THE STORY is about a guy, who is shown to be a penniless singer that performs at a local restaurant, and how he meets a damsel in distress and falls in love with her only to find that she loves another man, who has been out for over a year. The lady awaits the return of her beloved and in the meantime develops a friendship with the singer. With minimal turns in the story, lady luck strikes for the lady’s love and her lover is back leaving the singer alone all over again. The singer is Ranbir, lady is Sonam and her lover is Salman. Rani also tags along in as the unwanted narrator, who falls for the young singer. She, of course, plays a prostitute.

 

The story is slow and interrupted by songs every five minutes, which are good enough to put you to sleep. There are innumerable problems with the script. The sets, which are wonderful and magnificent, are what betray the movie. At times it looks quite fake, even though it’s mentioned that the town is fictitious. The sets blow up the simple faults in the script. The sets change abruptly from instant snow to potholes… all fake and unjustified. At the end of it you are left wondering why you came to see the movie.

 

From the point of cinematography, lights and editing, however, the movie is A-grade. The music is good too. But who wants it?

 

Performance wise, Ranbir is one newcomer, who does not imitate Shah Rukh. He tries Raj Kapoor instead. Not much impressive either. Sonam is nowhere near her father’s debut performance. May be she should rather be a model. She has the looks to be one. I wonder why Rani seems to be justifying prostitution in her recent movies! In any case, she’s no different from the rest of her movies. Stagnating. Hats off to Salman for accepting the role. Who would take it! He hardly has anything to do except romance a beti-samaan Sonam. The star of the movie is certainly Zohra Sehgal.

 

Overall, if you call this cinema, it won’t be wrong to say Bollywood masala is preferred. Bhansali kept the movie under wraps and that’s the reason for the initial response. Otherwise people would have discovered what it is all about and never gone to the theatre. It’s not worth the money if you are not a photography and lighting student.

 

The rest of the audience was actually overjoyed when the movie was over. They could leave the theatre. So much for Bhansali’s creativity! Avoid it.

 

Cast: Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Zohra Sehgal

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Producer: Sony Pictures Limited and Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Music Director: Monty Sharma, Sanjay Leela Bhansali