Addressing the more important issue first, the film belongs to Rohit Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan, two self-made successful creative people having seen those hard days of struggle and financial dependency on others in their respective past. But perhaps they have forgotten that ‘unforgettable phase of life’ and now damn care about the deliberate increase in ticket prices of their own movies, that certainly is a cunning business move just made to exploit the viewers and get some quick weekend returns.
So dear self-made icons,
if you can firmly (read egoistically) stick to your release dates (despite a clash with another biggie), can rope in any younger artist in your film using the influential status, can go for any production/distribution house to associate with as per your choice or can simply do everything being one of the three biggest actors/directors of our industry at this particular moment…………. then why cannot you see, feel the concern and stop this manipulating practice of increasing the ticket prices of your films just to reach some desired number of collection or box office returns?
With such a huge fan following surely opting for your film in any case, why cannot you go for a revolutionary step of lowering the ticket prices instead of increasing them?
OR
Is it the case that it doesn’t matter to you anymore since you have already done with that struggling phase of your life and enjoying the success without caring about what is being (insanely) charged for your films from your own fans, your own people, who made you what you are living like a King in the year 2015.
Putting it more bluntly, whether you are a Khan, Kapoor, Kumar, Shetty or a Bhansali,
if you damn care about the deliberately increased ticket prices charged from your own people, your fans repeatedly then,
WHO YOU ARE MAKING YOUR FILMS FOR?
For we the people, your fans ……….. or the multiplexes, the corporates and the foreign production houses interested in just encashing the huge prospects in our 125 crores population full of potential sales.....!!!!
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Next coming to the film itself, its once again nothing more than ‘a mixed chaat’ offered by the team taking references from here and there and presenting the same old things in a new smartly packaged product entirely relying on the two big names of SRK and KAJOL.
Opening in a typical filmy style riding high on the brotherly emotion, the big brother influence of HUM is clearly there but with a highly artificial or less impactful execution ruining a potential plot. As a result you never feel anything emotional happening on the screen at all amongst the routine cars explosions, gun-fires, gang-wars and all forced comic sequences in the initial hour. In fact the flashback giving you the glimpses of the magical pairing of SRK-KAJOL comes as the only relief element in the first half along with the fresh looks of Varun Dhawan and Kriti in particular. But at the same time it’s pretty strange to see the overplayed song GERUA inserted at such a bad moment when you are just about to walk out expecting an interval (with that over-the-top picturisation of the couple walking on the water, though supposed to be on a real location). Besides here we also have another inspired sequence of ‘5 minute date’ lifted from one of the episodes of a famous western TV Series HOW I MET YOU MOTHER.
Post intermission, the film continues with the same old routine storyline of gang rivalry, misconceptions leading to separation and then silly schemes being planned to unite the big couple again. Plus after almost 100 minutes into the film you realize that probably it was the acceptance of a weak product in hand that they cunningly decided to go for the highly condemnable act of increasing the ticket price having the fear of failure.
Moving ahead the most painful time watching DILWALE comes in its final hour when you repeatedly wish the film to finish off in the very next scene but the director refuses to do so and keeps on throwing vague (comic) sequences one after another adding to the unbearable length of more than 150 minutes. And wait, here too after almost 130-135 minutes you again have a song ‘Daayre’ that forces you to see your watch or mobile phone in quick intervals.
Regarding the music, many might have liked the song “Gerua” but it was actually the ‘Late Gulshan Kumar strategy’ working here for the makers wherein he believed a song could be made famous by playing it on every possible format in a repeated mode by paying more. So honestly ‘Gerua’ and all other songs of the film were just average numbers for me (expect the enjoyable ‘Tukur Tukur’), maybe because I am still unable to tolerate any kind of loud SCREAMING in love songs composed without any heart touching melody. Plus the so lame story-telling by Rohit didn’t really allow me to feel impressed by either the cinematography, background score or dialogues, that once again give you a strong feeling of ‘heard before’ (read TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS).
So instead of writing anything more about the film, I would like to express something personal addressing the team individually (as I honestly felt while watching their latest venture DILWALE).
Dear Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon and Varun Sharma,
No complaints for you as such, since at this stage of career it was indeed a big thing to grab a SRK-Kajol-Rohit Shetty film with some good amount of scenes unarguably. Moreover its quite understandable that you did not have any creative say in such a project being the juniors, but you all did fine as per the given characters and must have had a good time shooting with the icons despite a lousy script.
Dear Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra and Boman Irani,
I assume this was a project actually signed due to personal relationships, but we certainly expect a lot more from such masters of their art, particularly when it comes to comedy in films made to entertain the viewers. Now in this particular project where Boman completely falls flat (was even annoying), Johny Lever does manage to bring some occasional laughs and Sanjay Mishra has the most innovatively written lines, that many might miss due to their fast paced rendition in his few scenes. In all the comedy in DILWALE is no-where even close to what we had already seen and enjoyed in Rohit’s Golmaal Series, which was not actually expected from these respected names.
Dear Vinod Khanna, Mukesh Tiwari & Pankaj Tripathi,
Its really painful to see such talented people being wasted and given miniscule roles of standing at the back and emoting as the leading star delivers his big lines. Our industry has its own cruel style of working crushing many hidden talents, but I truly wish you are given the kind of roles you really deserve in the coming future.
Dear Rohit Shetty,
You started with good subjects (though borrowed) as in ZAMEEN (2003) and SUNDAY (2008). But with success tasted through GOLMAAL (2006), you got a great formula of churning out comedy movies inspired from few old potential plots of hit Hindi films presented in a new avatar. The plan/path followed worked perfectly in GOLMAAL RETURNS (2008), ALL THE BEST (2009) and GOLMAAL 3 (2010). But post that you got hold of ‘the stars’ and started following the STAR System of the industry that was no doubt an intelligent and safe way to ensure some kind of success achieved in almost every venture supported by a big name.
So you had SINGHAM (2011), BOL BACHCHAN (2012), CHENNAI EXPRESS (2013), SINGHAM RETURNS (2014) and DILWALE (2015) all led from the front by the STARS alone instead of anything else (including the director).
Okay, let’s try to see it in this manner.
Simply take away one big actor from any of your HIT comedy films before 2011 i.e. before SINGHAM.
What is the result? – The result is that they still work and nothing substantial gets away from their overall impact since those films were a result of a collective effort made by the writers, actors and director as a great team.
Next just take away the leading big star of any of your later ventures beginning from SINGHAM.
What is the result? – All the films fall flat in absence of the BIG STAR unarguably.
Conclusion – Rohit Shetty was earlier successful on his own merit and the power of enjoyable writing and his vision put together. But since 2011 Rohit is just enjoying the success riding on the shoulders of his Big Stars. And since this over-confidence has resulted only in one less-performing film (SINGHAM RETURNS) out of the 5, hence the director continues walking on the same path, more or less heavily relying on the STAR ASSOCIATION instead of his own skills and the already proven capabilities before 2011.
Besides its pretty fine that with all your successful creations of the past, you have earned a reputed name as the master of stunt sequences blowing eye-catching cars, bikes and more on-screen generating a jaw-dropping impact. Also it’s very generous and humane of you to take good care of your team of stuntmen risking their lives for just a few seconds sequence in the film only because of the trust they have in you as their visionary director.
But the bigger question remains that, Why to risk the lives of so many people, when the sequences have no major contribution in the storyline/script of your films or can be dealt with in a much lesser risky manner too with the help of computer graphics.
Is it really justified to keep on doing it in an even bolder style in your every new film just for the sake of that BIG FAT REPUTATION when it has simply nothing to do with the script or the film’s basic theme?
Personally I feel the above expressions should certainly give you enough to think, because we the viewers and fans sincerely wish to see the good old ROHIT SHETTY back in form, who actually believed in writing, performances and enjoyable sequences revolving around an innovative theme or storyline (though it might be inspired from an old hit Hindi film as usual).
And we all know you are immensely talented and daring enough to do so without any star backing!
Dear Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol,
The whole world wants to see you together again in more films made in the future.
We all would love to see your adorable chemistry on screen again as enjoyed in the latest DILWALE.
But is that all what you can offer us in your new film?
In other words, should we all just say, ‘Awwwww…. how beautiful Kajol is, how charming SRK is looking, how young they both still seem to be…………..” and then return home talking only about your looks, lovely attires and make-up alone and nothing else.
Wouldn’t that be quite foolish of both we as the viewers and you as the two talented artists emoting on screen?
Putting it differently, isn’t it your responsibility as two of the most experienced performers of Hindi film industry to give us GREAT STORIES, NEW THEMES, FRESH FILMS saying something novel, we have never seen or cherished before.
I am sure there are many more subjects other than only ‘Love Stories’ that would probably give you a much better chance to re-discover yourselves as ‘The Actors’ playing their own age, instead of trying to look 20 years younger by choosing a particular script wherein you can simply go on inserting a long flashback taking you back in the time of DDLJ.
Wouldn’t it be great if you give your fans, films that are not just talking about looks and personal magic on screen but something more significant in terms of storytelling?
Raising a straight question, your last film together (MY NAME IS KHAN) had an appreciable relevant subject incorporating a mature love story, but what did you really find exciting enough to go for DILWALE? What did you seriously find fresh, novel and worth doing in this script as another comeback film together after a gap of 5 years?
Now in case you had something like Mukul. S. Anand’s HUM in mind as per the subject, then let me mention here that post watching DILWALE, the 1991 cult film HUM actually looks like a Hollywood movie in comparison to say the least.
Anyway, continuing with the personal request, we as fans expect you to take us one step forward in our passion for cinema with your next ventures in the future as there is no fun repeating and cheering for the same things as ‘blind fans’ again and again without any sign of maturity or growth. We expect our icons to take us into some new world with a fresh subject and storyline each time they return to screen with a bang and not just keep beating the same bush wearing some new eye-catching costumes or a French beard.
In all, DILWALE was a big disappointment for me and the only performance I loved watching in it was of Sanjay Mishra, saying his witty one liners in an entertaining style. However if you still wish to know what’s in store here in comparison to the director’s last SRK film, then DILWALE is not even close to Rohit’s CHENNAI EXPRESS that at least had Deepika Padukone as its biggest savior.
Gross Rating : 1.5 / 5 (including the brownie points for 2 Varuns and Kriti)
Net Rating : 0.5 / 5 (Deducting a complete 1 star for the uncaring, unchecked and sick business tactics of increasing the ticket price charged from your own fans.)
