Film: “Perfect Mismatch”; Cast: Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Anubhav Anand, Nandana Sen; Director: Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad; Rating: *1/2

“Perfect Mismatch” ought to be called one of the most misguiding film titles in a long time. The entire plotline seems like a big scam. That is because the entire conflict angle, that of the parents/guardians of a boy and a girl not being overtly fond of each other, is conveniently forgotten after a point in time in the film.

So we have Anubhav and Nandana crossing paths with each other on number of instances (”Serendipity” anyone?) and then conveniently (and expectedly) falling in love. So far so very okay. They make their parents meet and voila — the film’s title is finally justified.

Anubhav’s uncle (Anupam Kher) is a quintessential Punjabi who is straight out of the “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge” sets while Nandana’s Gujarati dad (Boman Irani) isn’t quite an Amrish Puri here. Perfect mismatch, right?

With all characters out in the open, there is this really hilarious dinner sequence that (thankfully) sets the stage for the film to ‘actually’ begin! Right from Anupam’s back slapping body language to Boman’s fixation for shoes being removed at the entrance door to their conflicting views on booze and ‘being pals’ — everything is brought out quite well on the screen by the director. After all, Anupam and Boman are just the ‘perfect mismatch’ that the love birds could have bargained for.

However, the film goes into an altogether different territory soon after and what you get to see has nothing to do with the parental conflict at all. So we have Anubhav working really hard on his big project after being fired, Nandana just going through ‘I am sorry and I would be there for you in spite of all your troubles’ and Anupam working hard to pay off some loans that trouble him so much that he even works on Sundays.

That is not all. There is some twist to the tale as well, something that is completely unrelated to the basic plotline of “Perfect Mismatch”. A chapter from the past unfolds and Anubhav bonds further with Anupam. During this entire misunderstanding, the big presentation and the bonding game, Nandana is completely forgotten and so is Boman.

So what happens to the basic plotline on which the film was sold? Well, that was never even remembered to begin with, let alone being ignored.

Also, the entire US setting of the film seems to be just a ploy to make “Perfect Mismatch” an English language film.

Thankfully, the American base to the film doesn’t get compromised by poor dialogue delivery. Anubhav and Nandana do get it right from the accent and vocabulary perspective while Anupam is yet again completely natural. The set design for his house too has an authentic touch to it that helps the film since it has been mainly shot indoors.

Overall, the film fails, though mainly because first and foremost the storyline defeats the title and secondly, the narrative is laid back and never actually comes to the point to get audiences involved enough. Miss the film and you wouldn’t have missed anything.