Watched Khoobsurat (1999) after many years, found out it has lost its appeal for me.
Sanjay Chhel was a great dialogue writer. His work on Rangeela, Daud, Yes Boss and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, among others, is fantastic.
However, when making a film, only relying on your skills as a dialogue writer is not enough. Your screenplay has to make sense and has to have an even flow. Khoobsurat's screenplay comes across as a loosely woven series of skits instead of a smoothly flowing story. Many scenes simply come and go without having any bearing later in the story. Conflicts between characters pop up suddenly and are also resolved in an equally lazy fashion.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Bawarchi told the same story with a lot more conviction and steadiness, with more memorable characters as well as the actors who played them. Khoobsurat has a large and talented supporting cast but most of them don't have particularly memorable lines or scenes.
Sanjay Dutt valiantly tries to inject life into the film with his comedic timing, despite being somewhat miscast in a soft guy role. Urmila, sadly, isn't given much material to showcase her comedic chops, which is a shame because she had shown that she could be funny in Daud.
In summation, what I enjoyed long ago in childhood doesn't have the same appeal to me anymore. The film has not changed, it's I whose sensibilities have changed. Back in the day, I may have been satisfied with a few individual parts that worked but today, I prefer to look at and evaluate the whole project, which falls short of my expectations.
I can recommend this film to people who fall into two categories. (A) fans of Sanjay Dutt and (B) those who are prone to enjoy average family-oriented comedies without any high expectations.