Dilwale

Cast : Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Varun Sharma, Boman Irani, Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi, Sanjay Mishra

 

Rated : 6/10

 

Let’s face it. Shah Rukh Khan is the senior citizen in this film. A patriarchal big bro, almost in the supporting role of launching Varun Dhawan as, say, a father would his son.

 

And Rohit Shetty is someone trying very hard not to be, well, Rohit Shetty. He tries to be Aditya Chopra. He tries to be Karan Johar. But the more he tries to race romance, the more he gets stuck in his cars — sleek cars, sports cars, remodelled cars, racing cars, overturning cars, car chases and everything, well, car hee car!

 

Let’s face it again. Despite all the senior citizenry, despite respecting his recent 50th birthday, Khan is still the king of romance, the showstopper of any film he figures in. His swagger of self-indulgence, his blatant throwing of memorable lines from his earlier movies, his no-one-can-be-‘Raj’-like-me confidence and his effortless rekindling of romance at whatever age is what gives this otherwise not-here-not-there-not-anywhere film its most precious moments. 

 

Then there’s Kajol and her screen presence, this time with all the curves of a diva she never cared to be even in the peak of her career. She looks stunning in her smoky eyes and auburn hair (Dimple Kapadia of Saagar?) and 26-inch waistline accentuated by her stiletto struts that punctuate the film.

 

The Khan-Kajol romance sizzles no doubt but Shetty, being just a little more human with romance than Ram Gopal Verma, lost out on all the fun the jodi used to have on screen in their vintage years. There is no perk in this romance, only a matured intensity which is a victim of gun-toting, crime-driven circumstances. Those Raj-Simran moments are missing; the Rahul-Anjali repartee of a happy relationship is nowhere to be found. There’s only this simmering intensity and seriousness of a romance that tugs at you, once in the past and then 15 years later. Finally it settles down but without making any noise, like a much married couple with nothing to say to each other. And as we are all aware, Shetty does not know how to not make noise so these silent type of exchanges kind of loose ground in the end. Basically, Shetty fails to marry romance with action and comedy, something he pulled off well in Chennai Express. That’s because, in Chennai Express, Shah Rukh was having and giving you fun with his lead heroine. 

 

Here, all the fun, all the laughs are assigned to someone else. Johnny Lever has the job. Sanjay Mishra has the job, and to an extent even Varun has the job.

Shah Rukh, meanwhile, is the Tiger of Hum but is called Kali. Yes, believe me it’s Kali, not Raj or Rahul Raichand who we were waiting for, especially in the company of Kajol. 

 

But then Rang de tu mohey gerua is what you will come out humming as your favourite jodi tries to stitch up another type of love in another era under another director and in another age bracket. For me, it worked but I too wanted some fun in their relationship, the like of what they had while bonding when sooraj hua madhyam.... 

Source: The Sunday Pioneer, 20 Dec, 2015