REVIEW : A WILL TO FIGHT

Rajiv Vijayakar 

November 21, 2008 

Meet three siblings – the autistic Gyanesh (Anil Kapoor) and his stepbrothers Deven (Salman Khan) and Danny (Zayed Khan). Their London-based father (Jawed Sheikh) who has thrown out and disowned Deven for misbehaviour (he is jealous of his father’s extra affection to Gyanesh) years ago, leaves a peculiar will when he dies – his assets, worth Rs 15,000 crore (!!!) in Indian currency, will go to Gyanesh, while his other sons and assorted relatives (all leeches) and dependents will get a piffling Rs 5 crores each!

The disowned Deven is a chorus singer in Prague in a rather incredible hybrid Indo-Western symphonic orchestra where Anushka (Katrina Kaif) is the lead violinist. Anu is the sheet-anchor of Deven’s shattered and lonely life. But their love has an insurmountable roadblock – Anu’s surgeon father (Boman Irani), who opposes the penniless Deven ruthlessly.

Deven accidentally comes to know that his father has passed away and rushes to London to claim his share, after signing a contract with Anu’s dad that if he does not become a billionaire within 40 days, the surgeon can marry Anu off to the friend’s son whom he has chosen as her future husband.

In London, Deven’s father’s lawyer Sikander (Mithun Chakraborty) is executor of the will and after it is read out, Deven and his younger wayward brother Danny (Zayed Khan), who has no affection lost between them, join hands in a business partnership to grab the money by foul means. Since Gyanesh’s safety is ensued by a clause in the will, Deven and Danny have to resort to a cunning plot and a “business partnership” of winning over the child-like Gyanesh and then separating him from his wealth.

Deven takes Gyanesh back to Austria, the base for a major show being put up by Anu. Gyanesh is a natural ace as a classical Indian singer and Anu and her orchestra discover his brilliant talent, so far acknowledged only by the servants’ kids (!) in his London household.  A suspicious Danny lands up there too. and slowly but surely, Deven and Danny realize that their relationship has far more meaning and value than the money they are fighting for. After all, there’s nothing to beat family!

Subhash Ghai’s story is very relevant to these calculating, mercenary times, his direction assured and production rich, colourful and passionate, but the screenplay (which he has written with Sachin Bhaumick and Kamlesh Pandey) proves a stumbling block. Not only is it long and languorous, but often (along with his dialogues) quite outdated and plain silly. In the climax, the writers and director resort to a very ‘60s kind of villainy, and the wannabe-Farah Khan end-titles could have been avoided too.

The supporting characters are very caricature-like (a Ghai failing since Pardes that is getting worse with each film) and here they are also ill-developed. Aparna Kumar’s in-your-face vamp turn is an avoidable throwback to the ‘60s. One can understand Ghai’s passion in filming songs, but their sheer number and length here are a downer, especially since they steamroll the film’s already long-drawn pace and are intrinsically no more than average in lyrics and music. Take Mastam mastam – the hundreds of dancers, CGI and the overall length and money expended on the song do not even result in a fraction of the impact that his Pyar karnewale kabhi darte nahin (Hero) had in a near-identical situation. The background music is often intrusive.

A lot of the main developments in the plot seem to lack conviction in narrative build-up – and the perfect cinematography (Kabir Lal) has had a lot of its eye-pleasing impact diluted by excessive and ill-considered DI, which takes away from the stunning locales of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

The performances are sincere – Anil Kapoor is into another calculated performance as the autistic, but there’s heart too in his essay. Salman Khan is palpably sincere and intense in a very confused characterization – and a lot of the Anil-Salman scenes bring in an emotional quotient as both actors rise above the script. Katrina Kaif does not have much of a role but does well. So does Boman Irani as her father, but Zayed is generally very average.

Watch the film if you are a hardcore Subhash Ghai fan – it is much better than both Kisna and Black And White. But Ghai needs reinvention fast and we are sure that someone of his talent will not find that difficult. He should also do a rethink on his (excessive and average) music too. His past pillars Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Anand Bakshi cannot be replaced, but clearly Ghai needs someone who can understand him better. But on the other side, the film has its heart in the right place, a story that has its own social relevance, and several fulfilling moments. The trip to the movie-hall isn’t wasted or regretted, but it’s not something that will have dancing with joy either. Ghai’s comeback as a director will just have to wait a while.

RAJSHRI.COM RATING:

What our stars mean?

: AWESOME, SO DON’T MISS
: PRETTY COOL
: WORTH A DEKKO
: WATCH IT IF YOU MUST
: THROW YOUR TICKET AWAY