Thats Raja Sen for you. On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 12:25 PM, Chord <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Ouch! > > --- In arrahmanfans@yahoogroups.com <arrahmanfans%40yahoogroups.com>, $ > Pavan Kumar $ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Even the usually infallible AR Rahman sounds like he's channeling > Viju Shah's greatest hits, and while Ghai's always managed to create > enchanting soundtracks, this one is forgettable and staid. Plus, the > songs are far too long to captivate. Despite the bright colours and > choreography, we're not falling for this Moulin ruse. > > > > (LOL, does this guy has his brains at the top or what? ) > > ----------------------- > > Yuuvraaj, 20 years too late > > > > > > > > > > Raja Sen > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > November 21, 2008 16:23 IST > > > > The very name of the film inspires images of a defiant young > superstar known for his irreverence and his inconsistency. And for > whacking a bowler for six massive sixes, on the trot. > > Subhash Ghai's [Images] peculiarly spelt Yuvvraaj [Images] does > quite the same thing as young Mr Singh, in the sense that it indeed > sets six shots sailing past the boundary. > > However, there is a crucial difference between the two whack-jobs: > whereas Yuvraj dispatched Stuart Broad [Images] to the boundary > successively, ball after ball packed into a high-intensity over, > Subhash Ghai's film stretches it. A lot. Just picture a 50-over > innings with six sixes. Not quite the same thing, > > It's sad and somewhat embarrassing to watch Ghai try valiantly to > sculpt a magnificent innings -- and miss his target rather > spectacularly. The man is batting the only way he knows how, sticking > to his basic formula of melodrama and emotional overdose, but times, > Mr Showman, have changed. Your game needs to be severely adapted, > because currently, it's very outdated. Even hardcore masala now needs > to be served up instantly, sizzling hot; there's no time for dot balls. > > Even the sixes, unfortunately, seem mostly inadvertent. There's > Salman Khan [Images], who occasionally adlibs his way through the > script and does just enough to make you smirk, decidedly despite > yourself. There's Katrina Kaif [Images], who breaks into a smile that > momentarily saves you from thinking about the people and the script > surrounding her. There's Anil Kapoor [Images], the only real actor > among the lot, struggling manfully enough to ensure sympathy -- for > the performer, if not the character. > > > > > > And then there are the absolute gems, like a scene where Anil Kapoor > takes the rap for a Salman Khan hit-and-run (some subversiveness > there, Ghaisaab?). A chastened Khan bails out his brother while > explaining the situation to the Prague policeman, who can't comprehend > just why Kapoor would voluntarily lay his neck on the line. > > 'He's my brother,' says Khan, tersely. 'So?' asks the copper. 'He's > an Indian brother,' Khan explains, eyes moistening. > > 'Aah!' says the policeman after this revelation, nodding his head > with enlightened awareness. In a Subhash Ghai film, that obviously > explains everything. > > Yet if you were planning to head to the theatres to pick out just > such scenes of a classic Ghai vintage, there aren't enough. The film > takes itself too seriously, and plods through a plot forcefed to our > audiences throughout the 1980s, the kind with brothers quarrelling > over an inheritance and scheming uncles hatching nefarious plots, even > as pretty girls have harebrained fathers who sign contracts about > their marriage plans. > > Even the usually infallible AR Rahman sounds like he's channeling > Viju Shah's greatest hits, and while Ghai's always managed to create > enchanting soundtracks, this one is forgettable and staid. Plus, the > songs are far too long to captivate. Despite the bright colours and > choreography, we're not falling for this Moulin ruse. > > To be fair, though, Austria looks good and the colour-palette is > tremendously detailed: the scheming Mamaji, for instance, wears a > kurta the exact same purple hue as his wife's frightful hair. Clearly, > nothing is left to chance. > > Salman Khan plays Deven, an impetuous 'young' man with a manifestly > disturbed past. He sobbingly tells us -- mercifully minus full-blown > flashback -- about his cruel father, one who first hit him and then > sent him off to boarding school for beating up his autistic brother. > 'He left me out of his life, his heart and his will,' Salman weeps > copiously, going on to speak about how his father is a billionaire and > he himself has to live in a rented flat and has to rent a bike. > > This, ladies and gentlemen, is as demented a character as possible. > This repeated 'beating up' of his mentally-challenged elder brother > was unmistakably not as mild as Salman casually whimpers, and the > father was forced into corrective action. If it was an offense bad > enough to cause the father -- not stepfather, you note, an important > distinction in this constantly-cliched genre -- to disown the lad, we > can only shudder and imagine why. > > Having set himself up with the urgent need to become a billionaire > in a limited time, Deven now heads to his late father's estate to > claim what he asserts is his. There is then much skullduggery and > scheming, which, albeit simple-minded and often moronic, paint the > character as an absolute villain. Deven Yuvvraaj isn't lying when he > rebukes poor Beethoven at the film's start: indeed, he is 'a bad boy.' > > If this is deliberate, then we could have been in for one of those > rare films struggling with truly flawed heroes, heroes who are beyond > redemption and have been dastardly throughout their lives, heroes who > don't deserve our sympathy. Yet, like the other sixes, it seems very > accidental indeed, a lazy screenwriter miscuing a shot straight past > the boundary because -- like everyone else involved in the making of > this film -- he took his eyes off the ball. > > Meanwhile, out in the real world, the other Yuvraj has hit two > back-to-back centuries and is hungry for more. Watch him instead. > > > > >
