By Martin D’Souza, Bollywood Trade News Network

It has poignant moments, funny moments. It also has dramatic moments and love-dovey scenes. And yes, it’s also packed with hilarious moments which have you in splits. Welcome aboard HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT LTD, a bus ride that will leave you walking out of the theatre with a smile on your face. Three weeks in a row, the audiences have been pampered with good cinema. BLACK FRIDAY, followed by EKLAVYA – THE ROYAL GUARD, and now Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s film directed by Reema Kagti. It’s raining hits at the box-office!

The movie is about six married couples on a package honeymoon to Goa. Each couple is given their fare share of time for the audience to understand their love story and the best part is that the film clocks exactly 120 minutes. Kudos to the director for leaving no loopholes as far as groping for identification of characters is concerned. Just a month ago SALAAM-E-ISHQ was released, again portraying six couples and inspite of the film clocking a good three-and-a-half hours most characters were sketchy at best. Sohail Khan and Ishaa Koppikar will vouch for that.

The film opens with Dia Mirza (Shilpa) crying as she boards the bus. Ranvir Sheorey (Hitesh) her husband assures her parents that she will return with a smile on her face. Mid-way there’s a twist in their love story…

Kay Kay Menon (Partho Sen) stays in character as the protective husband of Raima Sen (Milly Sen). Both the actors essay the story of their life with a Bengali flavour. There is one flaw though here; the makers could have done well to give English translations of their Bengali dialogues. Partho adapts well to his wife’s need for letting her hair down. At last, after a long time, Raima has some meat in her role and she digs in her teeth with glee. Kay Kay is adorable when he lets his hair down on the dance floor. The switch from conservative to ‘to-hell-with-you’ is amazing. That’s what good actors are all about.

Amisha Patel (Pinky) and Karan Khanna (Vicky) have a good match going but there is something bothering her husband. Amisha, as the wife who loves to talk too much does manage to get on your nerves. Which goes to show that she is playing her part.

Sandhya Mridul (Madhu) takes off from where she left off in Madhur Bhandarkar’s PAGE 3. This bindaas babe who has her heart broken ends up surfing the net for the wrong catch in Vikram Chatwal (Bunty). However, they both agree to stay in the marriage as it’s convenient for them.

Abhay Deol (Aspi) is surprisingly likeable in his Parsi act while his wife Minissha Lamba (Zara) compliments him in every aspect. Their salsa performance to the song Pyaar Ki Yeh Kahani is outstanding. Even as the other couples applaud their dance, you as audience begin your clap of approval. The best part is that they as a couple don’t fight which is the envy of others. Why…. Go find out.

Finally you have Boman Irani (Oscar Fernandez) and Shabhana Azmi (Nahid). Theirs is a complete love story. Boman is hilarious in his portrayal of a katlic (read Catholic). His lingo is rib-tickling. As a distraught father who chances upon his daughter having a field day in Goa with her bunch of friends, Boman is very vulnerable. But the funniest is when he tells his guide in exasperation who keeps pulling his legs saying “there, there, there” pointing to non-existent Dolphins, “Arre Dolphin nahi to ek pomfret to dikhao!”

Want to leave your worries behind, get on board HONYMOON TRAVELS PVT. LTD.

Ratings: 3/5