Madhuri Dixit smiles. She winks. She scintillates. And of course, she dances. Many years ago, a certain film called 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' made a billion rupees on her steam. Aaja Nachle may not make that amount of money but Madhuri Dixit still has all that steam.

Aaja Nachle is a very entertaining film. It has a predictable but sufficiently engaging storyline. Diya Shrivastava (Madhuri Dixit) comes from New York to a small Indian town where she grew up. Her mission in hand is to save the theater, where she learned to dance and perform, from being pulled down to construct a shopping mall. Does she and how? That is Aaja Nachle.

What really makes the film work are the character artists. They are all hand-picked good actors. Their roles have been thought over and come out very well on screen. Raghuvir Yadav, Ranvir Sheorey, Vinay Pathak and Divya Dutta shine. Konkona Sen is a great actress and lives up to her reputation. Kunal Kapoor does OK.

Aaja Nachle is a musical the way Indians understand that genre and enjoy it. The film is unabashedly musical. The song lyrics are conversational and the choreography is of all sorts - street celebration, costume extravaganzas, sensual movements and vintage Madhuri Dixit moves. The dance-drama in the climax is very well done.

This is Anil Mehta's directorial debut. He has worked earlier to make Madhuri Dixit look great on screen as an ace cameraman. This time around he has given her a worthy comeback vehicle. Jaideep Sahni has written the screenplay. This seems to be his year. Another good job done after 'Chak De India'.

Aaja Nachle is a film of limited ambition but goes on to meet it. It is a nice weekend treat. Watch it.

P.S : I watched Aaja Nachle at a multiplex near my home today, the first day of its release. Madhuri Dixit appeared in all her glory for the song 'Nachle'. She moved like a divine charm. But guess what - not a single whistle ! I sometimes miss the 'cinema halls'. I missed more not having learned to whistle.

Aaja Nachle - Madhuri's comeback movie could not create the ripples it should have in the movie world. The first thing which was not in tunes were the weak promos and the weakest musical score for a comeback movie like this. If you see the movie, you will find that there are better scenes and dance sequences which should have been used to introduce the film in the market. The story line and the basic plot has a striking resemblance to the theme of a Brazilian Movie called "Xuxa Requebra" which came in 1999. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0228778/) which was also not a well made movie. In the whole movie Madhuri is the only positive thing to see and she keeps on trying to make it happening with all the artists. She still looks ravishing and can carry a whole movie on her own but she was not given the backup of a good script. The next best thing in the movie is Akshay Khanna & Divya Dutta, but they also have their limited scenes. The talented Irfan Khan is just wasted. The viewer never gets convinced or feels entertained while watching the movie. The writing is not upto the mark and almost all the scenes are weakly written which simply fail to impress. The only scene which i liked was the emotional breakdown scene of Divya Dutta and Irfan Khan in the climax. The movie has the weakest start as Madhuri is straight away introduced in the first scene and that also in a song sequence. The climax "Laila-Majnu" concert is well executed but the melody required is not there. The movie has a good feel but you don't get entertained which is a must for a good film. Ratings : 2 Star Rating (with special mention of Madhuri's spirited performance)

Upon release, Anil Mehta's Aaja Nachle, which was widely promoted as Madhuri Dixit's comeback vehicle, failed miserably. I watched it now for the first time, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is such a nice film - colourful, musical, beautiful. This it the story of Diya, a trained dancer who, many years ago ran away from her town with an American man she fell in love with and moved to New York. Now Diya is a professional dancer-choreographer, and a divorcée with one kid. In spite of having promised to never return to India, she hurriedly flies back when learns that her trainer is on his deathbed. She is late, as he has already passed away, but he leaves a message for her as his last wish, to save an old theatre named Ajanta (where she used to dance) from getting ruined and turned into a shopping mall. The story follows Diya's firm decision and later efforts to revive the Ajanta theatre in a town where she is widely infamous. Her plan is to set a new play named "Laila Majnu". The problem is that people in the town dislike her, and only a good response to it can change the theatre's fate.

Aaja Nachle is essentially a musical, nothing very serious, nothing to be taken seriously, and nothing that will provide you with new lessons in life. What it definitely does provide is entertainment, and there it scores. It is not a great movie, but it has a great sense of fun and it flows well. The song numbers are appropriately incorporated into the film, and in this one they are presented mostly as realistic situations in accordance with the story. The film has many subplots, many of which I think were effectively presented, particularly the one involving the character of Mohan Sharma, Diya's past fiancée who was abandoned as she ran away. Several sequences are extremely funny. My favourite is when different girls, most of whom know nothing about dance, audition for Diya's play. Director Anil Mehta is an accomplished cinematographer and he uses his skills to the max in his first directorial effort. Choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant, which is obviously very important, is very well done. The music directors duo Salim-Sulaiman compose a nice soundtrack without which the film would.

Aaja Nachle rests on the able shoulders of the wonderful Madhuri Dixit, who is as charming, natural and charismatic as ever. Clearly, her absence from movies has dimmed absolutely nothing about her, neither her acting prowess nor her ever-so commanding screen presence. Dixit is according to me one of the most beautiful women in the world, and here, her youthful, juvenile beauty is replaced by a more mature and ripe look which is equally appealing. Her eyes speak volumes, her expressions and gestures remain refined and forceful, and her smile... oh this gorgeous smile, it is as amazing and mesmerising as ever. Diya's persona is actually the one that made Dixit the star she is, the star who at some point could give any hero or heroine a run for their money. She is a strong woman who oozes charisma and dares to live life on her terms. The film doesn't give Dixit many opportunities, but she delivers. She is feisty yet gracious, fiery yet elegant, and she is always vivacious and graceful. And what can one say about her dance? Nothing except it is astonishing.

The supporting cast includes many great actors, most of whom are not given that much scope, some of whom getting really small parts, but all are good. Konkona Sen Sharma is awesome. She is simply hilarious as the aggressive, unrefined Anokhi who is madly in love and will do anything to get the man she wants, including dance like an idiot. Towards the end she looks very pretty and it is overall a very good performance. Kunal Kapoor as Imran Pathan is very fine in what can be termed as his own version of the angry young man. Nothing great, but despite playing an overly hostile and hot-tempered guy he's quite a likable fellow. Ranvir Shorey steals the show in a small role that is surely the best-written of all, and he is excellent. Akshaye Khanna in an extended guest appearance is good as he is in most of his films. Divya Dutta is very good in a tiny role, Irrfan Khan is criminally wasted in the even tinier role of her husband. Vinay Pathak is wonderful as "the boring husband". Sushmita Mukherjee is funny as his wife, while Raghubir Yadav and Jugal Hansraj provide good support.

Among the songs, I really liked the title track which is catchy and Madhuri's dance for it elevates it further. My favorite song, however, is the melodious "Ishq Hua". The film's best sequence is when the "Laila Majnu" play finally takes place. It is just beautiful, spectacular, and is clearly well-invested and wonderfully executed and performed. The ending is expectedly sugarcoated, but who cares? It seems like some people just cannot appreciate anything that is not dramatic. This film is generally a lighthearted musical, that's how it's treated - it is good Hindi film entertainment, and a time-pass movie, in the most positive sense of the word. Another complaint was that Madhuri got a rather bland role which didn't do justice to her talent. So, people had not seen her weeping copious tears for so long that they badly expected her to do it again? Can't an actor be good when he's playing a character with less tears and more smiles? Actually, the film is more of a tribute to Dixit's mastery of the art of dance, which was one of the main factors that made her so popular, and I say it's worth a watch.