Starring Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal

Directed by Siddharth Malhotra

Rating: **1/2

Siddharth P. Malhotra’s We Are Family (WAF) as we all know by now is anofficial remake of Chris Columbus’s Stepmom (1998) with the roles ofSusan Sarandon, Julia Roberts and Ed Harris being played by Kajol,Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal respectively.

While the fans of the original might not really like it, those who haven’t seen Stepmom might find it a passable fare.

Aman (Arjun Rampal) is a photographer having a live in relationshipwith Shreya (Kareena), a designer. His divorced wife Maya (Kajol) takescare of their three kids.

WhenAman decides to get married to Shreya, he realizes she needs to getfamiliar to his kids as well. But their first meeting begins on a badnote. The kids hate her and so does Maya. After Maya is diagnosed withcancer, Aman comes back to stay with her.

But soon theyrealize her cancer is in a fatal stage and is going to lead to Maya’sdeath. Worried about her kids’ future without a mother, she decides tomeet Shreya.

Maya convinces Shreya to come home and stay withthem so that she can train her to be the perfect stepmom for her kidsafter she is gone. What it all leads to forms the rest of the film.

The subject of a mother bringing in her would be ‘souten’ and helpingher in becoming the perfect mother for her kids is a novel subject forBollywood. But then again, Siddharth P. Malhotra has managed to make adecent family entertainer that’s replete with some good emotionalmoments and humour.

Thewriting and direction is just perfect in the first half but afterKareena comes and joins the ‘family’ the situations become repetitiveand the pace drops. Some unwanted sequences lead to boredom.

Butthe pre climax sequence between Kajol and each member of her familyredeems back the film to a large extent, kudos to the writer andMalhotra for that. But then again the marriage sequence post it bringsthe graph of the film down.

Afew scenes could have been less cheesy and predictable one hopes. Thescenes between Kajol and her children and the confrontation sequencesbetween Kajol and Kareena have turned out very well. The dialogues byNiranjan Iyengar are inconsistent though.

Kajol delivers an award winning performance. Kareena manages to holdher own despite the powerhouse of talent like Kajol in front of her.

ArjunRampal is passable and doesn’t have much to do. He is absent in mostparts of the film, especially in the 2 nd half. All the three kids –Diya Sonecha, Nominath and Aanchal Munjal have done a wonderful job.Iravati Harshe as Kajol’s daughter gets limited scope.

Shankar Ehsaan and Loy disappoint with their tunes this time. TheJailhouse Rock number rocks more for its picturisation though thantheir efforts in recreating it.

We Are Family could have been a better film had it not been for itsinconsistent writing and being to predictably similar to it’s Hollywoodoriginal. Do give it a try if you haven’t seen Stepmom.