Prem’s labour lost

Nonika Singh

In a way it’s the same familiar terrain. But the ground Barjatyas once excelled in has slipped under their feet. It neither exists in the film world nor are cine-goers ready to believe in such simple homilies. Har family mein problem hoti hai par woh lucky hai jin ki family hoti hai. 

Barjatyas revel in upholding family values with great moral indignation if not outrage and nothing wrong with that. For all said and done, family is the basic social unit that drives us and our movies. Moreover, as and when they have created a world peopled with sugar syrupy saccharine characters, howsoever artificial and melodramatic their reel beings might be, there is a degree of relatability. For, they often come from a world you and me inhabit. 

But as they take their glycerine eyed beings into a royal setting, rope in Sallu Bhai in a double role, have larger than life splash of colour and splendour (more like glitter), even this USP of their craft goes for a toss. Seriously in this age and day who is interested in the coronation of a yuvraj, his estranged relations with his step siblings, a sheesh mahal as testimony of raja’s extravagance and indulgence and more surface level gloss? The treachery and intrigue and good hearted imposter taking yuvraj’s place are meant to be royal secrets. Oh dear, excuse us for spilling the beans but honestly few minutes into the film and the chain of events is self-evident. Till the first half you keep going with the nonsensical banter and chatter for Sallu bhai as Prem holds his ground. 

As promised in promos time and again, Prem is back as Prem Dilwale, a Ram bhakt of Ramleela entourage. His heart of gold reflects in his earnest portrayal of this Ayodhaya wasi, who finds himself caught in the yuvraj’s chair and his love for the beautiful charity-driven rajkumari. For a while he and his sidekick Deepak Dobriyal (he deserved better though) manage to make merry and make you smile. 

Sonam Kapoor as the princess too fits and flits in and out nicely and fetchingly. Till the intermission Sooraj’s ability to tell a story well holds you.

But post interval the cookie crumbles under the weight of stepsisters (Swara Bhaskar), conniving half-brother (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and even more manipulative CEO of the royal estate (Arman Kohli), a comely secretary and god knows who all. All the king’s men and family faithful (Anupam Kher as the loyalty personified) can’t hold it all together. It’s not just the sheeshmahal that comes undone but all else. The attempts to elicit humour turn outright outlandish and can work only for the intelligence challenged. The football sequence where all the regal guests gather for a sombre speech and go around kicking the football is so humbug and lame that you want to kick yourself if not Sooraj. 

Familiarity breeds contempt but only if Sooraj had played his usual cards, at least he would have managed to touch a few emotional chords and have us teary eyed if nothing else. But on a turf that is rather slippery from the word go…. no goals are scored. Strictly for Salman fans who off late is becoming the male equivalent of Miss Two Goody shoes. In fact, he is the only reason why you could suffer this old wine in new bottle, sorry the bottle too belongs to another era. What to talk of rattans, nothing of value even entertainment, is to be found here.