Mere Brother Ki Dulhan - Average flick... good in bits and pieces

“Mere Brother Ki Dulhan” or in short MBKD (this abbreviation trend must have started because of Yash Raj and Barjatyas because of their tendency to name films in sentences than words!!).

MBKD is the next from YRF banner. Well the problem is ... these days the production houses have stopped directing their own ventures and instead give a chance to younger directors thus diluting their own image. When was the last we saw a true YRF movie produced and importantly directed by Yash Raj Chopra? Well, I cant recollect... and that’s why this movie also doesn’t meet the class and standards that YRC had set in the past.

The movie is average and feels a half-hearted attempt. There are so many scenes, where you feel that the acting, the direction and the editing is a bit restrained. They just couldn’t make sure to go whole hog with the flow. There are many unwanted scenes and many unnecessary songs that have been put together in haste in order to complete the length of the movie. And man... the movie has length... It feels sooooo long. In fact at one point, I was wondering if I missed the interval.

I don’t need to tell the story because the name sums it up and there is nothing more, nothing less than what the title suggests.

Katrina Kaif was supposed to be projected as funky and sparky. In order to do that, the movie makers added so many scenes which just goes over the top. She also tries to overact in order to step outside her boundaries. On the contrary, Imran Khan is supposed to be the shy, reticent guy and he underacts to play the part. The last is the director himself (Ali Zafar from Tere Bin Laden fame). This is his first commercial Hindi venture. I don’t count “Tere Bin Laden” (which was a classic comedy) because that was a Pakistani movie. Here, he somehow tries to carry the same tone which might have worked in Pakistani comedies but somehow in a full-on Bollywood venture, it sometimes came across as over-acting. But there are scenes, where he outperforms Imran.

There are some good points in the movie as well. The music is already a hit. Songs like “Dhunki” and “Kaisa hai Ishq” are good and will continue to be chart busters. There are also many funny moments which will make you laugh. The unusual pair of Imran and Katrina appeals in many scenes especially because the two characters are so different both on and off screen.

The movie had scope for emotions but the director decided to focus on the comedy part. May be curtailing some over-the-top comical scenes with a bit emotions would have made the movie a full Bollywood drama.

In all, if there is nothing else to do this week, the movie can be watched. In any case, there hasn’t been a good movie since last 3 weeks (Please I still don’t count Bodyguard as a decent flick).

This week's flavor: Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani

How do you review a movie whose buzz quotient is so high that for the first time in almost a year we had to struggle to get the movie tickets. Most of the shows across multiplexes were House Full. And then when you watch the movie, the expectations were so volley up that you end up not sure how the movie was.

Well, to be fair, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani is a good movie. Its just that its not worth the buzz it has created. Lets start about the pluses of the movie. Top of the list is once again Ranbir Kapoor. His acting is top-class. It’s good to see a refreshing change from the current trend of actors who are aging 40+. This year has been really good for him after the superb performance in ‘Wake up Sid’ earlier. Next is Katrina who for once plays her true age in the movie. She is sweet, innocent and needless to say beautiful. Then are Ranbir’s parents in the movie (Darshan zariwala and Smita Jaykar). Their chemistry and emotions are worth every presence in the movie. Most of the other actors except may be the “Happy Club” friends of Ranbir are ok and sometimes not required in the movie. By the way, do not miss Salman’s little cameo.

Music is another plus. Most of the songs are good and hummable even after leaving the theatre especially “Tera Hone Laga hun”. I also loved the choreography of the energetic no. “Prem ki Nayiya”. I am sure the movie tracks will be on the Top 10 charts for many weeks to come.

Also which town is this movie shot in... Ooty or just a plain set... whatever it is, it looks amazing and adds to simplistic flavour of this film.

So despite so many pluses, what went wrong in the movie... I think the biggest problem in the movie is its genre treatment : Comedy (It has many many comical moments; some of them almost copying Santoshi’s earlier and my all time favourite Andaz Apna Apna); Romantic, After all the movie is about Prem’s ‘Prem Kahani’ with many emotional moments weaved into it. The movie keeps changing its gear and thats may be where the movie errs.

Second problem which usually is also the problem of most Hindi movies is the length. The first half is too long and too stretched to the extent that by the time interval comes, I was almost wondering if there could be a second half. Some songs are unnecessary and stuffed into the movie.

Overall the movie is worth watching for its look, feel, simplicity and some real funny moments.

By the way, it might not have been positioned as a kids movie... but throughout the show, I could hear kids laughing out loud. The distributors can try changing the positioning and target the kids.

Cultural Dynamics

Ever wondered about the changing dynamics of the world (and please I am not talking about the financial dynamics) … what about the culture and demographics change in the world?

Let me look for London where I have spent more than 4 years. When you are walking on the road, every third person you meet will be a non Britisher. As per official Census figures of 2005, 40% of the London population are non-British. This includes Europeans, Asians (including Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Chinese, etc), Carribbeans, Africans, Latin Americans etc. And this % is increasing every year. The same is true for any major city in the world.

Within India itself, we have started seeing an increase in foreigners coming from all quarters of the world like Japan, China, Korea, UK, Germany, US , and needless to say, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran and the list goes on. And these are not tourists. These are people who have taken up jobs in India for long – term and who knows they might eventually settle down here.
This changing dynamics is not just meeting people of different cultures but a bit more. The different cultures eventually marry each other and the lines start blurring.

A recent and very much in news example of Barack Obama makes it very interesting. He was born to black Kenyan father and a white American mother. His mother was of mainly English, Irish and smaller amounts of German descent. After their divorce, his mother married an Indonesian and lived in Indonesia and Hawaii before moving back to US. A global diversity in just one family…So what do we call Obama – An American, Kenyan, Indonesian?
Inserting some Glamour Quotient into this blog: Voted as the most stylish and sexiest actress by multiple magazines – Jessica Alba. Jessica’s mother is of Danish and French Canadian descent and her father is of Mexican American descent. Back home, the beautiful actress Katrina Kaif was born to an Indian Kashmiri father and a white British mother. There are enough instances like these.
Sometimes I think in another 100 years there might not be people with single nationality, culture, origin, color etc… People would have moved around, married in different cultures and the new offsprings will be a mix of so many cultures that they cant be categorized under one single banner.
So we might have an Indian-American-Iranian-Kenyan person marrying a Nigerian-British-Japanese woman. Don’t you think?

In fact it brings me to another topic that I hope to cover some other time in my blog – How do we define a person’s cultural nationality – By birth, by citizenship, by allegiance, by residence or something else?