I am a sucker for sob stories and I have cried in almost every Karan Johar film or production be it Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G, KANK, Kurbaan, and even Wake Up Sid! There were certain scenes in We Are Family (WAF) where I felt like crying but the tears just did not flow. I looked around me and barring one person, nobody was crying.

Thank God that WAF is an official remake of Stepmom. Photographer Aman (Arjun) is divorced from supermom Maya (Kajol). They have three children: Alia (Anchal Munjal), Ankush (Nominath Ginsburg), and Anjali (Diya Sonecha). Predictably, Alia is a difficult and confused teenager, Ankush is a geek, and Anjali is an adorable doll who believes in fairies and magic. Aman is dating fashion designer Shreya Arora (Kareena) and introduces her to his family. That is when things start going wrong. Maya envies her and the children feel that they should feel only hatred from her. Then they all have to live together because Maya has terminal cancer and she decides to train Shreya to become a good mother.

WAF is not a bad film but it is not a particularly good or memorable film. It does not offer Kajol or Kareena “roles of a lifetime”. The situation of a former wife training the new girlfriend to become a mother is hardly identifiable to Indian audiences. To add glamour, the film is set in Australia but there is n o purpose in that. Barring the title song, the beauty of the place is not exploited. The first half is pleasant, drawing a few laughs here and there. The second half is a melodramatic bore. The gloom of Maya’s impending death looms over every frame and you try to figure out when she will say her last goodbye. Also, situations change rapidly from one scene to the next. Maya hates Shreya one minute then Shreya patches up with the children and Maya decides that she would make a fitting mother to them when she is gone. It is as if the director suddenly realized that he had to wrap up the film and filled up the scenes. Some dialogues are direct translations from Stepmom such as: ‘I have their past, you have their future’. You can predict the rest of them. There are minor changes in the Indian adaptation of stepmom. Kareena is a fashion designer whereas Julia was a photographer, in Stepmom the son believed in magic and here the youngest daughter does, there they dance to Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and here they paint each other’s faces and play with the water hose. And yes, it is more dramatic since it is an Indian film. Since it is a Karan Johar film, everybody looks perfect. Even the doctor has straightened hair and wears heels in the hospital. Plus, there are segregations: a woman can only be a “career type” or a “mom type” which is quite unfair because there are working moms.

The music is lacklustre and the remake of Jailhouse Rock must have Elvis Presley rolling in his grave. The lyrics are terrible. Didn’t the word ‘wordings’ die out with the Eighties? The theme song that plays towards the end is straight out of a Hollywood family movie such as Home Alone(directed by Stepmom director Chris Columbus). The wedding scene in the end is very forced, laughable, and reminiscent of television serials. Kareena looks the same but Arjun has grown a beard. The children are not cute anymore.

Kajol is effortless and natural in the film, as expected and throws herself into the role. She goes from happy to envious to sad and resigned. Her make-up is appropraite too and she looks slim. Kareena matches up to Kajol in every frame. The gorgeous girl portrays her immensely likable and child-like, happy-go-lucky character with maturity and lights up the screen. You wonder how can anyone not like her or her character. The scenes between her and Kajol are the highlight of the film. watch out for the hospital one towards the end. Arjun Rampal looks gorgeous and is the strong, mature, and silent type. In the second half, he has a very resigned look on his face. There are certain scenes where you do not see his face but only hear his deep voice. That seems odd and did they do it because his expressions were not right?

Among the children, Diya Sonecha is an absolutely adorable doll and you wonder how she remembers her lines. Nominath plays the geeky boy easily and he hardly has any lines. Aanchal’s Alia is mostly annoying and you hate for being difficult and disliking Shreya. She is dumb too, worshipping Hannah Montana, googling “cervical cancer”, and attending a beer-and-boys party to look cool!

WAF lacks the soul of Stepmom so it would be better for you to watch the original. However, if you love saas-bahu sagas and think you can stomach an old-fashioned melodramatic family movie after aeons and are excited about watching Kajol and Kareena on screen, only then go for this one.