Perhaps three years isn’t too long a time for a sizzling screen chemistry to get rusty. Or else Jeet and Koel wouldn’t have been able to rekindle their Nater Guru spark with such ease in their much-hyped comeback film Saat Pake Bandha.

The title apart, Saat Pake Bandha bears no resemblance with the Suchitra-Soumitra-starrer. What it really is is a frame by frame copy of the Kajol-Anil Kapoor starrer Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain. Sounds disappointing? Take heart, there’s hope.

Saat Pake Bandha is a spiced-up desi version of Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain which you would like to watch with some salted popcorn that Indira or Prachi will offer. Or the cheese, chilli and caramel flavours at Fame, Hiland Park.

Rich kid Rahul (Jeet) loves cars and girls, poor girl Pallavi (Koel) makes ends meet to support her family (which includes Locket as her elder sister). While Rahul sings and shakes a leg with sexy babes in Malaysia, Pallavi struggles with her job of a personal assistant to Ranjit Mullick.

When Rahul returns home, his business tycoon father (Mullick) coaxes him to tie the knot with Pallavi. Rahul agrees on a condition, and Pallavi inks the deal to get the family burden off her shoulder.

A couple of dream songs follows where Koel prances around a suit-clad Jeet in pretty zardosi saris. When the one-year contract ends, Rahul sends Pallavi packing. It’s then that he falls in love with her and she starts loathing him. Just like in Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain. So, what’s different?

The tu tu-main main between Koel and Jeet, the controlled performances, the Malayasia scenes and the frothy, feel-good factor.

Koel surprises with her understated delivery, especially when she cries. Jeet is better in the second half — the suave and restrained husband who realises his fault and wants the love of his life back at any cost.

The rest of the characters don’t have much to add, except Subhashish Mukherjee whose silly jokes trigger a few laughs.

Mumbai-based cinematographer Kumud Verma deserves special mention for capturing Malaysia — now a common locale in Tolly potboilers — like never before. Jeet Ganguly’s music is pleasant.