Yuvvraaj

The much hyped film by Subhas Ghai attracted about a 100 persons in the Sunday 2PM show at Inox Forum. And as usual with the INOX people selling us Rs 230 buck tickets even though the newspaper ads stated Rs 160 on Fri-Sun, the value for money quotient was negative.

There is a story line but that seems to be incidental. The focus is more on the locales, the stars, the props and sets, the music,the choreography---in short the look of the film, rather than the content. Subhas Ghai prides himself in being a showman, and he is unable and unwilling to shake off the tag. Everything has to be subservient to that. That is the biggest asset of the film and also its biggest shortcoming.

There are 3 brothers--Anil Kapoor the eldest by the first wife, and Salman and Zayeed by the second. Anil is autistic but a musical genius, which is uncovered in the middle of the story.He gets bashed up by bad boy Salman in childhood, resulting in Salman being banished to boarding school . Salman returns , and promptly bashes up Anil again, resulting in him being chucked out of home and inheritance. He carries a chip on his shoulder because of that and confesses he is a bad boy frequently. He breaks violins, gets angry, drives rashly,and is invariably late for rehearsals in an orchestra, where he is supposed to be a chorus boy, but they all wait for him to come, and then he sings the lead songs and is the centre of the dancing troupe---some chorus boy this!!! Salman plays himself, and brings his real life idiosyncrasies to his role which is tailor written for him. Katrina is sugary sweet, and a violinist in the same orchestra and is in love with Salman. Katrina's father is an eccentric Cardiac Surgeon(wonderful role by Boman Irani--so impressive with his timing and gestures), who hates Salman, and wants his daughter to (as usual) to marry a rich businessman's son.

Salman has to be a millionaire to marry Katrina, and his chance comes when his father dies. He dashes off to London, where he finds in the will read by Mithun Chakravarty(the family lawyer), that everything has been left to Anil Kapoor. The scheming Mamababu, his wife and children etc are all present as per the traditional Indian film plot. Salman and Zayed plot to get the money and become "Partners and not brothers".In the process, Katrina and her orchestra discover Anil Kapoor's sensational musical talent, and rope him in for their great show.

Salman and Zayed discover their brotherly love for Anil via 2 incidents. Anil takes the rap for Salman's rash driving--and the phoren police officers are surprised as to why anyone should do that. Salman says,"He is my brother. An Indian brother." Zayed loses his memberships to the clubs and then his girl, and then his car breaks down on a fascinating lonely Austrian road(in that order). His brothers rescue him , and naturally Indian brotherly love spills over. There is a murder plot, and after Salman's plea to Boman Irani, Anil Kapoor is saved, and Mithun ends it by saying "Sons may be independent, but they have to be United as a family."

Subhas Ghai has carefully kept it as THE FAMILY MOVIE. There are no exposures, no raunchy scenes, and the crudest word you here is "Frigging". The curses are "Monkey, Donkey, Flunky etc" "Now it is well done. Wait for it to be done-done". Unbelievable really!!! But then this an unbelievable movie. Thankfully there is no harping on  communal harmony, or patriotism, or car chases and fights or shootings.As Salman said, "It is a Suraj Barjatya story ,with David Dhavan Humour". A Subhas Ghai film is now only a compendium and not a pathbreaker. All the new film makers, and the recent cinema buffs must be gaping in disbelief that such an amount of money could be spent on such a film.

The film is technically sound. Kabir Lal 's cinematography is spectacular, though there was little scope for any innovative angles. The choreography were by different persons from Chinni Prakash to Shiamak Davar. The sets were opulent--(The Great Showman Complex). The music by A.R.Rahaman was breathtaking. With a full blown orchestra in the story, Rahaman lets his musical genius flow. Gulzar's lyrics are his best in recent years.If the songs had been placed in more realistic situations, we would have remembered the video clips. As of now only the music lingers on. The editing is safe--done by Ghai himself.  The script, also written by Ghai, sparkles in parts, but does not have the punch or surprises of greatness.

Yuvvraaj - 08 - Ma...

As for the actors, Salman virtually plays himself-inconsistent, short-tempered,friendly,and a "little crooked". Anil Kapoor does not have much to do, but does it professionally. Katrina has been photographed exceptionally well. Though she is unlikely to be a great actress, she will fit into these not-central roles so long as she retains her looks.

Zayed Khan had better retire from films. He is at best a third role actor, without a physique, looks or acting ability of a hero. The real attraction is Boman Irani. He takes a stereotyped role--and injects life and interest into it with his impeccable comedy timing and delivery.

It is a film unlike any released in recent times. It has come across as an archaic film 20 years later than it should have, struggling to come to terms with modern day lifestyles, with a dialogue and script that flashes in the pan, and leaves behind a great regret of what it could have been but didn't.

Definitely worth a watch only in single screen halls!!!!!!

Meanwhile listen to this hit.

Yuvvraaj-TuHiTohMe...