Kal Ho Naa Ho

Director Nikhil Advani clearly watched plenty of Hollywood romantic comedies before embarking on his debut feature. Yet it also retains a distinctive Bollywood flavour, despite the fact that the action takes place in New York. Widow and restaurateur Jaya Bachchan is beset by business and domestic problems. The arrival of do-gooder Shah Rukh Khan marks a change in the family's fortunes, but he becomes embroiled in a love triangle with her bookish daughter Preity Zinta and womanising student Saif Ali Khan. There are shades of Roxanne as Shah Rukh Khan coaches his rival and Zinta undergoes a Cinderella-like change of image. Tinkering with traditional storytelling tactics, Advani makes an impressive start, but the pace slackens as plot demands take precedence over set pieces.