I have a problem with Karan Johar's films. I doubt he makes films to push his limits of creativity. He makes it to make money and entertain people, which in his own selfish way is also fine. What is the use of making films that dont make money in the first place. This is a very disturbing thing as far as film making goes. The greats in the film industry made films because they loved the art of film making, had a great story to tell. They made it with their heart and left it to the audiences to decide wether they like it or not. Cash registers at the box office hardly mattered to the filmmakers. That is what possibly differentiates a good filmmaker from the great. With Karan Johar as a producer, I think he is right with his choice. Dostana will make money. With films running in every show in the multiplexes, audiences are left with no choice but to watch it. I wished to see Dasvidaniya, but there are few shows around in the multiplexes and at timings which are either early or late in the night. This is what a big budget mediocre film can do to a honestly made small budget film. The media would rate the success of the film by the cash earned rather than the quality of content. Not fair, but life isnot fair either.
With regards to Dostana, I came out with mixed feelings. I laughed through the movie, but in the end felt very uncomfortable too. I wasnt too aware of why this feeling prevailed. A little introspection later, I believe I could pen it down in a comprehensive manner.
Dostana is about two guys who pretend to be gay to rent out an apartment. But the problem starts even before the film starts. It starts with a song Shut up and bounce. Does this have any relevance to the movie. Hell, no! When I saw the film Rock On, right from the first frame, the film was true to itself, and I knew this film was a winner by the time the film was 30 seconds into it. OK, back to Dostana. Later comes a series of co-incidences where John and Abhishek keep meeting each other. And the co-incidences are so overdone that they land up in the same cab going to the same venue to the same apartment and later fall in love with the SAME woman! It looked like a plot from the 70's where the protagonists are destined to meet each other no matter what, and the director plays God. Well, all said and done, they both take up the apartment but share the apartment with Priyanka who is so HOT, these straight guys would find it difficult to play gay, and both of them fall in love with her. They become the best of buddies, and trouble arrives when a third contender comes in the face of Bobby Deol. The concept on the outset looks great but also with a lot of challenges. The challenges being to potray homosexuality in a tasteful manner. Though the sequence where Kirron Kher accepts John as his sons partner does justify it, every other sequence becomes hilarious at the cost of mocking homosexuality and making it a caricature. In a time where homosexuality is still illegal in India, and the gay movement has just begun, it gives a sorry face to the gay community. It would be interesting to see what the gay community has to think of it.
However, there are spurts of brilliance in the film. But they go as soon as they come. The camera work is beautiful, the colors nice. And yes, the camera has ogled at Johns physique that earlier were only limited to hot-bod's of women. And in the initial frames of the film, Johns butt takes up more importance than anything else. The typical shots of introducing protagonists still remain. They would show you every other part of their body, from fingers, nostrils, ears before they finally reveal the protagonist. The Johar and the Chopra prodigies are so addicted to such type of dramatic entries of their heroes and heroines, these are things that should be taught in film schools of 'What not to do in films!'
In the cast, I was glad to see John act. He has finally come of age, and his expression has gone beyond what he carried in his earlier films. In the film Kaal, there was a competition between the python and John - who can maintain the same expression for a longer period of time and John won it hands down. But now, he is more expressive and is much more at ease with the camera and its a nice thing to see. Abhishek is in the same skin as he was in Bluffmaster. It looks like he stepped out of the Bluffmaster set and got into the set of Dostana. All said and done, he has great comic timing. Boman Irani is first rate as he always has been, and Kirron Kher hams, but is endurable. The dialogues are good, however the screenplay has craters in it, but who cares?
The Indian audience, specially the college going kids will lap it up, the family audiences will cringe. This is a film for metropolitan cities and NRI audiences.
Would you recommend this movie to your friend: Yes
