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 When I went in for the Friday afternoon show of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, I did not know what to expect, because honestly, some movies either have good trailers and turn out to be cold turkeys, or end up being badly packaged and promoted as a whole. This trailer hung somewhere dangerously in the middle, and I wondered if such a movie would work. I remember Imran Khan stating in the press conference in Abu Dhabi on the day of the World Premiere of his film, “I found the script really funny.” Also, the fact that Katrina Kaif is said to have finished reading the script in three hours flat before enthusiastically agreeing to do the film piqued me a bit, making me wonder.."shaayad kuchch dum hai movie mein". The music has already become my personal favorite because composer Sohail Sen has successfully managed to blend a certain classy finish to the commercial stuff, and the heavily promoted videos managed to do just the trick. As a plus point, Yash Raj’s last Band Baaja Baaraat was a solid, power-packed entertainer, and I wanted to see if this one would live up to the promise of the last.
The story starts with one fine evening in London, when Luv Agnihotri (Ali Zafar) has a nasty breakup with his girlfriend Piyali (Tara D’Souza). Shifting back to Mumbai, Kush, Luv’s brother, is attending the success party of the film he’s assisted in, when Luv (who Kush endearingly calls Bhaisahab) calls him up to ask him for a teensy-weensy help: he wants to marry a desi chick, and trusts his younger brother’s instincts of choice, and this is when Kush ends up making a trip to Dehradun to sort stuff out. After so many failed choices, courtesy his firm, uptight father (Parikshit Sahani), he sends out a classy Matrimonial advert, to end up getting a call from a foreign services officer who’s interested in the applicant and wants his daughter to marry him. And then Kush finally meets Dimple (Katrina Kaif) – the craziest girl he’s ever seen in the whole of his lifetime. The two set out on crazy pre-wedding preparations, until Luv ends up finding out that he’s falling in love with uske brother ki dulhan, ensuing a great deal of confusion, some masti, and true-blue pagalpanti. For those who think the point of conflict of the dude falling in love with his brother’s wife-to-be is something new, think Sorry Bhai!, starring Sharman Joshi, Sanjay Suri and Chitrangadha Singh – a heavily underrated gem in which the conflict follows a similar, if not the same route, which shows that there’s nothing so different or hatke about the concept, but what makes the concept different is it’s scripting and character development, with each passing moment having a terrific blend of clean comedy and an overall feel-good, delectable aura. A story like this could go either ways, but the screenplay written is witty, and this is what makes the movie a completely fun experience. This also being a romantic comedy, it had good doses of comic elements, but the comedy fortunately ends up being more of a subtle nature, with wordplay and dialogues forming the main element of the scenes. The chemistry between Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif is absolutely wonderful, and the way the visuals of Choomantar have been executed is testimony to the same. I remember a particular part of the song where Katrina Kaif blindfolds herself to experience the thrill crossing a road full of passing cars, when Imran suddenly catched up behind her, and hold her hand, to which she turns, her blindfold dropping down in the process, and the way the song proceeds after that makes you fall in love with the couple. Also terrifically written is the scene in which Imran feeds a drunk Katrina some yogurt to lessen her drunken stupor. Also, what makes is more compatible with a larger audience is the realist characterization of the three leads, and the absolutely clean family entertainment. Also, whilst most of the romantic comedies have an overlong, emotion driven second half, this one keeps the light-hearted feel throughout, which I think debut director Ali Abbas Zafar has deftly handled with the film. Comic sequences like theLuv-Piyali breakup and the Koffee-With-Karan-esque ‘rapidfire’ round between Dimple and Luv are really fun stuff! Also look out for the tagline “ I’m a Complan boy!” and I’m sure you’ll find yourself laughing! Technically, the film is very strong, with cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee taking the cake right away, and let me point out some of the absolutely well-framed slow motion shots – and at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll have to re-testimonize the shot of Choomantar in which the blindfolds of Kaif go off as she ends up giving a lingering look at Imran Khan, with a gorgeous smile – many of which make for a lovely viewing! The movie boasts of a consistent edit, though at places, you end up thinking that the knots could have been tighter at many places. Music and background score by Sohail Sen are terrific, and the music of Dhunki and Choomantar end up having the best visuals ever, though all the other visuals are also very well shot and absolute fun to watch.
Well, where there are positives, there are turn-offs too, and what really turned me off was that the writer was more interested to make a parody of other films but wasn’t really ready to replace them with wit, because most of the original dialogues were really funny, and I could hear the audience laughing more at them than at the movie rehashes. Also, the point of conflict was revealed a bit too soon, and I guess it would have been a bit saner to have waited for a little longer, so that the second half wouldn’t drag for some viewers. Apart from all of that, this is really a romantic comedy that works big-time! Sure, it’s no Jab We Met or Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, but I assure you, it’s a whole lot of fun, where the more appreciable part is that the rona-dhona factor is kept at a bare minimum. It’s an absolute fun to watch, with star-power, Katrina’s brilliant performance, and the awesomeness of the songs and their picturizations. At the risk of repeating myself once again, please do not miss Choomantar for anything in this world if you’re intending to take a pee-break during the songs! I had a blast, and ended up finding out that this is one of those films that you might like, or just say meh, when you first watch it, but the very thought of it moves through your head and you end up enjoying it more in retrospect, making you want to go and watch the movie once again! I rest my case! The rest depends on your choice and your opinion.
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Coming to the performances, I’m going to have to do something I wouldn’t have thought of doing in a long time, and start with talking about Katrina Kaif, as it is her spunk and her absolute gleeful digging into her role that would make any disinterested person watch the whole movie for her, because she’s terrific, making this one of the four career-best performances after Namastey London, New York and Raajneeti. If you don’t want to watch this movie for anything, watch it for Katrina alone, and I’m sure her beauty and histrionics will be worth your ticket! Imran Khan’s the usual, and he slips into his role really well, because he’s done similar stuff in Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na already! And though it’s Imran who’s promoted absolutely madly, it’s Ali Zafar who takes the cake with the most confident performances among the male leads. We all know what a kick-ass performance he’s delivered in his debut outing Tere Bin Laden. And now, with Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, you know he’s got that it factor in him to go there and conquer the Bollywood world! More experienced actors like Parikshit Sahani and Kanwaljeet Singh provide ample support with a seasoned performance! Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub (previously seen as the murderer in the film No One Killed Jessica) comes back to provide some spunk in his character as Luv’s best friend. Tara D’Souza is smokin’ hot, but her performances and hamming are mere turn-offs, and she has to be a bit more natural and comfortable with her performances henceforth. Rest are super-fun to watch.