Nagesh Kukunoor was hailed as the game changer, the brightest mind in Bollywood and he bettered himself with every single movie. His 'Iqbal', '3 Deewaraen' and 'Dor' can still make even his harshest critic to sit up and take back the statements they let out after watching his last three films. But can his new film do the same? Yes but only to an extent. Nagesh does come back to form but not in his full form.

The movie is an official remake of a Taiwanese movie 'Keeping Watch' but desifying any language movie should be done very carefully and should make sure that the audience are taken for a enjoyable journey. Unfortunately Mod is entertaining only in bits and pieces and is stretched a bit too much.

The movie is about Aranya (Ayesha) who lives with her family in a hill station. She owns a small watch repair shop. Andy (Ranvijay), a very shy young man, almost regularly starts coming to her shop to repair his watch. Finally Andy reveals that he is in love with her and have been interested in her from her school days. But then comes the big twist. What is it? Well give the movie a chance and you will find out.

This is a well directed movie but the screenplay lags a lot in the second half. If it's a high concept love story like Source code or Titanic you can lag and drag and take your own sweet time to make the audience fall in love but if not, the audience just won't show patience. And even so if your movie arrives unheard. If Nagesh had made the screenplay crisp the movie would have been better, but no one can deny the fact that the movie had its heart in the right place and everyone who had acted played their role with exceptional understanding.

The movie clearly belongs to Nagesh's favorite (and mine too) Ayesha Takia. If 'Dor' showed us how good an actress she is this will stamp Ayesha's command over her skill. Ranvijay after his dismal performances has come out with a memorable performance as Andy. Nagesh does extract great performances from his actors. Raghuveer Yadav is exceptional in a small but significant role. Tanvi Azmi is good and so is the ever impressive, Anant Mahadevan.  The rest of the cast have also done their work with impressive results.

Technically the movie does get great marks thanks to an eye pleasing and soothing ciematography by Chirantas Das. The songs are surely a one time hear and with the movie it does impress. Art direction is good and so is the editing. Dialogues are the mainstay and are well written.

Overall Mod is for Ayesha Takia fans and fans of Nagesh Kukunoor's school of film making. With Ra One all set to take over in two weeks time, expect Mod be available in the DVD stand soon.

Verdict: Kukunoor improves but does not excel.