Finally, Ranbir Kapoor is back with a bang. After the debacle of BESHARAM, ROY and BOMBAY VELVET, he dishes out a performance as smooth as velvet. From Don to mediocre, part-of- the-race corporate employee, to his Dev Anand impersonations, to a man brought down to his knees by love; his shift in performance is subtle and brilliant.

There have been many films which have been made or inspired by many English novels, or in some cases, a popular proverb or an adage. This week's release Imtiaz Ali's TAMASHA falls into the latter. Inspired by the Shakespearean's extremely popular monologue, 'All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players', TAMASHA stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles.

Imtiaz Ali has made a career out of weaving love stories set against the backdrop of journeys and when it was announced that Imtiaz is bringing former lovers Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone together for Tamasha, it was but natural for expectations to be sky-high. However, unfortunately, Tamasha has proved to be the undoing of the hit trio.

To start with, this is not just a love story between two adults who meet, have a good time and face a hurdle before the film reaches a suitable conclusion. As Imtiaz Ali mentions on his poster-Why Always the same story- the film doesn't take the beaten route. The director, known for his great story telling, has with time, mastered the art after his last two hits, 'Highway' and 'Rockstar'.

This is not a film telling us a trite, oft repeated story of longings and ecstasies of a man and woman in love. This unique love story talks of self love. It jolts you out of your safe cocoon of social conditioning to pointedly ask you if you love yourself enough to be able to throw up the rules of society and live the way you really want to.

Tamasha offers a wonderful message to the audience. It simply tells us to come out of the facade that we put before the world and discover our real self. The movie tells the story of Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) who is a storyteller at heart but leads a mundane life bound by social conventions. Ved meets Tara ( Deepika) at Corsica, an exotic island in France. Both decide that their story will be different-- they will not ask names, will have no connection after Corsica. But both develop fondness for each other but depart as promised earlier.

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone's reunion on the big-screen is one major reason why people are flogging to theatres, to catch Tamasha. After Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, RK and Dippy come together once again to remind us, how flawless they look as an on-screen couple. The trailer gave us the crux of the venture and I personally believed that Tamasha is essentially about Dippy and RK's togetherness and how they overcome the battle of being in a complicated and unconventional relationship.

Have you ever felt a tinge of an overwhelming sense of detachment while doing your tie in front of the mirror? Or rather a sense of detachment with your job? May be at times, with yourself? Is it so that you have already been too used-to to keep this stirring thought from crossing into your mind?

The storytelling in Tamasha is non-linear. We start off with a young Ved (Ranbir Kapoor) who is addicted to listening stories sitting under a tree from an old man in the quiet evenings of Shimla. He has an overbearing father, who expects him to focus in school and has carved out a conventional life for him but Ved seems to enjoy his fantasy world.

Throughout Tamasha, there is a recurrent line - that it is always the same story of boy meets girl and society creates a rift between them. Is the Deepika Padukone-Ranbir Kapoor-starrer any different? It is not. Only this time, society creates the barrier through a much longer route - with the norms implanted deep down in the protagonist's character.

An off-the beaten track love story that does not go far enough with its surprises, Imtiaz Ali's Tamasha is a film that flatters to deceive. It rolls along smoothly, but so facile are its placid twists and pat resolutions that they cause nary an emotional ripple. It is a pretty film, thanks to cinematographer S Ravi Varman's lighting and camerawork. Every frame is picture-perfect. And Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone are on top of their game.

There are those rare films which make you not want to write a review, not want to conform to the norm, not want to get back to the tedium that is the daily life. In the recent-day Bollywood, a few films make the cut. Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor's Tamasha is one of them. Director Imtiaz Ali has created a delectable experience called Tamasha. And yes, like the tagline says, why always the same story?

Just short of an hour into the film, I was up to there with 'Tamasha'. All we'd got till then was scene after pretty scene in Corsica - picturesque bistros, colourful locals in fancy dress, leafy green countryside, sparkling blue waters, and two of the most interesting actors in Bollywood desperately acting out their parts : over-emphasising their meet-cute, making eyes and coming hither.

Imtiaz Ali and Ranbir Kapoor's second collaborative effort, Tamasha, is a bit of an enigma. It reveals less about its two protagonists than it withholds. It is tightfisted about emotional outflow. But still creates a very dramatic case history for its protagonists. Many parts of the film read (and I deliberately use this word in place of 'look') like newly-done miniature paintings posted on ancient walls that have many stories to tell...the walls, not the newly placed paintings.