Critics trash sonam for PRDP!! gets massive bad reviews - Page 12

In Jai Ho Tabu had a better role and Harshali was the hero in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The above mentioned actors were decorative flowerpots

Atleast Deepika can act unlike Sonam who needs her Daddy to get her films. Neerja will be another big flop with Sonam in it.

same here😆

http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/prem-ratan-dhan-payo-movie-review-1204

2 stars

It is obvious that Sooraj R. Barjatya has spared no expense or effort in erecting the ornate sets and designing the unabashedly garish look of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.

But one crucial aspect of the film that would have cost little or no money (the director is himself the writer) but taken far greater effort - the screenplay - is completely neglected.

As a result, this overlong and bloated story of a sad and lonely prince - a man who would be king - is told in an old-fashioned, overly melodramatic style that simply does not work in this day and age.

This painfully dreary and tedious film relies far too heavily on Salman Khan - he plays a double role - to liven things up.

The swaggering superstar who was a Hanuman acolyte earlier this year in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is, one of his avatars here, a devoted Ram bhakt this time around.

He plays Prem Dilwale, the star attraction in a Ram-leela troupe based in Ayodhya.

He is also seen in the guise of a ruler of a small principality that is gearing up for an elaborate coronation.

If stray parts of PRDP are somewhat watchable, it is only because of Salman's ability to breathe life into the most ridiculous of situations.

There is, of course, no dearth of the ludicrous in this film. Especially implausible are the laboured song situations.

One of the musical set pieces is mounted around a game of football that pits men against women. It is meant to deliver a blow in favour of gender equality but can only be described as infantile.

Yes, PRDP is also about a philanthropic princess (Sonam Kapoor) who runs a charitable foundation and a successful garments business in Delhi.

She is shown early in the film supervising a flood relief camp where Prem Dilwale sets sights on her and develops a crush.

The tale is set in present times, but owing to the way its pans out and because of the anachronistic feel of the setting, it reeks of times gone by.

When a contemporary drama looks and sounds like a period extravaganza, it is apparent that there is something seriously wrong in the way it has been conceived and executed.

The characters, too, are hopelessly stilted. Not even the two pivotal male figures, one of whom serves as a decoy for the other for a large part of the film, come across as a believable humans capable of feeling and expressing real emotions.

Simply put, what PRDP tries to impress upon its audience is that, lucky are those that have the support and love of their families.

Here is a prince who has everything going for him, but he has nobody that he can call his own and bank upon for emotional solace.

His step-brother (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is tired of living under his shadow and gangs up with the royal estate's CEO (Armaan Kohli) to turn things around for himself.

The gloomy prince also has two half-sisters (Swara Bhaskar and Aashika Bhatia) who cannot bear the sight of the man because they believe he has deprived them of their rightful place in the palace.

The princess that he is engaged to also has a litany of complaints against him.

The Ram-leela actor from Ayodhya is plonked into this loveless world along with a friend (Deepak Dobriyal).

The two commoners teach the bickering royals a thing or two about family bonding.

PRDP is a film about family, love and friendship that wants to make all the right noises but does not seem to be aware that the language for that kind of communication is no longer what it was when HAHK's Prem spread love and laughter over two decades ago.

Had the duo of do-gooders taken less time in achieving their end and had Salman Khan been a given a more naturally gifted female co-star than Sonam, PRDP might have been an infinitely better film despite the vapidity of the script.

Salman gives this weightless film an occasional push and a shove in the right direction, but Sonam drags it back with an unconvincing performance. Gawky, giggly and gloriously gooey, she is completely out of her depth here.

None of the other actors in the cast is allowed to be anything more than a glorified extra.

Swara Bhaskar, despite being saddled with silly scenes and lines, is about the only one in this crowd who manages to climb a few notches above the mediocrity all around.

In one scene, a camel gobbles up Prem's little diary. He warns the animal: hazam nahi hoga, diarrhea ho jayega (you can't digest it, you'll get diarrhea).🤢

The overwrought PRDP might not be that bad, but it is syrupy to the point of being unendurable. Only for Salman Khan fans.

http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/prem-ratan-dhan-payo-review-nothing-is-a-fit-in-this-salman-khan-film/

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo review: We don't need the unbelievably thin script to tell us that the pauper will provide life lessons to said bhai', behen', faithful factotum, and toss out pro-tips to his look-alike to win over the rajkumari'.

In 1989, Maine Pyar Kiya' released. Coming from the Rajshris, a production house that prided itself on being low key, the film's impact was cataclysmic. Bollywood discovered a new hero. Salman Khan found his most durable role in Prem, who took his dulhaniya' away much before Raj. And debutant director Sooraj Barjatya found his mtier, and mind-blowing box office success.

From then on, Salman Bhai has essentially been parlaying Prem, or a variant of it, and has done best when he plays that guy with equal parts brawn-and-heart. And Sooraj Barjatya has essentially made the same film since, or a variant of it : in his universe, which essentially consists of a large Hindu joint family, the sons are agyakari baalaks', the male elders are benevolent despots, the women cook and serve, the men are pandered to, and pigeons and poodles are romantic accessories.

Watch Video: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor Talk About Prem Ratan Dhan Payo'

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo', also heavily colour-coded via the Ramayan, draws heavily from Barjatya's previous work , with one glaring cosmetic difference : he sets it not in homes that people like you and me live in, or relate to, but in a grand palace. We get not one but two Salmans for the price of one : a commoner called Prem Dilwale ( a play on SRK's next, also called Dilwale'?), and a prince called Vijay. They are identical looking, so you know where this is going from the get go : out pop the evil step brothers and deluded step sisters, faithful foot-soldiers ,a pretty princess, a dastardly plot, and tada, there's your switcheroo. (Click here to watch fans reactions to Prem Ratan Dhan Payo')

We don't need the unbelievably thin script to tell us that the pauper will provide life lessons to said bhai' ( Neil Nitin), behen' ( Bhaskar), faithful factotum (Anupam Kher), and toss out pro-tips to his look-alike to win over the rajkumari' (Sonam Kapoor). Barjatya's canvas has been the unhurried interplay between families and their zillion rishtedaars', and the gentle, chaperoned, approved nonk-jhonk' between lovers. And even though I sometimes still find it difficult to believe that a Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' swept the nation in 1994 ( yeah, we know, we know it came at the right time and captured an audience heartily sick of the vulgarity and violence that Hindi cinema of the time had fallen prey to), Barjatya rescued his films from becoming maudlin messes with his gift of creating unexpected flashes of sweetness and emotional hooks.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' begins well, with Salman being set up as a playful Ram bhakt' ( again, after Bajrangi Bhaijaan') and Dobriyal playing the hero's-best-friend ( remember Laxmikant Berde in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun'?). A zingy retro Ramayan is being enacted, with men playing female parts, and you settle down for some fun. But it's almost as if this extended interlude is the only thing with any zest in this thing : the rest of it plays out as an out-dated rehash of the director's own films ( including Hum Saath Saath Hain' which I am guiltily fond of) embedded in an outlandish, improbable plot. Samdhijis' and mamajis' and mausijis' in a Barjatya film are par for the course, but a king and a consort and blinding bling and a glittering glass palace? Karan Johar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, where are you?

There's always room, you suppose, for yet another reimaging of the Ramayan, and its million stories. Especially if it has Salman Khan, after all these years of practice, sliding effortlessly into being Prem, and lifting the film as much as he can, even managing quite miraculously not to giggle when his co-star, the-laden-in-tasteful-zardozi-and-industrial-weight-polki-diamonds-Kapoor, hands him a feather, very Mughal-e-Azam' style, in between her other clothes-horsing and jiggle-jaggling. (PICS: Salman Khan at Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor's Diwali party)

But not in this fumbling, confused, derivative way, where you can clearly see a director out of his depth and comfort zone, which had already started feeling moth-balled a while back : his last real success was Vivaah' in 2006. HAHK', for all its extended home video sagaai-joota-chupaayi-shaadi-vidaai' was all of a piece : in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo' nothing belongs, nothing is a fit. And Ms Sonam Kapoor is lissome and quite lovely, but her slim derriere is no match for Ms Madhuri Dixit's saucy, jutting butt in HAHK': nope, nothing in PRDP' for us, in the India of 2015.

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Armaan Kohli, Anupam Kher, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaskar
Director : Sooraj Barjatya

One and a half stars.