Bombay To Bangkok

Movie Information:
Banner: Mukta Searchlight Films
Release Date: January 11, 2008

Producer: Subhash Ghai, Elahe Hiptoola, Rahul Puri
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

BOMBAY TO BANGKOK is a cute romantic story with its heart in the right place. It also has a subplot within the plot, which comes as a surprise towards the end. What Nagesh Kukunoor tries to portray is that love has no boundaries and can surpass even language barriers. It also overlooks obvious flaws. No matter where you find it, when you do, it’s the most delirious feeling. Here, Nagesh hits the nail on the head.

The narration is simple; there’s nothing over the top and the moments between Shreyas Talpade (Shankar) and Lina Christianson (Jasmine) are handled very romantically.

Nagesh gets straight to the point with his central character, Shankar, and follows his path to Bangkok where cupid strikes and love blossoms. Shankar is a bawarchi working in a local restaurant and one night chances upon a pouch full of money left behind by the local don’s hoodlums. Unable to contain himself, he takes the bag with him, in the hope of getting a better treatment for his ailing mother and a better life for himself. But the goons soon catch up with him and instead of his original destination to Dubai, he masquerades as a doctor and hops on to a chartered flight to Bangkok. In a massage parlour, he chances upon Jasmine and the seeds of love are sown.

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Shreyas Talpade is soon turning to be the common man’s hero. He gets into character playing the caring son, confused in love idiot, and the fake doctor with aplomb. Watch out for the scene when the two lovers are running around in circles to get into each others rooms in the middle of the night. Also, the scene at the parlour, where Shankar tries to convince Jasmine of his love, and his ‘first time’ at the parlour.

Lina, the Thai actress oozes of charm and confidence. She is cute, sexy and someone you would want to take home. No wonder Shankar falls for her. Nagesh has chosen his characters well, even the doctors, especially Dr. Rati, who falls in love with the gangster turned rapper. Those scenes too have its moments. You could call it “moments of madness�. The scene where language is the monster is very cute. Especially when both are trying to tell the other their feelings or even when they are making fun of the names originating from their respective countries!

The title track “We are same, same but different,� rocks and you want to shake a leg with Shreyas and Lina as they scorch the scene in this dance number.

TO GO OR NOT: For those in love, this is a must-see; for those yet to fall in love, do watch it. And for those who look down on romance, you might just change your stance.Â