All YUVRAAJ reviews here - Page 2

Yes if i watch this movie ..i ll watch it for Kat Anil n Ar rehman's music!

What does one say to you at a point when you're vulnerable despite having given 35 years of your life to cinema? I can only remind you that audience tastes have changed, not always for the better (witness the success of Golmaal Returns).

I write this review in the form of a letter... because there's a sense of nostalgia of the time you gave us vibrant entertainers (Karz and Ram Lakhan top the coolest list). You've had an inborn instinct for music, choreographed set pieces (Bada dukh deena, Choli ke peechhey, Meri Jung title song, so many) and have been quite unapologetically wacko with Ding dong o baby sing a song or Ilu Ilu. All so much fun-do-dee-dee.

Now, I'm not here to write an essay, say something like Ghai Ghai ki Kahani. I go into this simply because your cinema has been more 'you you' than the nasty daggers, cloaks and masks worn by the ABs and Cs of this movie world and the so-called masters of underworld Aags and Kings of Khatiyas.

And so to come to Yuvvraaj, the 18th film you have directed. Sorry but it's a sitting duck. Conceptually, its plot must have kicked off with Rainman. And so we have an autistic Anil Kapoor who's being conned by his foster brother Salman Khan. Why? Because Foster Khan needs billions to marry Katrina Kaif, the daughter of Dr Boman Irani who behaves more outrageously than your Dr Dang (remember him?).

Couldn't you have instructed Irani to be a wee bit controlled? Never mind, because the WORST performance from the lot comes from yet another foster brother, Zayed Khan. This one's given to wearing glares at nights, leather caps (leather!) and absolutely no recognisable human emotion on his face.

So, Anil is the likeable answer to Dustin Hoffman (and the only real actor on the scene). Salman Khan is Tom Cruise with an ear-ring, flowery shirt and a Greco-Italiano accent. Back to the inescapable Zayed, he has a girlfriend who has these hot toasted lips. Mwaaah aaah mwaah really.

Sir, I also have to point out that Katrina Kaif (whom an NRI clown also wants to marry) just adores Salman. And heavens, there's much real-life-kind of gossipy dialogue about marriage-no-marriage. Strangely, however, the perennially wide-eyed, lip-glossed Kaif has more lively chemistry with her cello than with Salman.

Sir, the screenplay also organises a squint-eyed mamaji (was that dear K.N. Singh's ghost?), a Cleavage Festival aka Zehreeley Zehreeley Kumari. But the funniest of the supporting crew are superkid Bala who bangs bongo drums, two bozos munching on 'burgers, and an Oprah Winfrey look-alike who pops up to sing Maaastam Maaaaastam Gulzar lyric. Has he lost his pen? Plus quite oddly everyone in Austria, Czechoslovakia and London speak fat-a-fat Hindi. The rare few who don't are assigned subtitles. Hmmm.

Subhashji, Katrina Kaif vanishes in the second-half (was she too busy curling her hair?). Pakistani actor Javed Shaikh's histrionics are confined to a scary portrait. Sulabha Arya looks as if she'd rather be acting in Phool aur Kaanta Bai. Zayed Khan is assigned two Robert De Niroish screaming breakdown scenes (that's two too much). And Anil Kapoor prepares to sing at a desi rock concert, thanks to his 'genius musical disorder'. Why didn't you let him complete the concert sir? It was the most riveting section of the movie, featuring AR Rahman's score at his symphonic best. Dialogue goes for lines like, "Oh you're having beer dear, don't come near." Dong ding?

Sir, yes you are vulnerable. But it is better to be told by anyone ' from a lay person to yours sincerely ' about the uppers and downers. The direction is much too stagey, sir. Still, this film should never ever be your last one, Subhashji. You may not get roses and chocolates for this one... but here's hoping and praying that you come back, re-charged for an entertainer that will match if not surpass Karz and Ram Lakhan. Yuvvraaj doesn't. I end, still Ilu Ilu.

REVIEW: Salman Khan's Yuvvraaj
You'd rather kill yourself than watch this Subhash Ghai film

Author - Abhishek Mande, Buzz18 Nov 21, 2008
Source - http://buzz18.in.com/reviews/movies/review-salman-khans-yuvvraaj/98471/0

Approximately three seconds before the much-needed 'Intermission' flashes on the screen during Yuvvraaj, an intoxicated Zayed Khan tells Salman over the phone, "It's over!" And that's when a voice from deep inside me cried, "I wish!"

But length and slack pace of the film is not the only problem with this week's Hindi film release, Yuvvraaj. It tells the story of three brothers separated partly because of the circumstances and partly because of their father's blind love for his autistic son Gyanesh (Anil Kapoor).

The middle son Deven (Salman Khan) walks out of the house and the youngest of the three, Danny (Zayed Khan) ends up being a spoilt rich brat. Their father dies and writes off all the wealth to Gyanesh leaving the other two in a lurch. His attorney friend Sikandar Mirza (Mithun Chakraborty) ensures all the loose ends are tied and Gyanesh's life is safe.

For their own reasons Deven and Danny team up and decide to steal Gyanesh of what he truly deserves. Danny of course needs the money to maintain his lavish lifestyle. However Deven's requirement is slightly skewed. Before entering his father's house, he has gone ahead and gallantly signed a contract with his girlfriend's (Katrina Kaif) father Dr PK Banton (Boman Irani) promising him to become a billionaire in the next 40 days.

The rest of the film basically deals with how Deven, Danny and Gyanesh realise the bonds of filial love.

Yuvvraaj, like most musicals has no particular story to boast of. But unlike them, it doesn't even seem to have the music to support it. While AR Rahman does deliver a few songs that are pleasing to the ears the others, which could have been salvaged with good picturisation, have been botched terribly.

Take for instance the first song – Tu Meri Dost Hai – where the special effects are so bad, you'd want to sack the people who did it. Ditto for that number Mastam Mastam, which comes just before the interval. Though you are spared of the special effects, the horrendous picturisation kills it.

MUSIC REVIEW: Join Rahman on his grand journey called Yuvvraaj

More so, not many of these songs take the story forward neither do they provide any insight into the characters' pathos or ecstasy as the case may be. Indeed, musicals can be fun – Mama Mia was a thoroughly enjoyable experience – but somehow the music in this film doesn't get the treatment it deserves. And it's not about the music or the lyrics. Why, Gulzar's lyrics and Vishal Bhardwaj's music was weaved in so beautifully in Omkara, it makes you want to call it a musical in the truest sense!

FILM :Yuvvraaj
DIRECTOR: Subhash Ghai
ACTORS: Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Zayed Khan and Katrina Kaif
RATING : * 1/2

Anil Kapoor's character is autistic in this film. Like all old Bollywood flicks, a doctor steps into a scene to describe his condition as 'genius disorder'. Old Gyanesh is gifted with a sense of music. Otherwise his mind stopped developing after a certain age. He is a picture of innocence; unknowing of the cunning ways of the world.

Kapoor has played somewhat similar roles before; the sorts of Eeshwar or Kishen Kanhaiya. Still, in this performance, he rarely misses a beat, and certainly doesn't imitate himself. It's the sort of character that audiences instantly fall for. The final sequence relates to his poisoned death. Yet, what goes through your mind is if the film will get over sooner than he would. Or will he fight back in rebirth!

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/30/20081122200811220345525134c6eec11/Really-man-Rain-Man