Jan 08, 2016 05:16 PM
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A lot has changed in the Hindi film industry since 2006, the last time Sooraj Barjatya’s name flashed across the screens as a movie’s director. His Vivah didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, at least not on the lines of what his earlier films Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain did on the ticket windows. Cut to 2015 and Barjatya has now rehashed the same formula in his latest venture, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo(PRDP), complete with a masterstroke: He roped in Salman Khan to up the film’s star value a million notches.
It all begins in Ayodhya where Prem Dilwala(Salman Khan) is the self-appointed keeper of the collective social consciousness. After announcing his arrival with ‘Kisi ke haath chalte hain, kisi ke pair chalte hain…humare dono chalte hain’, he sets on a task to meet Princess Maithili(Sonam Kapoor) of Devgarh Fort. After some heavy-duty emotional scenes, he manages to enter the fort, but is left aghast at the deceit and treachery of a royal household. Prem, along with his friend Kanhaiya(Deepak Dobriyal), decides to be a part of all this, of course with noble intentions. Come on, this is a Rajshri film, not any Anurag Kashyap narrative. Can Prem crack the code and infuse happiness all around? Does he succeed in keeping the fort’s age-old traditions alive? Will you call your mother at the end of it? Will you return the entire cutlery you have stolen from hotels? Will you use a towel to wipe off your tears before the end credits?
Salman Khan set a benchmark for the ultimate Boy Scout with his Bajrangi Bhaijaan act, and now he surprises us even more. His character is so virtuous that you will walk out of the theatre fighting a morality crisis. He has a counterpart in Maithili who is solidly under-pressure to perform as per the royal decree. Our Miss goody two-shoes runs an NGO, eats at not-so-classy restaurants and wears matching clothes. And yes, she sometimes likes to flaunt her little black dress for some ‘quality time’ with her fiancé. Just to make sure the message is conveyed to the audience, Diwan Jee(Anupam Kher) explains ‘quality time’ with a lot of hesitation and innuendos. On second thoughts, you need to do this in a film which is strictly vegetarian in its approach. For your reference, people eat veg korma, tanduri bhindi and butter chole in PRDP. It’s all so ‘saatwik’(pious), you see. Sweets lovers, don’t feel left-out, laddu-pede-jalebis have also been given ample screen time.
Salman Khan is quite likeable in PRDP. In fact, his comic timing has gotten better in recent times. Add to it the many honey-coated dialogues that make the proceedings funny. For example, Sonam says, “Ram jaisa kahenge Seeta waisa hi karegi.” As if they have already accepted themselves as divines. It’s a different matter that some religious people might get offended with Seeta breathing passionately. They keep delivering dialogues in slow motion. The pattern they follow is ‘dialogue - crescendo rises – dialogue – song.’
