As they sit sipping coffee at a roadside café in London, Radha (Priyanka Chopra) tells Krissh (Shahid Kapur) “sometimes life is a suitcase but you feel like it’s a lunch-box” (or was it the opposite?), and if you are sitting in the audience, you might be forgiven for going “Huh? Did she really say that?”
Be prepared for many such moments during this two-and-a-half-hour film that claims to be an epic love story spanning three eras. Director Kunal Kohli is obviously trying to tell you that love does not change, whether in pre-independence India or London in 2012. If only you didn’t have to watch this film to find out.
Instead, you have to sit through three love stories, and except for the first one, between an aspiring musician and a coy actress, none of them manage to touch a chord. The second, between two Indian students in London uses Facebook as the main plot in their love story, while the third, a long-winded, at times inane tale of two lovers in pre-Independence India is the most taxing of all.
When Kapur’s character, who has been jailed for attacking a British officer, locks the jailor out of the prison and starts dancing and wooing his lady love, you are ready to throw your hands up.
Kohli uses the oldest of clichés, the most banal of plot points and if it hadn’t been for the chemistry between his two leads, “Teri Meri Kahaani” would have been a complete loss.
Thankfully, Kapur and Chopra share a rapport on screen and are easy on the eyes, especially during some of the song sequences. But they are saddled with a weak script and a director who is akin to a bad driver, going too slow when he needs to quicken the pace, and crashing his vehicle at almost every sharp turn.
Unless you are a sucker for mush or a fan or Chopra or Kapur, give this one a wide berth.
