Yuvvraaj
This was being touted as Subhash Ghai's comeback vehicle, after debacles like Kisna & Yaadein, and rightly so. Why? This movie looked huge. Huge in terms of star power, huge in terms of music, huge in terms of budget and huge in terms of expectations. The first look managed to grab the attention required to hype the film and the first few trailers were stunning enough to raise curiosity about Yuvvraaj and even consider it as being a potential comeback vehicle for the guy who once was a genious. Talking of comebacks, Yuvvraaj also marks the return of Salman Khan into what we can call ''meaningful cinema''..or at least in a different avatar. Does the film live up to the expectations? Is it a comeback for Subhash?
No
Yups, you heard it right. Yuvvraaj is disappointing. Personally, my expecations were a bit low, thanks to the latest promos...and it hurts to say this, but the film hardly even met them. There is a story [half-baked one though], there is tremendous screen-presence,there are some good scenes and many huge sets but there are also many things missing; soul and consistent direction being the main ones. No matter how cliche this may seem, it's the truth. Yuvvraaj is a body beauty without soul. Now, what would you call a film which doesn't have a proper base [story]? A film which stands on a water-thin plot? A film which has weak pillars [direction]? It's a hardcore melodramaa wannabe fare. There! What a classic dialogue!
The film is strictly average, and I'm being generous here. The story is half-baked. It could have been further developped but no, the makers decided to focus on the sets/costumes, rather than on the screenplay and script. Good! Now face the critics. It seemed like one of those indian serials; half-way through the film and you're kind of ...lost? The film has no essence whatsoever. It starts as a love-story between an obsessive lover [Salman] and Anoushka [Katrina], with the girl's father opposing their marriage [Boman], goes on with the saga of the three brothers [ Anil and Zayed join in] and their father, how the latter dies and how he distributes his wealth between all the rishtedaars, how selfish some of them become and to what extent they can go to,... Oh and needless to add, Ghai made sure to add those typical stereotypes villain characters [the rishtedaars in this case]. Sounds pretty okay in all honesty, but the direction is really not upto the mark. It's very amateurish-that's the word; and coming from someone who's been in the industry for so long, this is unacceptable. There were some good scenes like
[spoiler alert]
*The Boman-Salman scene in the party in the first half, when the former makes fun of the latter.
*Salman coming back to London. His confrontation scenes with Zayed;
*When Zayed slaps Anil;
*The Salman-Zayed-Anil bench scene in Austria;
*The pre-climax;when Sukamna talks with Anil and the whole scene with Anil and his asthma attack and the whole of Dil Ka Rishta song.
[end of spoiler]
However overall, Yuvvraaj fails. I won't say miserably, but it does fail. The climax was poor. It ended way too abruptly and made the whole film look..pointless.
Music was amazing. It's not the best ARR soundtrack, but some of the songs are beyond amazing.Tu Muskura and Dil Ka Rishta are undoubtedly the pick of the lot; although Tu Muskura can be easily deleted. It wasn't really needed. Dil Ka Rishta was very well picturised. Mastam Mastam is another gem. The choreography is superb. Manmohini Morey was smartly used while Zindgi is just about okay. I surprisingly like Shano Shano now. Tu Hi Mere Dost was just about okay-ish. The part when Salman starts flying is ridiculous..but hey hey, coming from crocodile-scene-director, this isn't surprising.
Another asset of Yuvvraaj is the locales. Austria looked absolutely wow. The scenery was really beautiful. Dialogues were okay;nothing to rave about. Editing was poor. Gosh, the pace was so slow and the movie was a tad bit too longg! The movie should be trimmed!!
Performances were decent to average. It's hard to say who steals the show;not because they were all brillant [far from that] but because none of the actors actully delivers a consistent performance. Salman Khan does quite well. It's after a hiatus that we're seeing him in a proper role. Thank God about that! He was real great in some scenes and in others, it seemed like he was...expressionless. Not one of his bests. Anil Kapoor somewhat disappointed me. He was good, but I was expecting more, much more from him. His character was kind of confusing at times. He's supposed to be retarded and yet some of his dialogues/expressions/mannerisms make him sound like an adult. Good but not 100% convincing. Zayed Khan tries hard and succeeds most of the time. He sucked in the scene when he started shouting on the road though. Above average. Katrina Kaif...any guesses here? I think I should just copy/paste what I've said about her in my latest reviews of her films. *Sigh* She looked stunning. Oh and yeah, not much of a meaty role ‘surprisingly’. She managed her part but man,can they stop dubbing her voice? It's really annoying. It sucked. Her expressions were good though, especially during the scenes with Anil/Salman. Chemistry between Salman-Katrina was there...They looked good together. Boman Irani performed decently. He does go slighlty over the top at times and did get on my nerves at places...and why did he look like he just stepped out of Love Story 2050 sets? His look was weird, with those hair and glasses. Mithun Chakraborthy was great. Had a short role but his was the most convincing performance out of all of the actors. Supporting cast was bad.
On the whole, I don't know what to say. My thoughts are divided. It could have been 1000X better-trust me. I'm really sad because if only they polished the story and the director knew his job better, Yuvvraaj would and could have been a near-masterpiece. It's not a must-watch. You may watch it on the big sceen only of you're a fan of the actors or mainly because of the great songs/picturisations and the scenery-that's about it. Otherwise, Yuvvraaj is a forgettable venture. Oh and I hated how they copied Farah's style for the end credits; with the star cast and crew coming on the sceen. At the box-office, the film will struggle in my opinion, mainly due to the excessive length, not-so-aggressive-promotion, slow pace and shoddy scripy/direction. Keeping in mind that family dramas have always opened poorly and with Dostana rocking the halls, Yuvvraaj will depent on a good word of mouth [chances are very slim that WOM will be +ve though; people here looked bored all through].
Rating: 5/10
Average to below-average.