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Movie Review: Dilwale – Rohit Shetty Fails, SRK-Kajol Rises!

Dilwale

The most anticipated movie of the year – Dilwale starring the evergreen jodi SRK-Kajol and directed by ‘Hit’ machine director Rohit Shetty released this week. Considering the fact that SRK-Kajol does very few movies and they are coming after a gap of 5 years, the hype is unprecedented. Alas, not every movie starring SRK-Kajol can be a DDLJ or a KKHH and Rohit Shetty should be blamed for this fiasco called Dilwale.

The story revolves around Raj /Kali (Shah Rukh Khan) and Mira (Kajol) who belong to two warring Mafia families from Bulgaria (one more new age Romeo-Juliet attempt) who fall in love. However, if you are expecting for a happy ending waiting for this much-in-love couple then think again. They go separate ways hating each other due to misunderstandings.

Years later, Raj and Mira’s siblings Veer (Varun Dhawan) and Ishita (Kriti Sanon) fall in love in Goa. The ex-lovers come face to face once again bringing back painful memories of their past. Will Raj and Mira get over their past for their siblings? Will they rekindle their love as well is what the film further unfolds.

Coming to the script it is full of blemishes. There are unnecessary ups and downs which fizzes out by the climax. The climax is weak. The built-up to Boman Irani’s character falls flat on the face. The misunderstandings due to which SRK-Kajol split is not very convincing and when they patch up, it is again done in an unconvincing way. If the misunderstanding was so small and didn’t need much of justification and help was right at an arm’s distance for Kajol then why did it take 15 years (and 2.5 hrs screen time) to sort out?

The love stories of SRK-Kajol or Varun-Kriti is not much exciting. The five-minute dating scene is a ‘Joke’… really??? The comedy is okay with few comic punches provided by Johnny Lever and Sanjay Mishra’s characters. The music is average and apart from Gerua and to some extent Janam Janam, Pritam fails miserably. The picturization of the songs are superb. The action scenes are standard Rohit Shetty fare that we have seen repeatedly in all his movies including the cars flying in the air – nothing new! Rohit in your next movie please blast a tank or a plane or a ship or some other stuff maybe a UFO but give us something new ;).

SRK-Kajol chemistry is timeless and it is quite evident in this movie too. However, the screenplay does not live up to the actor’s caliber. Shah Rukh should select his future scripts carefully as he has not given one meaningful movie after Chak De! For Kajol it is not a great comeback character and script-wise however, you cannot point any flaws in her performance. Varun is okay – nothing much to deliver and Kriti looks beautiful and ‘tall’. Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra, Varun Sharma and Boman Irani are superb.

On the whole SRK-Kajol chemistry works for me, DILWALE & Rohit Shetty FAILS MISERABLY!

My Verdict: *

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Movie Review: Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon – ZZzzzzzz

kis-kisko-pyar-karoon, shaiju mathew, kapil sharma, abbas mustan

This week there are four releases out of which Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon directed by Abbas-Mustan stands out along with Madhur Bhandarkar‘s Calendar Girls. The movie is also special because it is the debut movie of Kapil Sharma who has a huge fan following post his widely appreciated and watched comedy show ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil‘. However, the novelty of the movie ends with Kapil because there is nothing new in the story. It seems as if someone has stitched several Govinda hit movies of 1990’s together and served in the name of Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon.

Coming to the story. Kumar Shiv Ram Kishan aka Bholu (Sharma) is a guy who drives fancy cars, works in a fancy building and regularly wears a three-piece suit in Mumbai to show to the world that he is a rich man. In a year’s time or so he acquires three wives and blames his mother for the same. Surprised? So was I ;). It is shown that his mother always told him one should never break a woman’s heart or home, and in his attempt to live by that maxim, Bholu finds himself saddled with three wives. This reminded me of our Puranas, especially Mahabharat where one gets to read about how Draupadi ended up with five husbands. Now there are more such brain-shattering things showcased one after the other eg; Bholu parks all his wives in the same building – ‘Cocktail Towers’ on different floor with none of them getting to know about each other’s existence.

There are few more characters introduced like Bholu’s estranged parents and a father-in-law whom he gets to park in each of his wife’s apartment. Bholu also falls in love with Deepika (Elli Evram) and wants to get married to her (maybe he is not tired of three wives he has already gathered).

The story is a mixture of Saajan Chale Sasural, Gharwali Baharwali, Sandwich etc. from the 90’s directed by David Dhawan. Abbas-Mustan who are known for their stylish thrillers like Baazigar, Khiladi, Race series, Humraaz etc. ventures into unknown territory – comedy and tries to piggyback on Kapil’s popularity. Alas, it attempt is a huge disaster.  I would totally blame the writer (Anukalp Goswami) and director Abbas-Mustan for churning out this outdated fare.

Kapil sleepwalks through his role and shows sparks of ascending the throne left vacant by Govinda. However, if given a chance I would never want to see the 90’s kind of comedy movies coming back in vogue if this movie clicks, which I doubt. Among the actresses Manjari Phadnis does a decent act however others fall flat on their face including Elli Evram. Johny Lever’s daughter Jamie who has debuted with this movie has done a fantastic job as the Marathi speaking house-maid and so has Varun Sharma who plays Bholu’s friend.

The music by Tanishk Bagchi, Dr Zeus, Javed Mohsin and Amjad-Nadeem are no great shakes. Cinematography by  Dilshad is average while editing by Hussain Burmawallah is good.

Overall the movie is not even a one time watch and might not even gather it’s investment at the box office unless Kapil’s luck rubs it otherwise.

My Verdict: *