Inanity is a great tool for a certain kind of comedy, and [Rakjumar] Santoshi exploited it brilliantly it in Andaz Apna Apna. Here he lets inane pile up upon asinine, without getting anything out of it, and burying all his characters deep under.

Go, have a ball.

Like a fizzy cola, this bubbly tale amuses despite its saccharine aftertaste.

# Film: *Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani* **Release date:** 6 November 2009 (UK) **Music composed by:** Pritam Chakraborty, Salim–Sulaiman **Producers:** Ramesh Taurani, Ronnie Screwvala **Review by Dr Usman Latif Khawaja** The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles. ### An absurdist, stupendous Santoshi stupor in a slapstick nightmare True to its ludicrous title, the storyline is shrouded in mystery, or it vanishes from the screen as the jumbled images sequester in ill-conceived sequences, while it is obvious the reason for conceiving this miscarriage in cinema is that Salman Khan agreed to a 3-minute special appearance because his dummy girlfriend co-stars in this shop of comic horrors with the worst actor and star son on the Indian screen. This is slapstick at the lowest level possible, which makes *Singh Is Kinng* look like a classic, with a loophole in every sequence, a mal-salubrious product of a one-time great director, Santoshi, who made bona fide classics like *Andaz Apna Apna*, *Khakee* and *Lajja*. The confusion is apparent in the opening, as Ranbir Kapoor, the miserable lead, appears in a Charlie Chaplin mode and falls head-first into a pond on a bicycle, only to emerge with a frog croaking on his head. This is the hallmark of the pathetic comedy that follows, and Kapoor apes everyone from Raj Kapoor to his eminent uncle Shammi in a subvert…