Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is one more reason for you to wonder whether we are back in the 90’s. The other two being the cricket all stars tournament and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s victory in elections. Outdated content is the one simple description that I can give to this Salman Khan starrer. Sooraj Barjatya and his exotic melodramas are still stuck in the 90’s and every single sentiment shown in the film looks extremely cheesy.

Prem Dilwala is the central protagonist of the movie. He is part of a drama troop. He has been collecting funds to donate to the charity works of his favorite, rajkumari Maithili. Prem’s journey to give the fund to Maithili takes him to a palace and that changes everything. Circumstances makes him the “next king” Vijay Singh of that dynasty and also the fiancé of Maithili. How Prem handles this situation and how his charisma influences the complicated family is what the nearly three hour long Prem Ratan Dhan Payo discussing.

At many areas, the movie looks like a spoof of Barjatya’s own kind of films. The backdrop of the movie is luxurious and every frame has this enormous set works. I have to say that in Sooraj Barjatya films even the poor looks richer than the normal middle class. Except for the fact that characters are using Mobile Phones, there is no change in Barjatya’s style of storytelling. Easily predictable storyline, caricature like antagonists, too damn filmy dialogues and of course songs that come out in every 15 minutes. Seeing the sort of visual presentation given to that football song, climax fight, the back story that shows the reason behind the rift between the brothers and sisters, you feel disappointed because of the lack of progress in the film maker’s vision.

At one point, Anupam Kher’s character is asking Prem not to overact. If the actor in Salman Khan listened to that for once, the portrayal would have been better and the filmy feel would have been less. Sonam Kapoor struggles to handle the drama in Sooraj Barjatya’s writing. Anupam Kher was the only actor who had the perfect control over his character. Neil Nitin Mukesh wasn’t that great. Good talents like Swara Bhaskar and Deepak Dobriyal doesn’t have much of a screen time. Armaan Kohli’s Bouncer like appearance makes him eligible for the role of Chirag.

As I already said, Sooraj Barjatya’s writing is pretty much stuck in the 90’s. The kind of progress we expect from a director who managed to grab the pulse of that generation was not there in his making. The exotic sets that shows luxury in every frame makes the film look lush visually. But the narration is high on drama and just doesn’t work. V Manikandan has done justice to the extensive art work done by the production designer. The luxury in imagination is so high that, if the railway minister sees the railway station and the train in this film, he will have tears in his eyes. Visual effects were okay and the music department has tried its best to be in the typical Rajshri zone even though it wasn’t completely successful.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo looks too clichéd, unreal and lamely melodramatic. The appreciation worthy elements in the movie was Anupam Kher’s performance, V Manikandan’s cinematography and also the stellar art work. If you are someone who still needs tissue while watching movies like Maine Pyar Kiya, this one may not bore you. Rating is 2/5 for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.