Creative Quotient
The first film that Sanjay Dutt shot for after his first incarceration was Afzal Khan’s Mehbooba. The film is that old and the dated storyline is self-explanatory. There is a heavy hangover of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam with a Dholi taaro - esque number(of course, the music is by Ismail Darbar), a huge Rajasthani haveli and the second half of the film is shot in Budapest against the famous bridge! The story is about a New York-based rich Casanova Shravan (Sanjay Dutt), whose advances are spurned by one of his employees -Varsha (Manisha), a woman of substance who ends up slapping him in a party. Shravan’s never taken a “no” from a girl, so he apologises to this rare woman and woos her in all sincerity and finally she relents only to find that he was avenging his “public insult”. He slaps her tight and tells her that “Har aurat bikti hai sirf uski keemat alag hoti hai!!!” The broken-hearted Varsha now migrates to Budapest to be wooed by a thoroughly romantic painter Karan (Ajay), He calls her woman of his dreams and his muse. Varsha now known as Payal reveals that “Ek shaitan ne mera sub kuch loot liya hai”, Karan assures her with moistened eyes that now he worships her. Finally the two get back home to a sprawling haveli in Rajasthan, to be welcomed back with fanfare - hundreds of colourful dancers, showers of roses and marigold petals and aartis and uncles (Asrani), aunts (Bindu) and servants (Himani Shivpuri, Annu Kapoor) and songs, Payal finds on the day of her engagement that Karan’s older brother whom she dates on is none other than Shravan! Ah, suffice to say that the action-packed jeep, car and a train collision makes the finale of this misadventure.

Technical Expertise
Lavishly-mounted, the film boasts of Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s sets, Ashok Mehta’s cinematography, action by Bhiku Verma and Ismail Darbar’s music. But none of these techno whizs are able to rescue the fate of this unending saga. It needs sharp editing with several songs snipped. Sanjay, Ajay and Manisha also ham and play into the hands of their inept director. A sad waste of resources.