Subhash Ghai had all ingredients in storyline to make a nice entertaining movie . However he messed up big time .

It's basically a story of Catherine (Antonia Bernath) who was chummy with an Indian boy Kisna (Vivek Oberoi) in colonial India . As Independence was declared , Indian fanatics murdered Catherine's parents . Catherine escaped and Kisna took it upon himself to transport her safely to New Delhi's British embassy .

Things to watch out for :

1. Antonia Bernath : Hers was the only above average performance among the entire cast .

2. Music : Mesmerising . "Chilman Uthegi Nahi" is the best of the lot , albeit a little long . A great Qawwali with Sushmita Sen at her gorgeous best .

Now for my problems with it :

1. Isha Sharvani : She is a marvellous dancer but had little else to do . Her voice was dubbed by an inept dubbing artiste Mona Shetty . Her character acted illogically .

2. Every Ghai movie must have long-drawn speeches about "Indian culture" so as to emotionally blackmail the audience into liking the movie . In this movie this purpose is achieved when Kisna , his friend Vivek Mushran and friend's wife Hrishitaa Bhatt (endearing character) give Catherine a crash course in Hindu culture . Sadly the stratagem backfired .

3. Amrish Puri : Utterly despicable , cardboard character . Ghai was known to give Amrish ji memorable characters like in Hero , Raam Lakhan and Saudagar . What happened here? The glass eye worn by him made him look comical , not menacing .

4. Action scenes : Kisna is a warrior , skilled in swordfighting . Why , then , were the stunts so long-drawn and pretentious? Looked as if the stuntmen were taking turns to be mauled by Kisna in slow motion .

5. Rajat Kapoor : Such a fine actor , here he plays an evil prince Raghuraj who wants to marry Catherine even when he is her father's age . His character was a caricature and such villains don't work in Hindi films anymore . To top it they even gave him an eye patch to wear . Weird .

6. Vivek Oberoi : Poor performance . It seems now that Company's Chandu Nagre happened a long , long time ago .

7. Song picturisations : They were misplaced , and many songs were not played fully , just in bits . Choreography was sub-standard .

8. Unfunny attempts at humour .

9. Kisna and Catherine flee and hide in a .. hold your breath .. a CHURCH - that too amidst a dense jungle . I'd have understood if it were a temple - but a CHURCH ????

Kisna disappoints . A could-have-been .