At first, one is sorely tempted to dismiss the film totally. But a closer look would reveal that Khusboo has sparks of potential, which in the hands of a mature director, a seasoned writer and a talented cast, could have made for a fairly intelligent film. As it is, in its present stage, the film aspires to great things but seldom rises above rank mediocrity. The only thing that it has going for it is its music, which has been composed by Adnan Sami. But even there, it lets you down as the songs have not been picturised well enough to do justice to the tuneful melodies. Another department where the film shines, is its cinematography.
The problem with Khushboo is really to do with the director and writer being overly ambitious as they try their hand at every subject under the sun, beginning with one-night stands, pre-marital sex, marriage, career, patriotism, West versus East, Indo-Pak relations and of course, love, with probably a few more sprinkled in for good measure. A more focused approach would have worked wonders for the film. It would also have helped the lead actors, both rank newcomers, who are totally at sea during the tenure of the film.
Khushboo revolves around the protagonists, Raghu (Rishi Rehan) from Bangalore and Pinky (Avantikaa) from The Punjab who meet in Chandigarh. Raghu is there in the city for a few months to complete a construction project. They meet, dance to a song and end up spending the night together. Pinky disappears and then reappears to tell Raghu that she is pregnant with his child and intends to bring up the child by herself. All she wants is for him to meet her large family before she breaks the news to them. The madrasi munda is overwhelmed and floored by large Punjabi family. He falls in love with Pinky and they end up marrying each other. Their only bone of contention is the fact that he needs to be in New York within the next six months to head a project. She, on the other hand wants to stay in Chandigarh and give birth to her child. The conflict leads to them separating and then pining for each other. Inevitably, on the eve of his departure to New York, Raghu realises that he loves Pinky more than anything in the world and she is his destiny and not New York. He treks his way through mountains and makes his way back to her.
The story line seems logical and okay but it suffers when implemented. Everything is so overly simplistic with no transition period whatsoever in between. There is no chemistry between the lead pair when they meet for the first or second time and hey presto, they are in bed together. The writing in the film is pathetically amateurish. The dialogues are silly. As for the lead pair of Rishi Rehaan and Avantikka, besides the obvious disadvantage of making their debut in the film, are stiff and artificial. Nothing rings true in the movie and so it is difficult to but the great love that they have for each other. It's all very contrived and thus makes for a very unsatisfactory cinematic experience. The result is an amateurish love story.
Producer Pahhlaj Nihalani has produced better films. His attempt to give debutant director Rajesh Ram Singh a break with Khusbhoo along with the lead actors Rishi Rehan and Avantikka, fails dismally in almost all departments.
