‘Marriage’ is the union of two souls in a bond, which lasts a lifetime. Though practically, there is far too much that goes into actually managing a ‘marriage’. This is what ‘Life Partner’ is all about in a nutshell.

Film: Life Partner (2009)
Rating: 2.5/5
Starring: Govinda, Fardeen Khan, Tusshar Kapoor, Genelia D’Souza, Prachi Desai, Darshan Jariwala and Amrita Rao in Sp.App
Director: Rumi Jaffrery

It is a story about three friends, Karan (Fardeen Khan) for whom ‘Love marriage is the perfect bet’, Bhavesh (Tusshar Kapoor) who does not believe in the concept of ‘Dating’ and prefers an arranged set up and then there’s Jeet (Govinda) a divorce lawyer who believes in ‘No marriage’. Karan’s and Bhavesh’s lives turn upside down when they marry their respective partners, Sanjana (Genelia D’souza) and Prachi (Prachi Desai) and how they re-affirm their faith in the institution of marriage is what the rest of the film all about.

Turning producers, director duo Abbas Mustan have not left any stone unturned from giving the film a grandiose look. Wish they were equally charged about promoting the film as there is no buzz around the movie. The locales of Cape Town are eye catching and Sameer Arya’s cinematography makes it look so much better.

Writer-Director Rumi Jaffery has already proved his prowess in writing in the past and after seeing this film one can easily say that his craft in direction is equally good as far as films of this genre are concerned. But the screenplay (Yunus Sajawal) suffers on many counts as the film starts off well, dips intermittently, gathers momentum in the second half and drops again during pre-climax and climax.

Niranjan Iyengar’s dialogues are funny at most places and tickle your funny bone at most occasions. Less said about Pritam’s music the better. We also wonder how could a master lyricist like Javed Akhtar could come up with such mediocre work. Though each of the song numbers have been shot well, there is not a single song you want to carry home or even hum around. Watching Kuke Kuke number is fun because of Govinda and Genelia’s histrionics. Editing by Sanjay Sankla needs some serious trimming especially in the second half.

Fardeen Khan has by now got comfortable with the camera and it shows. Tusshar suits in his part well and does full justice to it. Genelia looks cute but her dialogue delivery needs to be improved. Prachi Desai is very likeable and gives an earnest performance. Govinda once again plays to the gallery and succeeds in evoking laughter. Anupam Kher is like always, ever dependable. Vikram Gokhale and Darshan Jariwala are sincere in their respective roles. Amrita Rao in a guest appearance as a bar girl fails to create any impact again with her miniscule clothing.

All said and done, Life Partner can be a good fun filling experience this weekend (if you are not living in Mumbai) and can be watched along with your partner. For those who are still single, it teaches you the repercussions of having one in your life. So, be prepared!

Also Read:
Fardeen, Genelia promote Life Partner at Radio Mirchi
Tushar Genelia promote life partner
Not a Happy time for LIFE PARTNER?
How Tusshar roped in Prachi Desai for Life Partner
Life Partner movie stills

Amrita Rao, Dev Anand, Jackie Shroff, Sakshi Tanwar, Pooja Misra at Dev Anand_s Jewel Thief screening in Regal on 30th July 2009.

Amrita Rao at the launch of Hungama Online digital entertainment store in Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai on 17th July 2009.

Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Twinkle Khanna, Katrina Kaif, Preity Zinta, Pooja Batra, Salman Khan, Amrita Arora, Kehkashan, Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, Arpita Khan, Vindu Dara Singh, Vipul Shah, Shefali Shah, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, Shirish Kunder, Sanjay Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Madhur Bhandarkar, Bhushan KUmar, Kishan KUmar, Chunky Pandey, Bomen Irani, David Dhawan, Atul Agnihotri, Priyadarshan, Sajid Nadiadwala, Shabbir Khan, Jennifer Mayani at Kambakkht Ishq success bash in Enigma on 6th July 2009 .

Amrita states in this regard, “Well this was the first time that I have gone ultra glam for the role but let me make it clear I had no inhibitions when doing it. I was confident and wanted to do something different. The best of roles have walked my way and I have achieved creative satisfaction with films like Shyam Benegal’s Welcome To Sajjanpur and Rajashri’s Vivaah. So here I was trying to do something new and different. Not that I have not done glamorous roles earlier but this was the first time that I was literally bold and brash but let me tell u the film has been shot aesthetically. But what is more exciting was that I have been receiving a lot of sms’s from so many creative people from the industry even today for the roles in Welcome to Sajjanpur and Vivah. It was an amazing and satisfying experience. I hope they do the rounds after this film too.”

Akshay Khanna, Amrita Rao, Arshad Warsi, Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt in the still from movie Shortkut on 15th June 2009.

Amrita Rao, Nagma and Shreyas Talpade at IDA event against anti-tabacco awareness in St Andrews, Mumbai on 31st May 2009.

Present at the occassion were actress Amrita Rao, Shreyas Talpade, Naghma, and Pantaloons Miss India 2009 Shriya Kishore along with IAS officer and Secretary of Medical Education Dr. Bhushan Gagrani who was the chief guest and K Raghuvanshi the chief of Anti-Terrorism Squad as the guest of honor. Amrita Rao unveiled the TII logo and launched the TII initiative and narrated the story of one of her friends in USA whose husband has throat cancer and what trauma her friend is undergoing. She also said how the book on Anti-Smoking written by her dad Deepak Rao has helped thousands of readers to quit tobacco successfully. Shreyas talpade, who launched the TII website. In his speech he joked that he brushed his teeth three times…gargled….tried to make his teeth whiter…before he came to the dentists event but still someone said that one of his teeth is yellow. Then he realized probably he needs dental treatment. He recounted his small stint with smoking in college…he asked one of his friends to teach him smoking who took him to canteen. Shreyas asked him “why do you smoke?” his friend replied – because two of my other friends smoke. Then shreyas was apprehensive of being seen by relatives so tried to go under the table and smoke. Then came out and smoked and then realized it does not give any pleasure. All it can give is a six letter word – cancer “ Smoking does not make you cool and All that you get is Cancer if you continue to smoke” was his message to the audience.

Shriya Kishore, Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth 2009, released the TII booklet specially designed to be distribute among the public on this day. Her speech – her father was in military. When she was about to join boarding school for her 4th std, her dad assured her of any kind of help she ever needs…even if it involves a bad thing such as Smoking and Drugs. Shriya came and asked her dad about smoking and then he himself lit a cigarette and gave it to her. That was the moment she realized it is a bad thing and since then has been advising her friends about quitting this hazardous habit . Nagma launched TII centers in Dental Institutes of the state. She said she lost her father 3 years back because of smoking. She highlighted the importance of such events in motivating the general public. K Raghuvanshi ATS chief launched the TII centers in Govt district Hospitalsof Maharashtra said it is really important to fight this menace through such constructive steps. Educating and motivating the general public in this regard is extremely important. Hon. Bhushan Gagrani , IAS officer and secretary, medical education, Maharashtra who was the chief guest, released the special issue of Oral health magazine on Tobacco addiction. briefed the audience about the statistics involving tobacco induced deaths due to cancer and role of the govt in bringing out policies to prevent those deaths. People usually tell a beautiful girl “ main tumhare liye apni jaan bhee de doonga” and now we have three beautiful girls sitting here and when they are telling you to quit smoking, why can’t you? The show was managed by Lt Gen Hon Paramjit Singh, president, IDA. Dr. Ashok Dhoble, the Secretary general, IDA and the Maharashtra and Mumbai IDA office bearers.

Sonam Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Karan Johar, Neelam Kothari, Anushka Manchanda, Anaida, Rocky S, Shonal Rawat, Prashant Raj, Narayani Shastri, Nisha Harale, Sucheta Sharma, Zoya Akhtar, Shruthi Seth, Apoorva Agnihotri, Shilpa Saklani, Aarti and Kailash Surendranath, Aanchal Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh at Loreal Paris brunch in Olive on 10th May 2009.

When asked about this surprising omission Amrita laughs away the query. “You’ll have to ask them why I wasn’t part of it.”

Amrita, it would seem, has antagonized the Johar-Chopra’s by refusing to do Bachna Ae Haseenon. She a was offered the role that Minissha Lamba finally did.

Says Amrita, “I won’t say I’m tired of playing the sweet girl nextdoor who looks at life each day with wide-eyed wonder. But I do crave for a change of image. In my next release Short Cut I play a very glamorous girl. For the first time I’m being dressed up by Manish Malhotra. That does say something about the characters I’ve played so far. So yes I declined Bachna Ae Haeseenon . I couldn’t relate to the character.”

No one says no to a Yash Chopra presentation. Amrita’s behaviour was secretly described as “high-handed” and “reckless”.

And now she was refused a place among Bollywood’s 30-minus icons in Karan Johar’s voting-awareness film although everyone from Kareena Kapoor to Ritesh Deshmukh featured in it.

Not that Amrita was brooding over being left out. On Thursday Amrita Rao voted for the first time. So excited was she by the prospect of casting her vote that she reached the polling booth even before the gates had opened.
“At 7 am I was the first voter at the booth in the municipal school in Mahim.I feel so proud of being able to vote for the first time. I keep looking at the black mark on my finger proudly. For years I envied that tell-tale mark on my parents’ finger.”

Amrita’s chosen candidate had to fulfil three prerequisites. “He had to be well-educated, young though not inexperienced, and without a criminal background.”

Interestingly she says she attained a voting consciousness from a electorally-galvanizing website jaagore.com.

Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhadhuri, Sonam Kapoor, Hema Malini, Esha Deol, Sunny Deol, Poonam Sinha, Amrita Rao, Sonakshi Sinha, Anju Mahendroo, Rakesh Roshan, Pooja Bedi, Kunal Kapoor, Govinda, Anupam Kher, Kiron Kher, Shakti Kapoor, Raza Murad, Padmini Kolhapure, Ranjeet, Sanjay Khan, Javed Akhtar, Suresh Oberoi goes to vote on 30th April 2009.

Amrita Rao, Urvashi Sharma, Sucheta Sharma, Harrison at Amara store in Kemps Corner on 29th April 2009. Swapnil Shinde, Pratima Gaurv and Divya Anand showcases their Summer colelctions at Amara store.

Amrita Rao on Thursday April 23rd evening launched Titan Raga’s ‘Chocolat’ range of watches Titan’s Design Studio in CST, Mumbai. While unveiling the collection, Amrita Rao, said, “I am truly impressed with the inspiration and refined styling of these watches. I love any form of chocolates and these watches truly pay a tribute to the sensuality of chocolate. I think every watch in this new collection from Titan Raga is beautiful.”

Titan today announced the launch of Raga Chocolat! Collection. Styled in contemporary fashion, this collection is inspired by Chocolate. Bollywood actor Amrita Rao unveiled the collection in the presence of Ms. Shyamala Ramanan, Marketing Manager, Titan.

Various forms of Chocolate, the molten brown chocolate to Solid browns and whites, inspire the watches in this collection. True to the inspiration – the watches sport Chocolate brown finishes on metal, dials & straps. Perfect for a chocolate lover, the Raga Chocolat! collection is sure to lure you into addiction and those around you, into a chocolate reverie.

Every watch from Raga Chocolat! collection truly represents beauty, femininity and sensuality. This collection is a reiteration of Raga’s promise to be an intimate companion to every Indian woman.

Present at the launch, Ms. Shyamala Ramanan, Marketing Manager, Titan, commented, “Titan Raga is for women who believes in being graceful, beautiful and wants the world around notice her. This new collection of beautiful watches inspired from chocolate will surely express the desire of every woman”.

She further added, “Every collection from Titan enables our customers to connect with their deep-rooted yearnings of self-expression, encouraging them to Be More in their lives. The Raga Chocolat! collection is a beautiful illustration of this theme.”

Unveiling the collection, Amrita Rao, Bollywood actor said, “I am truly impressed with the inspiration and refined styling of these watches. I love any form of chocolates and these watches truly pay a tribute to the sensuality of chocolate. I think every watch in this new collection from Titan Raga is beautiful.”

The award winning Titan Design Studio has designed this stunning collection of 7 unique designs that remind you of all forms of chocolates Рright from the drops of glistening brown chocolate to rich dark temptation to blocks of wholesome richness of butter and milk. With names like Choco Lure, Sinful Bliss, Chocolate Fondue, Passion Souffl̩, Wicked Brownie, Choco-whirls and Choco-Block, these watches sound as delicious as they look.

Affordably priced between Rs.1,995 /- to Rs.9,000 /-, the Raga Chocolat collection is available at all World of Titan showrooms, leading multi-brand outlets and departmental stores across the country.

She is known to be a party regular at the Mannat, Shah Rukh Khan’s residence.

She was romantically linked to Kevin Otter, Ashmit Patel, Dino Moreo and Upen Patel.

She also dated the British-Pakistani cricketer Usman Afzaal.

Amrita Arora had her Christian wedding ceremony with boyfriend Muslim Shakeel

Ladak on March 4, 2009. The wedding took place on Friday, March 6.

She made her debut opposite Fardeen Khan with the film Kitne Door Kitne Paas which was not successful at the box office

Her first successful movie was Awara Paagal Deewana.

A series of flop followed, among them the controversial Girlfriend (2004) opposite Isha Koppikar, a movie about a lesbian relationship.

In 2007, Red -The Dark Side released starring Aftab Sivdastani, Celina Jaitley and Amrita Arora. There was a controversy over the twenty-seven minute sex scene.

She started her career as a model and then appeared in music videos.

She featured in ads for Ponds, Elle 18, After Smoke, Sunsilk fruitiness etc.

She is now most famous for hosting MTV House full and Mtv Chillout on Mtv India.

Her good looks and light skin were popular for casting directors looking for the next new face to promote in the commercial cinema of boy meet girl

She is very close friends with actress Kareena Kapoor.

Most remembered for: Being Kareena Kapoor’s best friend, Malaika Arora khan’s sister, her ever changing boyfriend and her boldness.

Famous pairing: With Isha Koppikar in Girlfriend

Amrita Arora, started her career as an MTV VJ and is now regarded as a sex symbol

She got a Dulux paints ad and a role in Golmaal returns because of Kareena Kapoor’s influence.

She is a regular at Page 3 events.

Bringing the transformation in her styling is none other than designer guru, Manish Malhotra. Manish has been giving such kind of makeovers to almost all the heroines of the industry, starting with Urmila Matondkar in Rangeela, Karisma Kapoor on Raja Hindustani to name a few. Likewise, Amrita will flaunt her abs and legs in skimpy clothes for Shortkut.

States Amrita in this regards, “Till now most of my characters in the films that have done have been conservative and that is why I have had to dress the part. In Vivaah, the character was so traditional that the attire had to support her beliefs. But Shortkut is a different film and I am wearing clothes accordingly. And all I can say that Manish has done a fabulous job and I feel I am looking great.”

Shortkut was earlier scheduled for a March release but the Indian Premiere League’s earlier schedule postponed it ahead. The film now may release in end of May.

Amrita Rao, Farah Khan at Deepak Rao’s book launch on 6th Feb 2009.

Saif-Kareena, Tushar, Amisha, Fardeen, Mallaika, Amrita Arora, Amrita Rao, Prachi Desai, Sameera Reddy, Karan Johar, Sheetal Mafatlal, Sohail Khan, Neha Dhupia, Aarti Chabbria, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Sanjay Gupta, Anita Hassanandani, Abhishek Kapoor, Rohit Shetty, Rohit Roy, Manasi Joshi Roy, Arshad Warsi, Maria Goretti, Ekta Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Jeetendra, Manish Malhotra and many more A lister celebrities were present at at Tusshar Kapoor’s success bash in Juhu on 6th Feb 2009.

Sometime back he played the perfect escort to his ‘Victory’ co-star at a promotional event at a jewellery shop. The two were at a jewellery showroom and there were many fans waiting for them outside the shop to get autographs. Harman suddenly got too protective, caught hold of Amrita’s hand and led her away from the crowd.

He had said blatantly, “Where’s Amrita? I need to escort her; otherwise she will get crammed with people.” Now this definitely is a sort of public display of affection. Amrita might look like a sweet angel but she was also blamed for the break-up of Shahid Kapoor and Kareena in the past which she had strongly denied.

Or is there a naughty side to Amrita which we don’t really know of?

But Harman continues to show his affection for Amrita in public. So what on earth is that supposed to mean?

Sometime back he played the perfect escort to his ‘Victory’ co-star at a promotional event at a jewellery shop. The two were at a jewellery showroom and there were many fans waiting for them outside the shop to get autographs.

Harman suddenly got too protective, caught hold of Amrita’s hand and led her away from the crowd.

He had said blatantly, “Where’s Amrita? I need to escort her; otherwise she will get crammed with people.”

Now this definitely is a sort of public display of affection.

Amrita might look like a sweet angel but she was also blamed for the break-up of Shahid Kapoor and Kareena in the past which she had strongly denied.

Or is there a naughty side to Amrita which we don’t really know of?

Now she’s getting ready for the big one-Chadraprakash Dwivedi’s upcoming period film ‘The Legend Of Kunala’.

In October it was reported that Jaya Bachchan was impressed by Amrita’s docile image and recommended her name.

The film will be produced by the revived production company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) which after major losses many years ago wants to start the year with a blockbuster.

Amitabh Bachchan is set to play the role of Emperor Ashoka. Arjun Rampal will in all probability play the role of King Kunala. And Tabu will be seen as the Emperor’s wife.

It was reported that Tabu’s character is very strong and suffers from sexual deprivation. And there’s a lot of sexual tension between her and her step son Kunala.

That way Amrita’s role of princess Kanchanmala, the wife of Kunala is very important. According to Dwivedi, he wanted an actress who could stand up to Tabu and Amrita being a good actress fitted the bill perfectly.

As the story centers on Arjun Rampal’s character, Amrita who will play his wife is expected to have a good share of screen time. It’s rare for actresses to grab a good role in a period film which has a bunch of acclaimed actors. This seems like a unique opportunity for Amrita.

The actress thinks that the role of a pure and calm girl will prove to be a turning point in her career. She seems to be fully confident about the film doing well and the high hopes seem natural.

Amrita is preparing for the role and is going through ancient history books about the rule of Emperor Ashoka and the life at that time.

Well after the homework and preparations of that kind, she’s likely to stand out in the crowd yet again.