/> Starring Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Sumeet Raghavan, Divya Dutta, Isha Sharwani, Karan Khanna
Directed by Ajay Devgan
Rating: *** ½

Nothing that Ajay Devgan has done in the past prepares us for the poise, poignancy and sensitivity of his directorial debut.

U Me Aur Hum is one of those tender-and-tactile mellow-dramas that leaves you with minty thoughts and dewy eyes.

The heart is completely at the right place, as Devgan turning director with a élan that thumbs its nose gently at all those who scoff at his actioner's antecedents, tells the story of a husband whose gentle ministrations take his alzheimer-stricken wife from her absentminded youth to blanked-out old age.

The journey gives us insights into the man-woman relationship and the intricate commitments of a marriage as seen through the eyes that go beyond the romance and excitement of courtship to an area where dark clouds gather over a relationship and threaten its annhiliation.

The trick, says Devgan's soft but persuasive film, is to hold on. To value the things that make life worth living.

There's an interesting reversal of the age-hold cinematic formula where the husband is looked after by the wife through rain and shine.

Devgan plays the caring nurturing husband who wooes and wins the fey and feisty (if it's Kajol it cannot be any other way) waitress on a cruise that seems to go on and on and on....

Luckily the narrative doesn't get 'see' sick. To be sure, the film could have avoided a prolonged courtship that tells us nothing more about life than what we don't already know in the first fifteen minutes.

Devgan gets to the point halfway through. The narrative quickly comes to grips with the theme as the solemn doctor (Sachin Khadekar looking suitably solemn ) announces the absent-mindedness which has been stalking Pia for a while is actually alzheimers.

The realization of the gravity of the illness, coming to terms with and finally recognizing the reality of an unshakeable love and faith beyond the obvious hardships of a troubled compatibility....these are themes that are given a surprisingly lowkey treatment by the first-time director.

Devgan's directorial speciality is the interweavement of the characters through some wittily and cleverly written dialogues (Ashwin Dheer) which always tell us more than what we hear.

The film's substantial emotional impact depends entire on the performances, not just Devgan and Kjaol but their two sets of friends, played by Sumeet Raghavan-Divya Dutta as the constantly-quarelling divorce-bound couple and Karan Khanna-Isha Sharwani as the ever-horny about-to-wed couple.Raghvan is a special revelation. He's quiet and attentive in scenes that require him to be that.

The broad strokes in which these characters are portrayed helps to give the narrative a spindly sensuous and moving spin.

But of course the chemistry between the lead players guides the destiny of this remarkable film.

Kajol's powerhouse performance punctuated and italicized by moments where she hungrily sinks her teeth into emotional depths seldom afforded to commercial actors, comes as no surprise. However her makeup sometimes gives her caked look.

Never mind. This is a film where we can easily look beyond the mask.

Ajay Devgan bowls you over. To find him measuring up to his wife's dizzying histrionics is an amazing experience. Watch his exprsssions as his character goes from concern to bitterness to acceptance and atonement. Jim Broadbent looking after his alzheimer-stricken wife Judi Dench in Iris couldn't have done better.

One sequence in the restaurant where Devgan is required to give a long bitter and ironical monologue on man's innate selfishness after he leaves his wife at a care centre, will stand out among the sincerest expressions of the human ego seen in the cinema.

Devgan's command over his craft and the language of heart take you by surprise. Watch that longish but never-dull sequence at the little party where the friends make up their own poetry expressing their personal philosophy to the tune of Sarey raah chalte chalte in Pakeezah. Kaifi Azmi meets his match.

Such moments imbue the narrative with an instant cinematic literacy.

Some of the sequences showing Kajol's mental blanking-out are so vivid they make your hairs stand on-end.

That nervewracking moment when the mother nearly ends up drowning her baby in the bath tub or that poignant interlude when the husband leaves his wife at the hospital are so wonderfully devised and executed you wonder which came first: the thought to make a film on alzheimers, or the characters who inhabit this dark yet uplifting theme.

The film has its flaws. It sometimes tries too hard to be trendily philosophical in its dialogues and ends up sounding phoney.

The pseudo-philosophical lyrics for the songs sound like cheap ripoffs of Gulzar. Also, the narrative doesn't seem to follow the linear path. The back-and-forth editing pyrotechnics where key incidents are recreated in flashy flashbacks are distracting.

However Aseem Bajaj's cinematography does much to create a smooth homogenous look and mood for the narrative.

The film makes you forget all the flaws. It takes us through a world of love pain and acceptance with such transparent honesty of purpose that at the end of it, you only wonder one thing...why can't more movies be like U Me Aur Hum?