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After the debacle of the futuristic mega-spectacle Love Story 2050, Harry Baweja has resurfaced to make a comedy with son Harman called James & Bond, but it may not be that easy to get the title so closely linked to the '007' franchise.

"Yes, dad and I are doing a comedy together. But we may not call it James & Bond at all. Actually, some sections of the media found out that we had registered that title James & Bond. A lot of media stories about big banners launching films that you see come out from title registration only," Harman said.

James & Bond may not go down well with the celluloid fans of Ian Fleming. There are strong copyright-protection acts protecting all globally acknowledged brand names in the entertainment business.

"We just registered the title. Doesn't mean we're making a film of that title. It was just a thought. A section of the media even made up the script for us and which parts of the world we'd shoot it in. It's ridiculous," he added.

David Dhawan, similarly, wanted to title his sequel to Partner as Tom & Jerry. He quickly changed his mind when not-so-discreet inquiries about the title were made from sources in the US.

Harman says he wasn't hiding after the debacle of "Love Story 2050".

"Far from it. I've just been working day and night," said the actor who is busy shooting Anees Bazmi's It's My Life. "In the last five weeks I've visited five different places. I've been to Sri Lanka, Jaipur, South Africa, Delhi and Bangalore. Now I leave to shoot in Greece."

The newcomer has such a choc-a-bloc schedule that he doesn't have time for anything else.

"I've no time to socialise or to make my presence felt in the so-called right places. Finally, it's not your networking but your work that decides your career. It's very important for my next two films to work. My next two films It's My Life and Victory have turned out well. Anyone who has seen these films has only good things to say about these films."

Harman starts shooting for Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Raashee with girlfriend Priyanka Chopra in November.

Stories about a split with Priyanka amuse Harman.

"What can I say? I never said we were a couple before. So why should I react when people are splitting us."

But friends swear Harman and Priyanka are very much together. "In fact, both of them are so busy and yet they try to meet up at least once every day," a mutual friend said.

About Love Story 2050 Harman said: "It worked for me. Finally, whether the film works or not is proved by the work you get. I'm happy with the work I'm doing. I signed Ashutosh sir's and Sanjay sir's (Leela Bhansali) films after 'Love Story 2050'. And I'm on the verge of signing another film. I'm very cautious about what I'm doing. I can't afford to slip up."

Cast: Harman Baweja, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani

Director: Harry Baweja

There is no easy way to put this so I'm just going to come out and say it — Love Story 2050 is a film so preposterous, it makes you want to round up the people associated with it and flog them publicly till they apologise for wasting your time and for burning up good money making this trash.

The movie kicks off in present day Adeleide where Karan (Harman Baweja) falls head over heels in love with Sanaa (Priyanka Chopra) the moment he sees her chasing butterflies in a park. An hour of childish wooing and many songs later she returns the sentiment, but is killed by a speeding truck when she's crossing the road with an ice cream. Such a scream!

Unable to put up with his whining, Karan's maama, mad scientist Uncle Ya (Boman Irani) cranks up his time machine and takes off with Karan for a trip into the future. For some strange reason that I can't be bothered to explain, they're convinced Sanaa is alive and well in Mumbai 2050.

Once there in the land of flying cars, virtual maids and robot sidekicks, Karan tracks down Zeisha, an international pop star, who's a dead ringer for his dead girlfriend. Showing up everywhere she's scheduled to be — from her mid-air pop concert and a meet-and-greet fan event to her ridiculous Xbox gaming session — Karan stalks Zeisha like an obsessed teenager and doesn't give up till he convinces her she's his sweetheart from another time zone, and takes her back to present day.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, there's also a Darth Vader-like villain (complete with black cape, silly mask and heavy breathing voice) who's got his eyes on the mad scientist's time machine, and won't give up till he's chased our protagonists through this special effects-heavy futuristic city.

Sitting in the cinema watching Love Story 2050, you realise you're watching something historic — a film that for years to come will be the punch line of jokes about bad movies. A film people will use as a benchmark to compare other bad movies. After all, it's that rare breed of film that gets almost nothing right — starting from a script that's part-predictable-part-gobbledygook, direction that is surprisingly conspicuous by its absence, and acting that is so amateurish you want to admit them all into Kishore Namit Kapoor classes.

The special effects aren't half bad, to be honest, but director Harry Baweja is so clearly out of his depth in the sci-fi department that he manages to misuse even those. Unable to integrate them intelligently into the script, I can literally see him in front of the computer screaming, "More, I want more" to his effects guys, making sure his every frame is littered with effects even if they seem to make little sense in the context of the story.

Love Story 2050 is a love-story after all, and an insipid, passionless one at that. The leads share no chemistry whatsoever, and their innumerable love songs only slacken the pace of this film, which hobbles along punishing, clocking in at three monstrously long hours.

Boman Irani hams it up as the mad scientist maama, and Priyanka Chopra pouts and preens and flutters her eyelashes, she's earnest too but fails to inspire either affection or sympathy. The crippling blow, however, comes in the form of the film's hero, newcomer Harman Baweja who is so busy trying to look, sound, dance and fight like Hrithik Roshan that we get no glimpse at all of Harman himself.

I'm tempted to use that inevitable line — the robots in the film perform better than the actors — but no, that's not true. I believe they're merchandising scale versions of Boo and Q2, the film's two robotic characters and I'm considering buying them just so I can smash them into pieces for being the most annoying sidekicks on screen since Jar Jar Binks.

If there's one thing the film succeeds in doing, it's in uniting the audience in their relief as they step out of the cinema. Coming out of the film you feel like prisoners of war who've finally been let out of concentration camp.

For the halfway decent special effects and the sheer courage to embark on this impossible moviemaking mission, I'll go with one out of five for director Harry Baweja's Love Story 2050, go in with no expectations at all and you'll still come out disappointed.

Rating: 1 / 5 (Poor)

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