Filmi Review

His first film, the brazenly artificial “Saawariya” — a kind of Bollywood “One From the Heart” — was a box-office flop and undeservedly panned. But it didn’t hurt Ranbir Kapoor’s career. He’s a star, and he carries “Bachna Ae Haseeno,” his second movie, playing Raj, a Don Juan who woos three lovelies: the innocent Mahi (Minissha Lamba), the ambitious sexpot Radhika (Bipasha Basu) and the self-possessed Gayatri (Deepika Padukone).

An amiable romantic comedy with fatal attractions to primary colors, glorious scenery (locations include Switzerland, Italy, Australia and even India) and 360-degree pans, “Bachna” starts too cute. But it grows more serious and interesting as it contemplates the various permutations of romance in a culture with rapidly changing sexual mores. Does Radhika lose Raj because they have sex before marriage? Can Gayatri have a career, a love life and some kind of freedom?

Mr. Kapoor doesn’t fully convince as a cad. He comes into his own, though, in the remorse and redemption sequences. Blame it on his puppy-dog sweetness, a quality that will serve him well as a Bollywood leading man. And Ms. Basu helps, contributing some believably bad comic behavior when Radhika becomes a pampered, ill-tempered movie star.

About that excellent title tune, with its chugging, catchy horn riff: it conjures some groovy bell-bottoms thriller, and no wonder. It’s a retooled version of a song from the 1977 film “Hum Kisise Kum Naheen,” composed by R. D. Burman, a powerhouse who wrote more than his fair share of Bollywood’s best music. That movie’s star? Rishi Kapoor, Ranbir’s dad.