Cheeni Kum..directed by Balakrishnan, a.ka. Balki, an ad-filmmaker, stars Amitabh Bhachan and Tabu in lead roles. The title of the story has a small tagline to it which says “Sugar Free Romance”. This is exactly what you get to see in the movie. There’s no dancing around and senseless love between the two protagonists as we see in this era of bollywood movies. This is the story of Buddha, a head Chef in one of the best Indian restaurants in London who meets Neena under unusual circumstances. A 64 year old man and a 34 year old lady start a journey which creates ripples in their normal lives and in a series of encounters they both realise that they are in love with each other. The rest of the story is about how the 64 year old man tries to convince his lover’s 58 year old father back in India!

What sets the movie apart is its simplicity in unfolding different possibilities in life. And the best thing is it’s so completely natural that you are dumbstruck with the style of narration and the storyline especially in the first half of the movie. If ever you believe in the phrase that “Music and love is in the air”, the background music and title track along with the romance of the two characters is a proof of that. Composed by music maestro Illayaraaja, his music truly haunts you till the end of the movie and it’s a beautiful hummable soundtrack too…although the tracks are a remix version of his earlier movies. Paresh Rawal is good in his role and so is the little girl, Swini Khara who plays the role of Bhachan’s neighbour. Zohra Sehgal, who plays Bhachan’s mother is brilliant in the role of a irritating mother who always coaxes her son to go to the gym. Another important part of this movie is the dialouges. Especially the scenes between Tabu and Bhachan when they try to ask each other “what a man and woman ask other normally?” or even that scene where Tabu asks him to run to a distant tree and come back, they just make you wonder about the intelligence of the writer.

Altogether, with a good balance of romance and comedy it has all the ingredients of a nice flick. Watch it, this coffee is tasty even without sugar!