Hum Tum Aur Ghost

Rating: *

Armaan sees dead people. His day job,as a fashion photographer,has him surrounded by the paraphernalia of a noisy set—pretty women,clacking heels,clicking cameras. By night,he becomes a hounded man,hearing voices in his head,having conversations with people no one can see. Except him.

The thing with films where leading men can see ghosts is that they need to be completely original. ‘Hum Tum Aur Ghost’ smacks a little of ‘ Ghost’ ,a little of ‘The Sixth Sense’ : the rest of it feels cobbled-together,and certainly not from Kabeer Kaushik’s sensibility. This is the same director who made the terrific ‘Sehar’,which also starred Arshad Warsi. Everything about that debut film,about a powerful mafia in UP,with Warsi as an honest cop,had a felt quality. This one is mostly fake.

It’s not as if Warsi,whose first production this is,doesn’t work hard at his part. Armaan orders his models around,peers busily through lenses,hassles his assistant ( Mridul),and gets cuddly with girl-friend ( Mirza). But it’s all heavy going. And it becomes heavier still when a whole army of demanding spirits shows up,waiting for Armaan to help. A prosperous-looking ‘bhoot’ ( Irani) wants Armaan to loot a bank. A very pretty ghost ( Naqvi),decked out in a frilly frock and blue-eyeliner,wants him to find her long-lost son,dragging the film off into a long-winded sub-plot,which turns out to be the main act,after a lot of huffing and puffing.

The pow-wows between the ghosts and the sole human who can see them range from the funny and the lachrymose ( cue,close-up of Warsi,eyes brimming over),but the former are few and far. The interactions between the humans are equally contrived : Armaan’s girlfriend,the glamorous editor of a fashion magazine,is always dressed to the hilt ; his assistant exists solely to declare that she’s lesbian. Gosh.

All of these are actors who can make a film thoroughly enjoyable . But ‘Hum Tum Aur Ghost’ is not that film.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com