprises you with his reserves of pathos, his gamut of emotion and his transition from weak boy to strong man.
Here is a sterling act, worthy of all awards this year - thus far. He is simply incredible, even in his voice modulations, his sloppy walk and his lopsided smile. Bravo boy.
And given the hit music, the awesome visuals and the super special effects (thank God we are spared the tacky back projections and the masked creatures of other films), this may well be Hrithik's return to form.
After all, it's dad's jadoo at work.
A must see for kids from 5-60.