STARRING

Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen Patel, Asrani, Lalit Parashar, Darshan Jariwala and others.

DIRECTION

Rajkumar Santoshi

STORY

The story of this romantic comedy from Rajkumar Santoshi stables revolves around the life of Prem (Ranbir Kapoor), who thinks that being happy and making others people happy in the city, was the most important work. Prem is life time president of the Happy Club and works tirelessly to achieve his target of making everyone pleasant on the planet.

However, the life is not that simple and Prem’s good-intentioned efforts always result in one or other disaster for the other members of the club.

It was through his good intentions that Prem kidnaps Jenny (Katrina Kaif) to help someone else. However, it misfired, as Jenny was not the same person, who had been targeted to be kidnapped. After being kidnapped by Prem, she thinks him to be a monster on earth.
 
But, Prem has different views about her, and in fact, is fascinated by her gorgeous beauty. Sometimes, Prem likens Jenny to a vanilla ice-cream due to her fair complexion. In his heart of hearts, Prem starts loving Jenny, but is yet to tell her about this.

Gradually Prem comes to know that Jenny was already in love with someone else (Upen Patel), who was son of a politician (Govind Namdeo). He decides to sacrifice  his love for Jenny and takes upon himself to unite the love birds.

As Jenny has been brought up by uncaring parents, the beautiful lass is hungry for love. She is fascinated with the idea of love, and wants someone who reciprocates her feelings with understanding and tenderness.

On the other hand, Prem who was never known for doing some useful work, starts making efforts to earn some money for his love Jenny. In fact, Prem starts working as a halwai and makes laddos and jalebis to sell. He wants to earn money for Jenny, as he has started placing her needs above that of his own.

Prem even starts eating chicken to impress Jenny. It is all due to love that a strict vegetarian like Prem turns to non-vegetarian food items with a vengeance. Ultimately, Prem helps Jenny in fleeing from her own wedding place, and in turn makes enemy of Jenny’s father, future bridegroom and the dreaded don.

What happens to Prem’s love story and if he could manage to win his love, makes the rest of the story.

PERFORMANCE

Ranbir Kapoor, the latest heartthrob of bollywood who plays the loveable character of Prem, proves it again why he has become a hot property in bollywood. Ranbir Kapoor is fantastic in his emotional sequences and makes the audience laugh with his superb comic timing. And that too without any need of making faces or straining himself too much in the act.

Ranbir Kapoor’s sequence where he wears Katrina Kaif’s top to hide her presence in the house, has the capacity of bringing the house down with laughter. Similarly, his scene with Katrina Kaif in the climax sequence, when the beautiful lass slams him mistakenly, is worth watching.

Ranbir Kapoor shows amazing grasp over the ingredients of comic acting and it is hard to believe him coming out with such hilarious sequences with so much ease. Certainly the actor has moved far ahead from his days of ‘Saawariya’ and its towel dropping scene.

Katrina Kaif, the sizzling hot bollywood babe who plays the adorable role of Jenny, comes out with a winning performance. Her chemistry with Ranbir Kapoor is fabulous and the two actors complement each other superbly.

Katrina especially stands out in her sequence when she slaps Ranbir Kapoor thinking that he was stammering to tease her, when he too stammered after Jenny. Katrina Kaif shows that she is capable of not only serious roles, as in ‘New York’, but also humorous roles, as was the case with this flick.

Katrina proves with this film that she has moved from her earlier days of being a glam doll and is ready to take on more challenging roles, if given. She is not only lucky for filmmakers, but also can tickle the funny bone with her histrionic abilities.

Upen Patel, who plays the son of a politician in the film, has come out with an ordinary performance. His track of Katrina Kaif’s lover seems unconvincing and does not add much to the value of this roller coaster comedy.

Smita Jayakar and Darshan Jariwala, who play the parents of 9th pass Prem in the film, have come out with better performances. They are able to show their parental love to their son. The love-hate relationship between Ranbir and Darshan Jariwala has come out beautifully.

Zakir Hussain, who plays the part of villain in the flick, enacts his part well. Navneet Nishan passes the muster. Govind Namdeo, who plays the part of a crooked politician, is alright. Others provide able support to the main cast of the film.

The direction of Rajkumar Santoshi is winner all the way and proves that he is not only capable of making intense flicks like ‘Ghayal’, and ‘Damini’, but can also handle comedy flicks with consummate ease. His handling of first half of the film is superb; however the second half of the flick could have been tightly edited.

One of the highlights of the film is its music rendered by Pritam. In fact, the music is so good that it would hugely help the flick attract the audiences towards theatres. Some tracks are already topping the music charts. The cinematography by Thiru leaves nothing to be desired.

STARDUST VERDICT

Handsome hunk Ranbir Kapoor and sizzling hot Katrina Kaif’s sizzling on –screen chemistry should help the film rock at the box office in the first week. These stars help the film in connecting with the youth, who form the big chunk of movie- going audience. Even Pritam’s lilting musical scores would help it retain its numero uno position at the box office. A good fare.

Star Rating: * * *1/2