Dilwale

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 18th December, 2015
Time : 154 minutes
Director : Rohit Shetty; Writer : Yunus Sajawal; Music : Amar Mohile;
Starring : Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, 21 cars that topple, fly and turn upside down, Varun Sharma, Mukesh Tiwari, Pankaj Tripathi, Boman Irani, Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi, Johnny Lever, Sanjay Mishra



The story doesn’t make any sense. Any. What is it about ? Gangsters or brothers or lovers ? The twists are so predictable that everyone in the hall feels clairvoyant. Even the dialogues are guessable, ordinary and hammy. And it’s stretched longer than the Great Wall of China – songs at every possible juncture – when lovers meet, separate or even think about meeting (or separating) – and an end that just refuses to come, but is a damp squib when it does.

If you still choose to watch it, you’re doing so purely for the star power of Shahrukh and Kajol – the film makers know it – and they make sure they really milk those scenes (pack them with oohs, aahs, trembling voices and lambi, thandi saansein). Apart from two memorable comic sequences (both in the second half), there is precious little to recommend in the film.

SRK used to be a gangster. Had something with Kajol but all that is now over, is the stuff of nightmares. Is now settled in Goa. Has a car modification business. Has two close friends / associates (Mukesh, Pankaj) from the past living next to him. And loves his younger brother, Varun, has taken care of him for the past 15 years. Varun loves his elder brother too. Falls in love with Kriti (a total PYT). And spends most of the first half trying to woo her with best buddy, Varun Sharma. However, can the past really ever remain hidden (in Hindi films)? With Sanjay Mishra, Johnny Lever trying to provide comedy with lame jokes and Boman Irani trying to provide comic menace as the local don in Goa, the film then goes around in circles in the second half before ending as you predicted it would fifteen minutes into the movie.

The best comic sequence involves Mukesh, Pankaj and the two Varun’s when they’re trying to ferret SRK’s past. A close second is Varun Sharma’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama-esque rant against women / dating. The rest is lame, very Golmaal-ish. And very loud - the film is like an overall assault on all senses.

SRK, for a change, looks good. Had been looking haggard, drawn off late. Kajol looks and acts like a million bucks. Dhawan Jr does what he’s asked to do (look cute) as does Kriti (look pretty). Mukesh and Pankaj are excellent, as is Boman in a tough cameo. The other cameo, a must in any Rohit Shetty film, are the multitude of cars and villains that fly all over – this one has more than enough of those but nothing you’ve not seen before.

You wonder how long the script took to finalize in films like these. And then you wish they’d cooked it a little more. It’s not terrible but just very ordinary and very stretched.