It's director Raj Kanwar's turn to go softy this time. The maker of quintessential Bolly masala, known for his loud melodramas (Jaan, Itihaas, Judai) and bloody action fare (Jeet, Daag - The Fire, Badal) takes a leaf from the brat pack directors of mush for his new film. And in true Aditya Chopra / Karan Johar style, Kanwar moulds a very trendy, teenybopper love story in Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega.

Of course, Kanwar's film is liberally 'inspired' by the Hollywood hit, While You Were Sleeping, but when the name of the game is scoring points at the box office, does such a detail matter?

So you have the happy-go-lucky Raj (Salman Khan), with melody in his voice and stars in his eyes, who wants to be a pop star someday. His dreams land him on the Mumbai shores but once there, Raj finds the going tough. He is about to leave Mumbai and head for home, when he saves the life of Pooja (Rani Mukherjee), in an accident. Even as the girl goes into a coma after the mishap, her affluent family mistakes Raj to be Pooja's boyfriend, Romy. Raj realizes that he could use this misunderstanding to further his music career, and decides to play along. For a while, life is indeed a cruise.

Till he meets Jahnvi (Preity Zinta), Pooja's best friend, and is smitten by her at first sight. It's a Catch-22 situation for Raj now: he wants to tell Jahnvi who he really is, but cannot reveal his true identity for the sake of his dreams.

To give the devil his due, Kanwar does justice to his pilfered plot. Although the director sticks pretty close to the Hollywood original narrative-wise, his treatment is frothy in the romantic first half and sensibly balanced in the mushy second. Perhaps a bit of the low comedy, courtesy Shakti Kapoor, was not needed in the film — take it with a pinch of salt.

Salman Khan will always remain Salman Khan, no matter what the script is. You have seen this indomitably unapologetic and jumpy charmer, ready to take off his shirt at the slightest pretext, so many times in so many films before. Yet Bollywood's Pocket Hercules somehow manages to pull off the show every time, in his own wild fashion. In HDJPK, Salman's act is nothing new from his own preset norm. But then seriously, do you expect Salman Khan to do anything besides being himself in film after film?

Preity Zinta looks perfect as the zestful Jahnvi, pumping in a load of life into the protagonist and, indeed, the film. For the pretty Preity, this film looks like an ideal follow-up of her Kya Kehna! success earlier this year.

One question, though. Why did Rani Mukherjee agree to play such 'dead' role'? As the mishap-hit Pooja, she spends nearly three-fourths of film in coma.

Now, now Rani — that's not funny. At least not for your fans.

VINAYAK CHAKRAVORTY