From the house of Devgun comes a lavish extravaganza with gargantuan expectations to live up to. There has been so much written about Raju Chacha, from its hugely expensive budget, to the fact that is was supposedly based on "the sound of music" and that it was a "different " film as seen through the eyes of the children in the film.

At the outset, I must say that I have a great deal of respect for Ajay Devgun. He is a committed actor, intent on trying to experiment and has obviously, as producer, put his heart and soul in the film. Sadly, there is no heart and soul but certainly loads of money that has been pumped into this effort. The film revolves around a widower (Rishi Kapoor) and his three very unruly children. No nanny can put up with them and as a last resort, to stave off going to boarding school, Rishi engages a governess for them. He is reminded by a servant that he should not be so harsh on his children otherwise they may become like Raju, his younger brother who fled his ire at the age of 12 and was never seen again.

The governess, Anna (Kajol) lives in an orphanage run by nuns and comes to tend to the children. That is the sound of music connection apart from some strange Austrian like clothing for Kajol on occasion! On her way to the family, she meets Shekhar(Ajay Devgun), a conman who appears to fall for her but she does not pay heed to his attentions. We then get the usual kids playing tricks on the governess syndrome with great special effects and the like in what is probably considered to be a spectacular sequence but which I found utterly puerile and unfunny. In fact, the child who went with me found it frightening and not funny in the least. After the usual fun and games, the children settle down to adoring their governess. Shekhar arrives at the house and starts to woo Anna. Anna thaws eventually but just as they are about to get married, he is revealed as a thief and conman by Rishi and Anna's heart is broken.

In and out of the scene are the two villainous mamas and one of their sons who are after Rishi's wealth (tut tut, no surprises for guessing that). Also, they are behind a dam that broke and caused the death of many villagers. The man who has discovered that it was because of their negligence is done away with by the triumvirate but not before the fax is transmitted to Rishi. This however remains a red herring as that fax plays no further role in the film. So one fine day, father and children are on their way to collect the heartbroken Anna when the villainous three strike and the car ends up perched on a tree on the edge of the cliff. One by one, the kids are saved and sent to safety by their father but just as he is about to jump to safety, he remembers the dog which is also trapped in the-now-about-to-crash-into-the-valley-car. He valiantly saves the dog, but ends up hanging on the branch of a tree with the valley below. After what seemed like a painfully long time, the branch breaks and father dearest plunges to his death, much to my relief as it was now intermission.

Enter the villainous mamas who take over the house and reduce the children to servants, treating them appallingly. I say this because I found it extremely distasteful to depict such behaviour with children, being beaten, slapped, being forced to drink alcohol etc etc. This was meant to be a children's film and surely, there could be so many other ways of showing maltreatment than in the manner shown. In walks Shekhar, now posing as Raju Chacha, the long lost brother who has come to claim his brother's wealth. Of course, he is actually here to save the children or is he?

As much as I would have liked to have said that the Devguns had succeeded in giving us a wholesome and entertaining film, I can only say that this is a colossal waste of time and money. On paper, this may have looked like a good idea, a fable woven around children. It may have worked in the hands of a more capable director but unfortunately, in the hands of Anil Devgun, the film is grandeur personified without the humour, the charm or emotion needed to sustain what in essence was supposed to be a kids film. It soldiers on and on and springs absolutely no surprises at all. We all know that Shekhar is a good man and its just so very tedious having to see Anna misunderstand him time and time again. There is nothing different in the Pulpy villains either…Don't they know that the audience is too used to all of this and its simply boring? And if the makers think that copying from films like home alone will give it novelty value, it doesn't.

Ajay Devgun essays the title role effectively if without any great impression being made. Kajol does not have much to inject into the character of Anna and had it not been a home production, one wonders if she would have accepted this role. Her character loses importance after intermission and this is not a film that Kajol fans will be excited with. Rishi Kapoor is his usual self which is a compliment to him. There is nothing that one can say about the three children. They all failed to make any kind of impression. No kids like Masoom, hum hain rahi pyar ke or even Kuch kuch hota hai here. They all had character, you remembered them well after seeing the film. You wont remember any of these.

The music is also extremely poor. Except for the shaan solo which passes muster, the songs are bad especially the bachcha and story songs. This must mark a new all time low for jatin lalit to score such awful music for such a big film. And why such extensive use of Amit Kumar who really does not sound very good on any of the songs. It is well shot and obviously, a hideous amount of money has been spent on it…but what was the need. The principal set of the house is unbelievably OTT and reputedly cost 5 crore to build. As I said, colossal waste of money. I went with a five year old who guffawed loudly once in the film. For a three hour film, that is a very heavy price to pay for one laugh. Don't take your kids, they wont thank you for it.