Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher

Rated: 5/10

Sooraj Barjatya, not one but two  Salman Khans, the larger than life Rajshri banner and a peg on recreation of 17-year-old magic — something big, something grand, something romantic — the potential was animated, the promise complete and the box office registers all set to make some noise.

After all, Prem was making a comeback, that too this Diwali. So what if he was no longer 17 years old, so what if the choco look had got mixed up with a lot of brawn, brawl andtaporipanti down the years? So what if the sweet young Salman had graduated into being Sallu Bhai. No one could possibly be Prem as he was. Right?

Wrong. This time round, the grandeur could not be faulted but it was grandeur, family time and romance without the pulse. The Prem ratan dhan was missing. The chemistry was struggling and the babujis andmamujis, the doggies and the kabootars were all gone. In their place were the more plastic and regal bhaisas andbhabhisas who harped more about parampara than about family time.

The biggest casualty of Barjatya’s singular focus on grandness of the sets is the grandness of occasion. There are no cataclysmic moments from which the film recovers, like the family split in Hum Saath Saath Hain, the death of the bhabhi in Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, the fire incident in Vivaah or the parental opposition in Maine Pyar Kiya.

There are no highs either, like the music or the songs or some love bytes. Sonam Kapoor, though gorgeous and royal looks more like out of Vogue mag than from a royal palace of Rajasthan.

And then there is Salman. The script is so thin that despite trying his best to save a limp film, he visibly struggles.

Some may say the age is gone for such capers. Others would argue that recreation of any kind of magic suffers from inherent disorders and slides on slippery patches. Yet others may argue that the precedence of bigness always makes the newcomer a fall guy.

All this is true for PRDP but there is another stark truth to it: The film has a near nothing storyline, a complete lack of moments and absolutely no chemistry of love. Even the family ties are non-existent and all you see is the ostentatious sets which at best can be an art director’s triumph. The seesh mahal, the edge of the waterfall property, the imposing fort, the real palace and all the loyal servants, the moustachioed prince and the roothi hui beheney — all of them gang up against the emotional rapport Barjatya’s viewers have enjoyed down the ages.

Even Salman Khan’s double role (one a simple Ram bhakt from Ayodhya and the other a heritage prince) doesn’t help in sewing the hemline which keeps breaching the tried and tested line of the Rajshri banner.

Besides, most actors of worth are wasted. Swara Bhaskar as the step-sister, Neil Nitin Mukesh as the errant step-brother, even Anupam Kher to a certain extent carry the burden of being largely unemployed in the film. Sonam, despite her “feather me please” act makes no sense and amid all these people even Sallu Bhai tends to get lost in making up for others. Barjatya, indeed, should have looked at people and positions around Prem to create some magic.

Source: The Sunday Pioneer, 15 November, 2015