'Ready' - ATBB = All Time BlockBuster Pg.77 - Page 9

Ready movie Plot: Salman and Asin fall in love but he has to contend with her two tyrant and warring maternal uncles, each of who is trying hard to get her married off to his brother-in-law. Should you watch the film? Find out in the full review by Komal Nahta.

Business Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Star cast: Salman Khan, Asin Thottumkal, Paresh Rawal, Sharat Saxena, Akhilendra Mishra, Mahesh Manjrekar.

What's Good: The comedy post-interval; the music; Salman Khan and Paresh Rawal's acting; the emotional under-current of the comical drama.

What's Bad: The ordinary first half.

Verdict: READY will score at the box-office, thanks to a great start, super-hit music, Salman Khan and entertainment in a good dose.

Loo break: Not really.

Watch or not?: Yes, if you want to be entertained.

Sohail Khan Productions, T-Series, One Up Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Rawail Grandsons Entertainment & Software Pvt. Ltd.'s Ready (UA) is the story of do-gooder Prem (Salman Khan) and how he manipulates and wins over the hand of his beloved, Sanjana (Asin Thottumkal), in marriage.

Prem lives in Bangkok with his forgetful father (Mahesh Manjrekar), mother (Anooradha Patel), two paternal uncles (Manoj Pahwa and Manoj Joshi) and their wives. He has a heart of gold. Sanjana comes into his life, posing as Pooja who is a prospective bride for Prem, recommended by the family priest. Sanjana also lives in Bangkok and has, in fact, run away from her wedding. She is an orphan and has two maternal uncles (Sharat Saxena and Akhilendra Mishra). Each of her uncles is trying to get Sanjana married off to his brother-in-law. Sanjana approves of neither of the two prospective grooms and, therefore, runs away. The two uncles are greedy but can't see eye to eye. Sanjana wins over the hearts of Prem's family members but Prem and she are constantly at loggerheads. Slowly but surely, Prem and Sanjana fall in love.

The obstacle in the love story comes in the form of Sanjana's older uncle (Sharat Saxena) when he and his goons come and take her away with them. Meanwhile, Sanjana's to-be husband, who has come in search of her, has been seriously injured by Prem and is currently in coma in a hospital. Anyway, Prem now has to save Sanjana from the clutches of her uncle and also ensure that she is not forcibly married to any of the two brothers-in-law. He has to do all this without letting his identity be revealed and the good thing is that the only person who knows him is comatose. Prem hatches a plot and approaches the common chartered accountant, Baliram (Paresh Rawal), of the two uncles. He enters the houses of the two uncles in Bangkok, posing as the CA's assistant and nephew. He uses Baliram to entice the two uncles into forgetting about marrying their brothers-in-law to Sanjana and instead agreeing to get them married to the two daughters of very rich businessmen from London, K.K. Modi and B.K. Modi. Prem's parents pose as Mr. & Mrs. K.K. Modi while his younger uncle and aunt come as Mr. & Mrs. B.K. Modi. Again, using Baliram, Prem lays down conditions from the Modis for Sanjana's two uncles before they (Modis) can marry off their rich daughters to the brothers-in-law of the two uncles. In effect, Prem is trying to patch up the differences between the two uncles and tone them down and he has the whole-hearted support of the ladies of the two families in this because they (the ladies) are sick and tired of the authoritarian attitude of the two men and are not in favour of the family division. Prem's second (older) uncle poses as a bank representative, who has come to Bangkok to collect the bank's dues of Sanjana's late father, from Sanjana or her to-be in-laws. Sensing that they'd have to pay crores of rupees to the bank, the two greedy uncles immediately agree to the idea of not marrying their brothers-in-law to Sanjana. In any case, they have a bigger catch in the form of the daughters of the Modis.

Trouble erupts when the comatose husband-to-be comes out of coma, returns home and exposes the truth about Prem. What happens thereafter? Do the two uncles of Sanjana now go after Prem's life? What do they do to their CA? What happens to the family members of Prem when they stand exposed? The latter part of the film answers these questions.

More: Salman Khan's Ready Will Take Earth Shattering Opening

Ready Review – Script Analysis

Remake of the Telugu Ready, the screenplay has been penned by Rajiv Kaul, Rajan Agarwal and Ikram Akhtar with script consultation by Salim Khan. The first half is good only in parts. The scenes between Prem and Sanjana when they quarrel with each other are hardly funny or even interesting. Also, the pace of the drama before interval is slow and there are several boring moments too.

The pace picks up immediately after interval and the comedy turns interesting, engaging and entertaining. The whole track of Prem and Baliram fooling the two uncles of Sanjana is very funny and will be enjoyed by the audience. The track of Prem trying to bring two warring families together is heart-warming and strikes for its nobility and will be loved by the families, not just in smaller centres but also in the cities.

Having said this, it must be added that there will be a smaller section of the audience which will get put off by the first half and may find the comical second half too loud and exaggerated. This small section of the audience may not approve of the film.

Dialogues by Farhad-Sajid and Nisar Akhtar are very appealing, again, more so post-interval. In the first half, even the dialogues, like the screenplay, are found lacking. But the dialogues in the second half elevate the drama at many places.

Ready Review – Star Performances & Direction

Salman Khan shines in the second half and is in his element in the comic as well as dramatic and action scenes. He seems disinterested in the first half but is in complete form after interval. His dances are totally mass-appealing. Asin Thottumkal is good but her expressions don't vary much. Paresh Rawal is extraordinary. He and Salman Khan complement each other wonderfully and together they create entertainment galore. Akhilendra Mishra is pretty effective. Sharat Saxena also plays his part well. Puneet Issar, as Sanjana's grandfather, performs ably. Mahesh Manjrekar does a fine job even though his habit of forgetting words doesn't create laughter as the same track has come in films earlier too. As his wife, Anooradha Patel is dignified. Manoj Pahwa and Manoj Joshi get limited scope but are good all the same. Sudesh Lahiri is fantastic and his entire track of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time is hilarious. Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Arbaaz Khan, Chunkey Panday and Kangna Ranaut lend appealing star value in special appearances. Zarine Khan does not impress in her special appearance in a song-dance number because she doesn't dance gracefully. Mohit Baghel, as the school-going grandchild of the younger uncle of Sanjana, is first-rate and his comic track evokes laughter. As his swear-words-spewing mother, Eva Grover is lovely. Arya Babbar, Nikitin Dheer and Rajiv Kachroo fill the bill. Gargi Patel, Hemant Pandey, Mithilesh Chaturvedi, Jaswinder Gardner, Shilpa Mehta, Prachee Pathak, Pravina Deshpande, Kiran Ahuja, Shalini Sahuta and Kubraa Sait provide the required support.

Anees Bazmee's direction caters to the masses and the family audiences, for whom the film is meant. The classes may approve less of the loud comedy but the film will appeal to the youth, masses and families. Music is a major highlight of the film. 'Character dheela' (Pritam) and 'Dhinka chika' (Devi Shri Prasad) songs are super-hits and the picturisation of the latter song (two different picturisations at two different points in the film is a superb bonus) will have the audience going mad with joy. The other two songs (Pritam) are also good – the 'Humko pyar hua' is melodious and 'Meri ada bhi' has pace and energy. Song picturisations (Chinni Prakash and Raju Khan) are mass-appealing. Sunil Patel and Thomas Xavier's cinematography is very good. Sets (Rajat Poddar) are alright. Editing (Ritesh Soni) is quite nice. Action (Seeluem Pradit and Mahendra Verma) scenes are composed to provide thrills to the masses.

Ready Trailer

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Ready Review – Komal Nahta's Verdict

On the whole, Ready has taken a flying start from North to South and East to West and, in addition, it has masala to keep the masses and the family audiences entertained and happy. The producers have already made a profit by selling the worldwide rights to one distributor. As for the worldwide distributor (who has paid a phenomenal price for the rights) as also the individual distributors who've acquired some of the territorial rights from the worldwide distributor (at truly fancy prices), well, even they will make a profit! Salman Khan, super-hit music, earth-shattering opening and lack of solid opposition for the next two-three weeks will all go a long way in ensuring that the cash registers ring very loudly.

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