Maruti Mera Dosst genuinely had an idea and story that lent itself to the making of an extremely entertaining and cute little film for children who are no doubt its prime target audience. However, its treatment and execution let it down and not just the weak screenplay, but the other departments too are equally to blame.

The film lacks the naturalness and feel-good fun element that a children's film should have. The initial idea though interesting enough to begin with is developed labouriously and one cannot help wondering what a fine film this could have been in Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar Saab's hands for example especially in terms of screenplay, dialogue, lyrics, music and direction.  The screenplay is unable to  satisfactorily enter the world of children and being a film not aimed at adults, it ends up as not quite working for both adults and children. Just having a child protagonist in a film doesn't automatically make it a children's film. This is a big misconception we have in Indian cinema that must be addressed.

The film is short of the several heartwarming moments it should have had and one is also disturbed a little by the violence shown in the film but then one supposes children of today are used to it as most virtual games today are far, far more excessive in terms of blood and gore. Still...

Coming to the performances, Chandrachur Singh is saddled with a one dimensional role he can do nothing with. Unflattering camera angles particularly in some of his close up shots don't help his 'comeback' either. Sushmita Mukherjee is over the top but admittedly seems to be the one performer having a good time in the film, clearly enjoying herslef.  Ritika Shrivastava makes for a cute protagonist but lacks the performance to carry the film while Erik A Nanda is ill at ease with the language even if earnest otherwise. Shahbaaz Khan's Sadhu Pahalwan track doesn't work in the film while Murli Sharma is ok. The less said about the group of actors at the beginning and end of the film, the better. Incidentally, what was all the fuss about the blue cake?

Technicalities too are very, very average be it the dull, uninspired camerawork or jarring background score. (Did one hear the strains of Yankee Doodle Dandy?) The Kailash Kher song and the kiddie song are well tuned but the sad song when the children separate just doesn't work. The songs could have done with much, much, better and livelier picturisations. The animation sequences too are weak as are the special effects, some of which are plain tacky. And why were the monsters seeming to come out of Greek mythology or some Gothic tale rather then have an Indian feel to them? The length also does the film in. A film of this sort should be of a crisp 90 minutes length at most and no more.

All in all, a nice idea for children sadly gone wrong in execution.