Rajeev Masand: Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd by debutant director Reema Kagti is a film about a road trip actually; a bus journey to Goa taken by six honeymooning couples who are just about getting to know each other.

As the couples in this film start getting to know each other better, some pleasant, some unpleasant truths come tumbling out.

Despite the fact that director Reema Kagti plays upon the oldest clichés and reinforces lots of stereotypes when she gives you such typical caricatures as the inseparable Parsi couple, the conservative Bengali husband or the very determined Punjabi bride, what you cannot deny is the fact that all these characters are relatable in some way or the other.

Abhay Deol and Minisha Lamba playing Aspi and Zara, the made-for-each-other Parsi couple, are exceptionally entertaining as they go from "oh they are so cute" to "god, they are so irritatingly perfect".

For years we have complained about Amisha Patel's theatrical, over-the-top kind of acting, but in this film that works in her favour since she is cast as a spoilt, talkative, dreamy-eyed romantic who cannot stop fussing over her meek husband played by Karan Khanna.

Vikram Chatwal as the NRI who marries Sandhya Mridul for all the wrong reasons could do with some acting lessons, in fact he could take them from Sandhya herself who's really a fine actor.

Ranvir Shorey and Dia Mirza as the doomed Gujarati couple are first-rate but it's a pity they have such little screen time.

One of my favourite couples in the film are the Bengali newly-weds Kay Kay Menon and Raima Sen, perhaps the only couple who really go through a relationship arc in the film as they deal with insecurities and other personal issues and finally come out knowing each other much better.

And finally, there's Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi as the oldest couple of honeymooners, who are just a class apart for the depth, the believability and the emotional resonance they are able to find in their roles.

The movie starts off as a joyride filled with beautiful little moments that suggest the lady at the helm, director Reema Kagti is an observant and perceptive writer.

Like the scene in which Kay Kay Menon encourages his wife Raima to indulge her desire to go parasurfing in a saree, and then gets all embarrassed when her saree comes loose mid-air.

Or then the scene between Boman and Shabana where he grabs her and kisses her impulsively in the middle of the street right after a teary memory.

The whole track about one husband hiding his superhero identity from his wife, then being pleasantly surprised when she makes a revelation of her own is just ridiculous.

Even the gay angle - I'll buy the bit about the guy who gets married as a front, but then the bit about the second guy finding himself being attracted to this one - that's a bit too far-fetched.

I think she may have felt like she's established her characters, but now what, so let's try to add some drama.

There are many moments of pleasure to be derived from this film, but in the end when you leave the cinema, you feel like you don't exactly know where this film was heading.

An ending that's too abrupt, a narrative that goes haywire midway, and a sense of confusion looming large over the second half - it's problems like these that come in the way of this film realizing its full potential.