Then, in a sprawling bungalow, the kind you saw in films decades ago with two tumbling staircases, a lady brings tea for her grumpy husband (Kulbhushan Kharbanda, now appearing in every second film as the patriarch). She’s worried that their daughter is very chup chup (uncharacteristically quiet) after coming back from Shimla.

"Ladkiyan chup hi jyada achi lagti hai," he roars while sipping the tea. Then arrives an all-knowing bua who tries to goad the girl, about to be married in two months, into telling all about what’s eating her. The Delhi girl Meneka (Khushboo) goes on to tell her love story. Like in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, she goes for a trip out-of-town to Shimla with her friends before the wedding. She keeps bumping into this Rahul (Sarvar Ahuja) who looks like he needs a haircut pronto: their cars crash first, then their ice-creams, and once, he even bumps into her pooja thali.

Her perpetually angry friend is upset at this growing closeness. Back home, on learning about the girl’s feelings for the Shimla boy, it’s now time for the mother to thunder about going against the ghar ke usool. With parents like this, you understand why she grew up to become such a cry-baby.

On the other hand, Rahul’s parents do a nice aarti and set their son off on the mission of bringing back the girl. Thing is Meneka, while leaving Shimla, had refused to give Rahul the address to her Delhi home: instead she preferred to leave it all to Serendipity, which was also a 2001 Hollywood film. Like in the original film, she puts her address on a 100-rupee note and deposits it in a temple collection box. She tells her thunder-struck boyfriend that if they are destined to be together, the note would find its way into his hands.

As far as characterization goes, Meneka is straight out of a K serial – simpering, whimpering, eyes lowered, Rapunzel hair, and a whispering voice. Rahul is a typical film hero, riding bikes, and hanging out with `childhood friends’ that are undeniable buffoons. As actors, both newcomers fair reasonably well. Debut actress Khushboo has a charm – she has beautiful, guileless eyes and a reasonable smile.

Sarvar Ahuja, a bit too buffed up, looks fine but not as young as he’s portrayed here (his character receives pocket money from the parents).

Hum Phirr Milein…is technically archaic: the cinematography is dull and dialogue has young folks using obsolete words like darrasal, doorbeen and seb (apple).

Despite its borrowing from a hit Hollywood film concept, Hum Phirr loses out because of the stereotypical `hero-heroine’, characterization and the outdated story treatment.

Verdict: One-and-a-half stars