Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Gracy Singh, Randhir Kapoor, Introducing Aamir Bashir
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Producer: Dinesh Gandhi
Director: Honey Irani

The most bragged about film, ARMAAN leaves a lot to be desired. It has Amitabh, with a weird hairdo, but this does not help in anyways. The film marks the directorial debut of Honey Irani, so we expected something new, yet nothing happens. The film reminds one of, yester years flick, DIL APNA AUR PREET PARAYI.

The story line moves this way. We have a doc, Siddarth Sinha, with a magnanimous ambition of building a state of art hospital, but runs short of funds for the same.

Akash Sinha (Anil Kapoor), a neurosurgeon, is Siddarth's adopted son, works in the same hospital as his dad. He is in love with Neha Mathur (Gracy Singh), an anesthetist. Akash meets Soniya Kapoor ( Preity Zinta) at a party. She is the only daughter of millionaire Gulshan Kapoor (Randhir Kapoor).

 Everything is fine, until doc Siddarth's untimely death. Akash's life goes topsy-turvy. He has to save the hospital and fulfill his father's dream. Both the tasks need money. Bucks do flow in on a condition that Akash marries Soniya, and forgets the love of his life. What next?

Predictably Akash marries Soniya, and hell breaks loose. Suspicion and assumptions rears its ugly head. Rest of the story is based on the three hapless characters of this story.

The biggest drawback in this film is the story. From scene one till the last scene, one can predict the film. Some scenes are good. For eg. The scene where Amitabh tries to save the child. His expressions are brilliant. But what is confusing is, why did he have to run all around in the forest. This is the age of cell phones. Wonder, why a doc of his stature could not contact the hospital during an emergency.

Technically the film is okay. Locales are superb. Musically the tunes soothe. Performance wise, all laurels go to Amitabh Bachchan. As usual he is brilliant. Preity Zinta, has performed well as a spoilt brat. At times acting has become over acting. Age definitely shows on Anil Kapoor, but he does justice to his role. Gracy Singh lives up to the expectations. Randhir Kapoor, is so so. Newcomer Aamir Bashir is promising.

All in all, ARMAAN bores you like crazy. Even after the release of the much-hyped film, the sorry state of Bollywood continues

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