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About a week ago I prepared myself for the grand Sooraj Barjatya film by watching Hum Saath Saath Hai. Let me begin by saying I am not a fan of ‘these types’ of films. But I have this logic, you can’t review a film because you don’t enjoy a certain genre, you have to review it by itself and whether or not the film covered all elements.
Today, November 12 I entered the cinema hall with no pre-mindset of the film Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
There are numerous reasons why I enjoyed today’s film surprisingly. And I may even give away some spoilers while explaining my reasons.
The film began and I was immediately grasped into it. Seeing the gorgeous elaborate sets, the traditional get-up and the charming Salman Khan as Prem… it was such a delight seeing these elements. And then when characters were introduced, and then seeing that Salman has played a double role had me fully engrossed in the film. In PRDP the problem was introduced, which was very simple and basic… I am sure every other household could relate to the problem.
The obstacle was simple, Yuvraj Vijay Singh, played by Salman, has two sisters and brother and none of them get along due to past family issues. And then Prem also played by Salman comes and saves the day. But as simple the story sounds, there was a lot more to it because it’s in the eyes of Sooraj Barjatya. It was grand, happy, funny, dramatic and maybe partially emotional at some points. Where a simple problem is taken and instead of sitting on the problem for three hours and having a happy ending, Sooraj made the problem seem minuscule and came up with many solutions for the maharaj household. This is another element of the film I really enjoyed seeing.
I was of course fully taken in by Sonam Kapoor’s clothing by Anamika Khanna I was also in complete awe of her performance. It has taken a lot of time for Sonam to open up on screen, in fact eight years and today she opened all possibilities for her film career down the line. She showed innocence, quirky romance, and all sorts of emotions. In addition to her gorgeous beauty, she showed the actress hidden in her.
Supporting actors like Swara Bhaskar, Aashika Bhatia, Anupam Kher, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Armaan Kohli and Deepak Dobriyal were all outstanding. Each and every characters was dissected and portrayed into the story beautifully.
I understand for a film like this, it’s hard for us NOW to take in. I hear from so many older generation folks they miss the innocence, elegance and simplicity old films used to hold. And NOW these days films expose everything, from a romantic scene to expressing how we feel it’s all said with dialogue. In today’s film I saw a mix of both which was very delightful for me. I saw innocence between Salman and Sonam, yet at the same time they slightly expressed their selves to one another but in the most beautiful touching way. There were dialogues delivered by Anupam Kher which are life lessons that will stick with me forever. And many other moments in the film which I found simple beauty in. Loads of symbolism was portrayed and it’s just been a while since our eyes have seen such a film.
While I loved the music by Himesh Reshammiya there seemed to be too many songs. And knowingly that it’s a Sooraj Barjatya film and there are never too many songs for him, it could have cut some time. But I thoroughly enjoyed the song Jalte Diye.
The playful-romantic scenes between Sonam and Salman could have also been cut down, as the film seemed a bit too elongated. The film had a more of Bhansali film feel to it because of the elaborate sets and clothing, but it is really pleasurable to see a film so fully rooted and traditional. I don’t think I want to demand this from every film made today, but it’s surely nice to see once in a while our hero and heroines dressed in lengha cholis and kurthas.
And lastly, I can’t forget to mention that I thoroughly enjoyed Dilwala Prem aka Salman Khan. The charming, lovable and comical character of the film. I loved seeing Salman back as Prem and really enjoy him in this persona!
Urban Asian’s review of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is
