Though Im not a biiiig fan of mushy romantic flicks, I often flip for movies that have love stories that are sensible, stories which leave me feeling good inside. Love Actually finds a place in my all time fav list and once I saw the promos of SEI, I was tremendously excited as I always thought Love Actually had atleast three or four tracks which could be incorporated into an Indian Movie.

After seeing the movie, me and my friend came out and told ourselves, not bad, but gimme a dvd of Love Actually anyday. Sitting here jotting down my impressions, I would think I was being unfair to SEI by comparing it to the original. SEI worked in parts for me. It started off nicely, meandered and lost direction in between (The Ya Rabba track that I like in the sound track was stretched interminably) but finally managed to tie it all up nicely in the end. The ability to poke fun at itself plays a major role in making it work. It uses some of the oldest bollywood cliches to a humorous effect (something that Farah Khan does far more effectively in Main Hoon Naa). It draws u into atleast a couple of the stories, u start feeling for the characters in those stories and want them to end well. The music is fab (mostly), the songs are all well staged Bollywood Numbers, elaborate sets, choreography, loads of dancers in the background.

Amongst the stars, Vidya Balan and John Abraham have a lot of scope and do complete justice to their roles. Akshaye Khanna was fun and I was left wishing Ayesha Takia had something more substantial to do. Anil Kapoor and Juhi played whatever little parts they were given to perfection. Govinda and Shannon were lovely. Govinda was back to his old self saying cheesy, corny lines that only he can pull off (Tu aadmi hai ke Pyzama- anyone???). Sohail Khan and Isha Koppikar are hardly there but manage to evoke a chuckle everytime they come on screen. Priyanka Chopra hammed sometimes, but otherwise was a delight to watch, looks and performance wise. Salman actually looked outlandish in certain scenes, what was with his weird hairdo and make up anyway???

The movie would have been so much better if Nikhil Advani had not indulged his labor of love. When u fall in love and indulge something to a great extent, u end up spoiling it. Nikhil Advani suffers from the same problem... He loved his movie so much, that he ends up spoiling the overall effect, a once in a lifetime ensemble starcast not withstanding. SEI, for me makes the ideal DVD movie... it neither bores u to death, nor moves at a breathtaking pace...so U can give a few scenes the flip and actually rewatch some memorable portions for the effect...

Go see SEI when u have some time to spend, u will not regret the time or the expense. Or if u do not have that time to spend, do see the movie when it comes out on DVD - ideal for a lazy sunday watch!