Ramaiya Vastavaiya -FLOP - Page 2

Cast: Girish Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Sonu Sood, Vinod Khanna, Nasser, Satish Shah, Poonam Dhillon, Govind Namdeo

The Indian Express rating: *

Early on in the film, one character tells another: "Kya ghisi-piti baatein kar rahe ho, kuch naya kaho na" (Why are you saying the same old things, say something new). It should have been the tagline of Ramaiya Vastavaiya, the most shopworn, tired film I have seen in a while.

It is a remake of a Prabhu Deva's own Telugu hit which was a remake of Maine Pyar Kiya, which itself was a refurbished version of the romances Hindi cinema was churning out in the '60s. Instead of Salman Khan and Bhagyashree, we have Girish Kumar and Shruti Haasan. Around a quarter of a century separates the two films. Did anyone stop to ask themselves why and for whom they are remaking this film? It is a Tips production and the lead actor is a Taurani (the producer's) scion, so it is understandable that you would want a cast-iron hit. So of course, you would reach for the oldest plot in the world: a poor but proud heroine, a rich but ultimately nice hero, an over-protective brother of the girl, and mealy-mouthed parents of the boy.

The first half is spent in a large shaadi–wala ghar with village belle Sona (Shruti Haasan) and the Australia-returned Ram (Girish Kumar) making faces at each other, and then falling into each other's arms. Cue arrival of poor-but-proud bada bhaiya (Sonu Sood), and the nasty elders (Nasser, Satish Shah, Dhillon) can humiliate him and tell him to get out. Second half: city boy Ram shows up in the village, picks up cow dung, milks said cows, sleeps on straw pallets and eats terrible food, all to win over the bhaiya, and take his dulhan away.

There really is nothing more to say other than I really felt each minute of the nearly three hours hang like lead. Every single clich in the book is thrown into the mix, with poor Poonam Dhillon as the mother-of- the- boy-from-hell, and Randhir Kapoor as the father-of- the-boy- trying hard to act sensible, having to mouth the most inane lines. I had not an iota of interest in the leads, neither in the first-time Kumar, nor in Haasan who appears a veteran in comparison. My heart goes out to Sonu Sood who is a good actor, and who gets stuck in this kind of tripe.

And why, in a Prabhu Deva film, was there not a single dance that made me want to get up and jive? He does show up in one number, but it is old and tired as this film.shubhra.gupta2expressindia.com