Main Hoon Na

This Hindi masala has a little bit of everything: action, politics, romance, songs, and dance. It’s a traditional-seeming Bollywood release that has a modern pop aesthetic. The action that gets the story going involves a bold move toward rapprochement between warring Indian and Pakistani factions. In order for that to happen, Major Ram Sharma (Shah Rukh Khan) is sent to surreptitiously guard the college-aged daughter of India’s main promoter of the POW exchange program. She is Sanjana (Rao) and she pines for the school’s hippest student, Lucky (Zayed Khan), a fun-loving rebel without a cause. Meanwhile, Major Ram has learned from his father on his deathbed that he has a half-brother, and it just so happens that this brother also attends Sanjana’s college in Darjeeling. Major Ram tries to pass incognito as an older student, and in another subplot falls head over heels for the new chemistry teacher Chandni (Sen) and is compelled to burst into song whenever she comes near. Those are a few of the narrative tentacles, but trust me, hardly all of them. During the three-hour running time, little is left to the imagination and every avenue is explored, while also taking time to sing and dance. Main Hoon Na contains some clever spoofs on Matrix-like effects, and at other times it’s like watching a Hindi version of Grease. The director, Farah Khan, a popular choreographer (Monsoon Wedding, Asoka) turned first-time director, does a good job of keeping all these storylines and diverse narrative styles in motion. The film even has a few full-on dramatic moments to mix with other moments of buffoonery (a physics teacher who speaks with prodigious spittle, etc.). A movie as stuffed as this definitely lets you leave the theatre feeling as though you’ve gotten your money’s worth.