But can all the love in the world compensate for a slipshod script? Or is it possible to prop up a painfully routine tale atop technical pizazz and soulful music? Unlikely.

Set in a picture-postcard town called Rivalsar in Himachal Pradesh, Kareeb is the story of Birju (Bobby Deol) and Neha (Neha). Birju spots his `goddess of beauty' by the lake and falls, hook, line and sinker. He schemes, cheats and steals to woo her, but with little success. Neha, after giving him the runaround for the longest time, finally agrees to marry him.

But now it's the turn of Birju's miserly father (Saurabh Shukla) to act difficult. He wants his beta to marry some Ms Moneybags. Birju pulls a few tricks again and convinces Babuji that his girl too has rich connections. He presents a briefcase full of money (stolen from his father's tijori) as proof. Funnily,for a man who is so kanjoos, Babuji doesn't bother to count the greenbucks till the wedding night, which is when he finds out what's happening!

All hell breaks loose and Neha's mother (Moushami Chatterjee) has a heart attack. Neha walks out of Birju's life and takes her mother to Shimla for treatment. Birju follows her there and takes up a job at Bhige Lal's (Johnny Lever) laundry, across the road from the hospital. He does everything from washing clothes to cleaning trucks -- a la Maine Pyar Kiya -- to earn money for ma-in-law's treatment. From here, the story gets more and more bizzare, till all's well that ends well.

Of the cast, debutante Neha looks refreshingly different from the processed-look heroines who dominate the silver screen these days. She also manages to lend conviction to the innocent, yet mischievous character she portrays. Bobby Deol too does a decent job, especially in the first half. The pick of the cast, however, are Johnny Lever, who literally holds the latter part of thefilm together, and Saurabh Shukla, who follows up his excellent performance in Satya with another class act. But it is Binod Pradhan's breathtaking, almost heart-stopping cinematography and Anu Malik's melodious score that make Kareeb worth a look. Nothing else.

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Starring: Bobby Deol, Neha, Johnny Lever, Moushami Chatterjee, Saurabh Shukla, Ajay Chopra

Showing at: Liberty