Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai derives it`s inspirations from  the English film, Father Of The Bride. Anubhav Sinha has teamed up again with Super Cassettes Industries Ltd. to give  us a flick in which  Om Puri plays the doting father who can`t bear the thought of his daughter getting married. Unable to cope with the reality that his daughter has fallen in love with a handsome young man, he tries all the tricks to stall the marriage but finally relents. There`s another angle to the story which is set in Canada. 

The prospective groom (Priyanshu) is a police officer from India, who has been suspended because a criminal he had nabbed had escaped while in his custody. He has come to Canada in search of the same criminal but has lied to his girlfriend and her father about his true identity. Unable to nab the criminal, he reveals the truth about his identity because of which the marriage is called off by the girl and her family. Finally, of course, he succeeds in catching the criminal and also, therefore, marrying the girl he loves. 

The first track of the story is designed as a comedy. The second track, of course, has other problems. Part of the drama looks more contrived than exciting.Glitches are, in fact, plenty. On the positive side, the film has some tuneful songs by Nikhil Vinay, and their picturisation is also good. The foreign locations give the film a rich look. Priyanshu does well. Saakshi is average. Om Puri is a fine performer and the lack of worthwhile scenes and punch-packed dialogues to befit his genius is sorely felt. Farida Jalal, too, suffers on account of scenes without substance. Manoj Pahwa is fair. Arundhati gets no scope. Navneet Nishan irritates more than entertaining. Virendra Saxena does reasonably well.

Anubhav Sinha should realise that filmmaking is not the same thing as directing video albums. His narrative style is confused and his direction, too ordinary to have any impact. As for his dialogues, they are pedestrian at times.

Musically too, the audio value of the songs is better than their pictorial appeal.  Editing is weak. Vijay Arora`s camerawork is eye-filling. Production values are rich. Action scenes are dull and look half-hearted. On the whole, Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai has a major plus point of having a universally acceptable theme, a father`s love for his daughter. At  the box-office, the film may find flavour with families.