The characters and actors are nice, simplistic and stereotyped to avoid any confusion and mental exercise, whatsoever. From the girl's (Aishwarya as Mansi) side, we have the good father (Alok Nath in one more similar role), the giddy, prancing sisters and the ambitious aunt (Mita Vashisht in a disappointingly short role). From the boy's (Akshaye Khanna as Manav) side, we have the statesmanly, understanding, grandmother (Sushma Seth, in yet another role she has done hundreds of times before), the vicious, jealous, rich uncles and aunts (all TV actors) and the father who finally comes around (Amrish Puri, in yet another similar role). God... The only saving grace is Anil Kapoor, who essays the slightly different role of a hard-hearted businessman musician but with an underlying heart of gold, hamming it up without restraint. The only two things that really work in this movie are A R Rahman's wonderful music and Shiamak Davar's choreography.

Akshaye's role as Manav is ridiculous. All he does is tell everyone whenever possible that God is in him, and that if this is true and his love his pure, they (his father and Anil Kapoor) will bring Mansi to him. Yeah, right! He wanders through the movie stuck with the smuggest of smug looks on his face, including when he first declares his love for her in Chamba, and also when he tells her after their big fight that she will eventually come back to him. If only Mansi had kicked him on his ass, wiped that smugness of his face, told him to take a flying leap and had gone back to Anil Kapoor (they look made for each other), the movie would have made it big-time.

Movies like Taal seem to hold the key to understanding the differences between Indians in India and Indians in the US. Taal has done amazingly well abroad and has flopped in India. I wonder why. Is it the "three-hour" nostalgia fix that movies like Taal give? Uncomplicated movies, tugging at the heart, requiring no neuronal inputs, allowing an escape from the changing and confused emotions which come from living abroad? A chance to look at India with rose-tinted eyes? Where even the poor and lower middle-class do not have to struggle in their day to day lives. Where family is all-important and everyone seems happy only when living in large, singing, dancing ones.

Running through all this is the all-important thread of almost-unrequited love, usually fulfilled in the end. All these movies, starting with Hum Aapke Hain Kaun through Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Pyar To Hona Hi Tha and now Taal have the same theme with different dressings. Three-fourths of the movie goes in keeping the lovers apart (so that your heart goes out to them), the first 1/8th laying the ground for this and the last eighth ending with their union, allowing everyone (audience and actors) equal opportunity to exercise their lacrimal glands.

Probably the best review of the movie came from the ticket-seller, who told me when I went to buy tickets in advance, thinking they would not be available, "aisa chariya picture dekhne ko kaun aayega - mangta hai utna tickets milega" (chariya cannot be translated, but Sindhis would know)