By IndiaFM News Bureau, February 26, 2004 - 16:00 IST
Whether it is a married man or a bachelor, a pauper or a millionaire, the father of one or that of none, one who has daughters or one who has sons... this is the story of man. Man for whom unfortunately the grass is always greener on the other side.
This is the stage on which is set the story of “Shaadi Ka Laddoo”. The film's basic cast and crew comprises of one film old artistes, which includes Mandira Bedi (DDLJ), Ashish Chaudhary (Qayamat), Samita Bangargi (Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai), Negar Khan (Rudraksh) and director Raj Kaushal (Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi). The known faces include Sanjay Suri and Divya Dutta while the music is composed by Vishal-Shekhar
The film is a riotous comedy about two friends Som and Ravi as different as the planetary positions as their names. School friends matured into college buddies and drifted apart as grown men. Both the men had common goals – that of ambition and success but different agendas. Whereas Som partners his success with warmth and a family of his own and gets completely locked into a world of domesticity in the mundane setting of Indore,Ravi walks the precarious tightrope of success with a no-strings-attached lifestyle filled with glamour, women and all the worldly frills that the youthful city of London has to offer and thus wins the notoriety of being the “eligible bachelor” sought by every women but with none by his side. The film catches the two men at a juncture in life when they once again chance to meet and renew the bonds of earlier days. This is the story of one such rendezvous in London when they meet and trade aspirations and dreams and both realize that they prefer the dreams and the realities of the other.
Character Sketch
Ashish Chowdhary as Ravi
Ravi is a quintessential bachelor with an aching heart and for him Som's family with his wife Gitanjali and kids spell security and comfort ... something to come back home to ... a reason to finally live without leading the life of a fast paced wanderer. Ha had always been a wanderer moving way too fast to ever stop to think if he was happy. And maybe he wasn't.
Sinatra's lines mumble in his head.
“Some starry night, when her kisses make you tingleShe'll hold you tight, and you'll hate yourself for being single”
Sanjay Suri as Som
Marriage and children had chained Som to a life of mundanity and must dos. He had long stopped doing as his heart or mind spoke. Safety, security and the future were key words in his life. Ravi rose to his mind like a mirage in desert. For Som, Ravi seemed a lifeline to himself. He was so busy playing husband, father and breadwinner that along the way Som had lost himself.
Divya Dutta as Geetu
Geetu was the hottest girl in college, best buddy and now the wife of Som. Geetu was the woman who made many a heart beat during their college days, and Som too did not escape her charms. Geetu was the women dreams were made of. Fun, games, mischief and so full of life. Som was the happiest man alive when he married Geetu.
Mandira Bedi as Tara
Tara is a young 28-year old painter of Indo-Brit origins. She is Ravi's close friend and his life support system. Clothed with amazing vitality and the aura of fun and success. In Tara, Som saw the Geetu of his past. The Geetu who was and who now will never be the same tainted with the curse of marriage.
Samita Bangargi as Meneka
Meneka is gifted with the voice of a nightingale and the temperament of a storm. She is in London on an agenda: that of a singing career. And she is driven beyond realization to make it big in this city, but not at the cost of her principles and values.
Storyline
For Som, “Was” is the key word. His life had long drifted from the ambitious dreams. The warm tender nights and the excitement to a life of changing diapers, going for parent teacher meetings, worrying about the house loan and toiling in the unglamorous world of his ball-bearing factory.
Their marriage had changed, undoubtedly, Geetu's life as well. Her career plans had taken the shape of a full time job. Her children, her house, her life and a nagging fear that she could not lose Som. He was the center of her Universe. But romance and love was a distant ship for the couple, somewhere on the horizon, sailing away further and further.
When Som visits London on a business trip, he accidentally bumps into his buddy of earlier years, Ravi. He also gets a peak into Ravi's life and its key players. Then how could he miss out on meeting the immensely talented Tara! He is instantaneously attracted to Tara. Into London around the same time comes vivacious Meneka.
Unknowingly, unwittingly Ravi and Som exchange roles.Som becomes the highflying philanderer, carrying his heart on his sleeve and puts his wife and family values in the backseat. His agenda, motive and drive is now to win Tara.Whereas Ravi on a more pensive note stops in the hectic pace of his life just for a moment and realizes that he wants what Som has – a doting wife, cute kids, a station wagon and a reason to live. He wants Meneka! But does not know how to get her.
Guess it's the fear of rejection that lets him to allow the master of the game – Som takeover the strategizing for this love-match. Som with his hay-day formulas and out-dated notions makes such a hash of the entire affair that Ravi regrets giving charge to Som.
Back home in Indore, Geetu sniffs trouble and lands smack in the middle of London just when things could have happened between Som and Tara. From then on, all hell breaks lose.
As every film must, all's well that ends well. Som realizes the worth of what he has after burning his fingers on fleeting desires and the knowledge that the other women are no different from his wife. They all want the same things ... things that he already has. As for Ravi, he is converted and sold at the hands of love into a blissful marriage. Finally caught ... and happily at that.
“And then you wonder how it all came about. It's too late now there's no gettin'outYou fell in love, and love is the tender trap” ... Frank Sinatra
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