The gist of the story is truly captivating - the guy is a complete flirt, he wears his heart on his sleeve. Enter three women in different stages of his life. Love is in the air. Two dream of marrying him, but he ditches them and the third, whom he intends marrying, says a blunt 'No' to the offer. Heart-broken, the guy realizes his folly and plans on doing 'prayashchit'. He goes back to the first two women and apologizes. Wow! A story to bowl you over indeed!

Bachna Ae Haseeno has splendid moments in the first hour. In fact, the three stories, minus the culmination of course, are beautifully told in the first hour itself. There're some attention-grabbing moments in this hour [details later] and you genuinely feel exhilarated after having watched those portions.

Now to the second hour - the guy repents for his misdeeds and years later, goes back to the first two women in his life. That's where the problems surface...

From the writing point of view, the first story [Minissha] is given an appropriate and beautiful culmination in the second hour. But the second [Bipasha] and third [Deepika] stories face rough weather. These stories don't work and therefore, colour your judgment on the movie. Like it happens with most Hindi films, the writing is the culprit here as well. It lacks the power to keep you hooked in the second hour.

In a nutshell, Bachna Ae Haseeno could've been the ideal youthful entertainer, occupying the position that Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na enjoys amongst the yuppie crowd. But as things stand now, it's a great-looking film with nothing outstanding about it. Strictly okay for a single watch, that's about it!

Meet Raj [Ranbir Kapoor]. He falls in love thrice...

The film talks of three love stories: Raj and Mahi [Minissha], Raj and Radhika [Bipasha], Raj and Gayatri [Deepika]. Different ladyloves at different times in his life. And each of them teaches him a little bit about love and a little bit about life, in their own sweet, sexy or sassy way.

Director Siddharth Raj Anand knows the craft too well by now and his handling of the romantic and emotional scenes is worth appreciating. Take the sequence at the airport -  Minissha stands stunned listening to Ranbir's tale of 'conquest', with tears rolling down her cheeks. The silence says it all!

Note the sequence when Ranbir woos Bipasha, but eventually dumps her on the eventful day. It's raining and Bipasha just can't come out of the shock. The silence is deafening! Note yet another tragic end to the love story, when Deepika refuses the wedding proposal from Ranbir. Flashes from the past come alive at this point. It couldn't get better!

Post-interval, Ranbir's story with an already-married Minissha and her husband is equally moving. Ranbir's apology looks convincing and the culmination to this chapter couldn't be better. Ranbir moves on to Bipasha and it's here that the writing begins to go downhill. She's a wounded tigress and no amount of cajoling or apologies from Ranbir would melt her. So far, so good! But the path she uses to teach Ranbir a lesson is weird, sorry, ludicrous.

One presumes the third story, with Deepika, is written in haste. The girl suddenly has a change of heart and wants to marry Ranbir, she even writes to him every day, not knowing that he's out of town. The culmination to this story is amateurish and one wonders whether the writer was in a tearing hurry to end the movie since the 2-hour mark had already been crossed.

Directorially, Siddharth Raj Anand offers stunning visuals and some really fine performances, but is let down by the script. Vishal-Shekhar's music is just alright, nothing to rave or rant about. Barring 'Khuda Jaane' and 'Lucky Boy', the remaining songs don't have a lingering effect. Cinematography is a class apart. Besides, the cinematographer does complete justice to some spectacular lo