It's been almost a year since Salman’s last outing Chori chori chupke chupke, a reasonably enjoyable and involving film. Its almost been five years since Pankaj Parashar made a film and the lay off has not done him much good because Tumko na bhool payenge hum is a dud of a film. Vir (Salman Khan) is the son of Thakur Pratap Singh (Sharat Saxena). He goes around with bulging muscles, heaving chest and a mouse-like expression on his face. Vir has problems but these are not in the form of his lady love, Muskaan (Diya Mirza), an insipid and vacuous dame who seems to have won his heart. The problem lies in the fact that he keeps “hallucinating” about scenes which he cannot connect to his present life. Sounds vaguely intriguing and if we could hve edited 60 of the first 75 minutes of the film, it may possibly have been more palatable fare. Sadly, that is not the case and we are dragged through the first hour until at Vir and Muskaan’s engagement party, (Salman in dhoti, achkan and boots!) Vir is myseteriously attacked by four thugs trying to kill him.

Out stumbles the secret. Vir is not in fact the son of Thakur Pratap Singh but was found floating in the river by the Thakur when he went to flow their son’s ashes in the sea. A sign from gods, he lay unconscious for eight months and on wakening, uttered the saintly word of “ma” which won over this childless couple to the extent that having lost their son to the evils of war, they felt they had now been gifted again with another son. The whole village went along with this lie which is why Vir was never able to understand who he was or ever got a straight answer from anyone. Not that he did not have his suspicions especially in the highly charged shirt ripping scene when Vir examines the five bullet wounds in his perfect torso.

So Vir now sets out to find out about his past which he realises was a violent one. When he arrives in Mumbai, he is shot at and people who recognise him, shudder. Was he a villian, was he cop? Slowly, the story begins to unravel until the film plods to a deathly and bloody conclusion.

Oh dear, oh dear, what an utter waste of a potentially good theme and that too in the hands of Pankaj Parashar. The maker of Chaalbaaz and Jalwa, this one has lots of style but is low on drama and content. Parashar elongates the first half with the risible Diya and the pathetically inane Salman boring everyone to tears before the film starts to take off...yet, it never does quite take off. The second half is marginally more interesting, which is not saying much, perhaps because the action becomes a little pacier and also because we have Sushmita Sen enter the fray. Still, it resorts to the same old cliches and takes the usual beaten track to conclude the film.

This is one of Salman’s worst efforts. He was good in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke but in this, he is wooden and uninteresting to watch. Diya Mirza is dreadful..speaks awfully, looks pretty but has no screen presence at all. She needs to work much harder if she is going to get anywhere which at the present rate of progress, is going to be a very long haul. Sushmita Sen in a short role, leaves a mark and shows what a huge difference there is between the two female stars.

The music is pretty dire, not a single song really leaving a lasting impression. This one should be avoided at all costs.