Hari Puttar - Watch the Home Alone series instead!

I called my mom during the interval telling her the movie was a frame-to-frame lift from Home Alone 1 and parts of Home Alone 3 and very boring. She asked me why would a replica of Home Alone be boring? I said that is the magic of direction. Hari Puttar doesn't capture any of the charm, innocence or humour of Home Alone, inspite of having the same dialogues and scenes.

I don't have much to write in the plot section. There are some changes in the so called 'plot' though. Like its based in the UK instead of the US, the family travels by train instead of a plane, the father is elsewhere and two kids , Hari (Zain) and Tuk Tuk (Sweeni) are left behind. The rest is the same.

The movie was shot quite a while back because Zain Khan has grown up now(he is 16) and he looks like a pre-teen in the movie. He isn't Macaulay Culkin but he is pretty endearing and cute; not annoying like most kid actors. Sweeni Khara has only a couple of scenes but she is so very adorable. Sarika looks very pretty and her long tresses are gorgeous. This flick is a sheer waste of talented actors like Sarika, Lilette Dubey, Vijay Raaz and Saurabh Shukla. Why did they do this movie? Maybe for a free getaway to the UK. LOL!

There is nothing original about this movie. The title is a lift from Harry Potter, the story is borrowed from (what about film rights?) Home Alone 1 and 3,the animation part is reminiscent of Hum Tum and one character sounds like 'Robert' from Hindi films of the 70s and his eye has been carved like Daniel Day Lewis' character Bill The Butcher in Gangs of New York. And why would one want to make Home Alone after the entire world has seen it several times over? How can I forget mentioning that the villains have used really colourful language (beeped out) in this kiddie flick and why the useless item number and jarring background score? Makes no sense to me.

If your kid is 5 years old or younger and doesn't understand English,he might like this movie while you will suffer from a very bad headache. Watching the Hindi version of Home Alone on Star Plus is a better, more entertaining and economical idea.

Janhvi Patel, Hill Road Media