Ramaiya Vastavaiya reviews

Bollywood review: Prabudheva's 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya' isn't for everybody

Only those with a lavish appetite for Bollywood frivolities will be able to digest this over-the-top, mushy romance

You need to be of a certain type to be able to endure Bollywood romances, especially when the lovers break into a song-and-dance routine at every crucial point in their life, and go through a fair amount of grief and separation because of objecting parents/siblings only to reunite in 'happily ever after'.

That's not all, love always blossoms between the opposites. The man is often unabashedly boisterous, excessively rich and enjoys teasing his woman into submission, while the woman is often poor, overtly traditional and willing to be wooed in the most unromantic manner.

The lovers are always good, while the ones objecting to their romance always evil.

And, love inevitably grants the couple with strange super-powers, enabling them to overcome any hurdle and counter any torture with ease.

So, when the lead pair makes their on-screen entry in slow-motion as the camera highlights their every feature, over blaring background score, possibly to ensure they don't go unnoticed, you know it's going to be run-of-the-mill.

The quintessential Bollywood fairytale is painfully predictable and excessively indulgent.

Dancing superstar Prabhudeva's third film (after blockbusters 'Wanted' and 'Rowdy Rathore') is devoid of any big stars and stays safely formulaic.

A remake of his Telugu directorial debut 'Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana', Prabhu invests in every clich in the Bollywood rulebook, without ever attempting something new or original.

Ram is an Australian-born rich brat, who flies to India with his snooty mommy, to attend his cousin's wedding. During the festivities, he bumps into his cousin's bestie Sona. They don't hit it off initially, but eventually end up feeling "something-something" for each other.

Their love is short-lived as his mother finds him another match, who is far more suited to their wealthy status. She then humiliates and throws Sona and her brother Raghuvir out.

The heartbroken Sona returns to her simple life in the village.

But, Ram follows her and is determined to win over her brother, who had singlehandedly raised her after they were orphaned at a young age.

Raghuvir, however, isn't ready to oblige and subjects Ram through a rigorous farming exercise to test the depth of his love.

Prabhu's rom-com appears to be a strange concoction of earlier Bollywood romances. The first-half reminds us of 'Hum Apke Hai Kaun' and 'Maine Pyaar Kiya', while the second-half is inspired by 'Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya'.

But, unlike the names we've mentioned earlier, 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya' wouldn't make it in the same league only because there's no soul in this love story.

Everything else is in abundance, from dances to sets, to over-the-top characters, there's nothing quite low-key in this romance. With only Sonu Sood singled out as the sole sober performer. All the others indulge in heavyduty melodrama.

Shruti Haasan comes a close second with her timid portrayal of Sona. She's fairly bearable and showcases immense improvement, but Shiraz Ahmed's screenplay is way too distorted to give her any real standing. What it does allow her is to flaunt her gorgeous features.

Debutant Girish Taurani is allowed to monkey around incessantly, leaving us and his ladylove rather exhausted. We are constantly reminded of Fardeen Khan's hyper act in 'Khushi'.

And, when he's not bouncing off the walls, he's busy romancing or eating extra spicy food and cleaning up the cowshed. On the positive side, he displays a ribbed body and dances with impressive grace, making 'Ramaiya Vastavaiya' as an excellent audition tape for the actor.

Veterans Randhir Kapoor, Satish Shah and Nasser clown around, (rarely) evoking a chuckle, while Vinod Khanna and Poonam Dhillon play the good and the bad with maturity.

Prabhu also makes an appearance, alongside item girl Jacqueline Fernandes in a funky dance number, while famed choreographer Ganesh Acharya also prances around.

Considering Prabhu's forte lies in dance, the songs are choreographed in his fun trademark moves, but that's not enough to base an entire movie on.

We suggest you wait for telly viewing or rent out the DVD, because it allows you to switch channels or turn it off in case of any allergic reaction. If nothing, it'd work out cost-efficient.

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Rating: 2.5/5 stars (Two And Half Stars)

Star cast: Girish Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Randhir Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Vinod Khanna, Poonam Dhillon, Satish Shah, Govind Namdeo, Zakir Hussain, Nassar, Anchal Singh, Pankhuri Awasthi

Director: Prabhu Deva

What's Good: Designed to be an obsessive crowd pleaser this film doesn't leave any stone unturned to be obviously funny!

What's Bad: The film tries too hard to be funny, loud and ridiculous, not to mention cliched!

Loo break: Innumerable

Watch or Not?: Ramaiya Vastavaiya is for people who have a taste in juvenile comedy. This Prabhudeva directorial works unabashedly on regular formula of a hero, a heroine and her staunch elder brother. Expect an average entertainer, this one is a stylishly silly, regular masala rom-com that expects you to leave your brains at home!

An Australian born NRI Ram flows down to India to attend his cousin's wedding and falls in love with her friend Sona. Despite other women eyeing him, her nave charm makes our hero go gaga on her.

But one insulting scene between his mother and girl's brother shatters his perfect picture. Now he must impress a conservative and robust brother, who is fiercely protective of his only sister. The film attempts to celebrates the triumph of a love story that must mend a few impossible fractures to win.

Ramaiya Vastavaiya Review: Script Analysis

I would have shamelessly said 'What Story?' but that would be unacceptable and so I will care to elaborate on this. This movie is a cross between Salman-Kajol starrer Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya and the classic Hum Aapke Hai Kaun. What lacks here is the innocence and elan of those films! The one-liners and gags are simply stupid and leave no impact. The term subtle has no relevance in such films and hence its best you don't expect it. The gags don't seem to exhaust themselves as they begin to stench more through its runtime, making it even more tedious to bear with. The heavy borrowing from Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kiya just proves that there is such a dearth of innovation in dishing out old ideas!

Prabhudeva manages to make the story sleek in extraordinary ways but his efforts are half baked as every frame of the films will remind you either of the afore mentioned films. This film is invariably stale with no earnestness that is what fails it.

Ramaiya Vastavaiya Review: Star Performances

Girish Kumar has innocent eyes and that's all I managed to notice about him. It was bearable sitting through his chimp like acting because he is endearing!

Shruti Haasan is the striking shadow of her mother, in beauty. However, her acting has way to go before it evolves to that! She has a pleasant screen presence to aide her shaky performance which works in her favor.

Sonu Sood is robust and scorching! Yes, it indeed doesn't match up to the charisma he lent to Chedhi Singh in Dabangg but he is undoubtedly good!

Randhir Singh is wonderful as Girish's father. And both Poonam Dhillon and Satish Shah deserved better roles!

Ramaiya Vastavaiya Review: Direction, Screenplay and Music

Prabhudeva's signature flamboyance is what the film reeks of. His first tryst with making a romantic comedy is as good or bad as the rest of his repertoire. However, the film lacks the enigma of his previous films, for the obvious lack of actors that colossal. The screenplay is colorful and doesn't go insipid but the grotesque sense of humor it imbibes could have been avoided. The music is strictly fine and Jaadu Ki Jhappi is what prevails for Prabhudeva's maverick like dance.

Ramaiya Vastavaiya Review: The Last Word

Ramaiya Vastavaiya is strictly a mediocre entertainer that despite its loud and garish ways manages to hold well. Its childish and regular formulaic affair works if have the appetite for standard entertainer. I am going with 2.5/5. If you lock up your logic, this one will do for you!

https://www.koimoi.com/reviews/ramaiya-vastavaiya-review/

Haha I knew it was remakes of Salman's romantic films.

Boy meets girl. Falls in love. But family doesn't endorse their relationship. Determined, the lovers resolve to win over the displeased relatives through hard slog, willpower and integrity... Aah, haven't we visited similar themes numerous times in the past? But storytellers the world over tend to replicate stories -- with modifications and alterations, of course -- interpreting the yarn in their individualistic way.

After regaling spectators with masala entertainers like WANTED and ROWDY RATHORE, Prabhu Dheva unleashes his new outing RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA. Clearly, the promos give an inkling that Prabhu dwells on the age-old formula in his third Hindi outing, a genre that's oft-repeated post MAINE PYAR KIYA [1989]. Come to think of it, not only does RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA bring back memories of MAINE PYAR KIYA, but also ANARI [1993; Venkatesh - Karisma Kapoor, with Suresh Oberoi playing the strict older brother], DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE [1995; SRK - Kajol, with Amrish Puri as the stern father] and PYAAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA [1998; Salman - Kajol, with Arbaaz enacting Kajol's authoritarian brother].

In reality, RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA is the remake of Prabhu Dheva's directorial debut NUVVOSTANANTE NENODDANTANA [Telugu; 2005], which was subsequently remade in other languages. The query is, why tag on the oft-repeated premise for a present-day film? But let me also add that romance is eternal and if one looks at the success ratio of this genre, the results have been fantastic, with almost every top name today having commenced his career with a love saga.

RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA may bear similarities with above named movies, but the drama unfurls way too differently here. Sure, there are deja vu moments, despite the germ of thought being analogous, but Prabhu and screenplay writer Shiraz Ahmed ensure that they pack several novel and mass-friendly punches, introduce new characters, besides packaging it well enough for the entertainment-seeking spectator to lap it up.

Ram [Girish Kumar], the Australia-returned youngster, meets Sona [Shruti Haasan] at his cousin's wedding and falls in love with her. He follows her to her farm, run by her brother [Sonu Sood], who is against this match, since Ram is too affluent for them. He throws a challenge at Ram if he has to win Sona's hand in marriage...

The emphasis is solely and absolutely on providing entertainment in movies such as RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA and Prabhu Dheva has mastered the art since the time he donned the director's hat. The aiming-at-masses director struck the pot of gold in his first two Hindi movies and in RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA too, he ensures he ups the entertainment quotient in every frame. Of course, unlike WANTED and ROWDY RATHORE, where romance was the second-most important ingredient, the love story is the focal point of RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA, but Prabhu is not at sea tackling the genre. Furthermore, this may be atypical love story, with the spectator knowing beforehand what the wrap up would be, but the journey in the second hour specifically is pleasurable, with Prabhu and writer Shiraz Ahmed blending episodes to cater to every strata of the movie-going audience.

RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA is not without its share of blemishes. To start with, the sequences between the lovers don't work in entirety. Note the sequence at the bath tub; it only adds to the length of the film. Besides, the narrative tends to stagnate in a few sequences, while a few episodes have been stretched for no particular reason. Cinematography [splendid work by Kiran Deohans] and the action [invigorating fights by Kaushal-Moses] are in tandem with the content of the film.

With Kumar Taurani [Tips] in the producer's chair, obviously, the soundtrack has to be rich. It's a given, right? And Sachin-Jigar, the talented jodi, doesn't disappoint either. 'Jeene Laga Hoon' is lilting and has already attained tremendous popularity, while 'Jadoo Ki Jhappi' and 'Rang Jo Lagyo' are wonderful compositions as well. Priya Panchal's lyrics compliment the melodies, while the choreography is eye-catching as well.

Obviously, RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA is the launch vehicle for Girish Kumar and the actor gets the opportunity to sing, dance, fight, emote, display varied emotions... in short, the film is meant to be a showreel that shows off his acting credentials. Of course, Girish being a first-timer, there are some rough edges, but the fact is, he's photogenic and goes through the rigmarole with confidence. Whether it his introductory sequence [surfing in the sea] or breaking into a dance, whether he's exposing his chiseled physique or wearing desi outfits, whether he's asked to look innocent or flirtatious, Girish gets it right.

Shruti Haasan looks gorgeous and is akin to a breath of fresh breeze. She radiates innocence, but can be naughty the next minute and conveys a lot through her eyes. It would be great to see her in varied roles in times to come. Sonu Sood is exceptional. In fact, this is amongst his finest performances. The film has a gigantic supporting cast comprising of Vinod Khanna, Randhir Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon, Govind Namdev, Satish Shah, Zakir Hussain, Nasser, Sarfaraz Khan, Mushtaq Khan and Paresh Ganatra and each of them enact their respective parts with proficiency. Jacqueline Fernandez and Prabhu Dheva's song is high on energy.

On the whole, RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA is a simplistic love story narrated competently. Besides, the chemistry between the lead actors, the gripping second hour and of course, the Hit musical score should contribute to its triumph. Recommended!

https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/moviemicro/criticreview/id/563935