All YUVRAAJ reviews here - Page 4

Cast: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif
Director: Subhash Ghai
Rating: *
Drona and Love Story 2050 have competition in vying for the position of the most disappointing films of 2008. Yuvvraaj is a potential contender. It's not just a bad film but a boring film. And a boring film can be much more taxing than a bad one.

It no more surprises that Ghai could make such a shoddy film, especially after he has reinstated our despair through duds like Yaadien and Kisna . In fact he washes away the diminutive hope that one might have had after Black and White .

Yuvvraaj starts as the story of Deven (Salman Khan in his anglicized accent), a chorus singer in Prague. Love is literally in the air as he starts floating around rainbows (without any flying colours) while dreaming of marrying an eternally cello-playing Anushkha (Katrina Kaif). The age-old aamir-ladki garib-ladka formula is thrown into picture with the girl's father objecting to their marriage. There is a strong Munnbhai MBBS hangover to the plot with Boman Irani posing as the father and moreover playing a doctor in the laughter-therapy mode.

As characteristic to Bollywood heroes, Deven actually happens to be from an affluent family who he left behind long back. His billionaire father is now dead and Deven is only happy about the fact as he approaches his family to seek his share of property. From hereon the story deviates to the 80s jaydaad-ki-ladaai as you are introduced to endless characters who want their share from the ancestral assets. You are familiarized with a Sooraj Barjatya kind of unkind family, prominent amongst which is a blue-lens malicious mamaji and a perpetually cleavage-popping bhabhiji.

The family also comprises of two brothers of Deven. Danny (Zayed Khan) is a spoilt brat. Gyanesh (Anil Kapoor) is mentally challenged. And the father chooses to assign his prime property to the latter. Consequently characterless people take charge as they want less characters in the property share.

The script by antique writers Sachin Bhowmick and Kamlesh Pandey has a dated feel and lacks any sort of innovation in storytelling or intelligence in screenplay structure. Subhash Ghai's worn-out direction only makes the proceedings worse and wearisome. The scenes are jumbled with continuity lapses and the dialogues range from clichd to preposterous. Only Salman Khan can pass off with such ludicrous lines like, " Abhi toh sirf well-done kiya hai, abhi dun-dun karna baaki hai " or " Tumne bharosa kiya , now trust me". Whatever that is supposed to mean!

Subtlety is so nonexistent in Ghai's casual approach towards the treatment of the film and despite the magnified melodrama, three is no conspicuous chemistry between the three siblings esp. when the film is supposed to be about brotherly-bonding. Rather the writers choose to mess up matters while making Anil Kapoor needlessly fall for Katrina Kaif, though mercifully the love-triangle is averted before it could create more chaos. A psychiatrist explains that mentally deficient humans are always proficient at classical singing. New research?

Ghai isn't even able to pull-off the Farah Khan style of cast-crew introduction which he attempts in the end credits. And when you are squirming in your seats with impatience, a song goes to say, " Tu Muskura ".

The screen intermittently shows Hindi subtitles when the characters speak in English. How I wish it could also give captions on what Subhash Ghai wanted to express in the scenes, as most fall flat and fail to deliver. I am intrigued what would he comment if the DVD of the film ever had the director's commentary option.

The performances are as disguised as the mannequins and masks that dominate the art-direction. Salman seems to justify his real-life anger, arrogance and obsession (each of which he admits in the film) through the character of Deven as he goes on a glass-shattering and violin-smashing mode. Anil Kapoor wears his trousers the Raj Kapoor style and repeats his innocent act of films like Eshwar, Beta and Kishen Kanhaiya . You never quite understand whether he is singing or boxing. Literally! Mithun Chakravarthy seems to have shot his entire footage in one day as he appears throughout in the same suit. Boman Irani overacts, Katrina under-acts, Zayed can't act. And what was Aushima Sawhney doing in the film?

Since Subhash Ghai refuses to retire, one can only request him to revise and raise his directorial abilities by taking some modern moviemaking lessons in his own film school Whistling Woods.

Yuvvraaj is as scary as having seen the Lord of Death, Yamraaj.