Mujhse Shaadi Karogi

Director: David Dhawan
Starring: Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Amrish Puri, Kader Khan, Satish Shah, Shashikala, Rajpal Yadav
Music: Sajid - Wajid and Anu Malik

When Salman Khan delivered his third successive 'Garv' a fortnight back, people looked at him as the savior of the box office.

This time again every one hoped that Salman would bring good luck to their cash resisters in 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi'. In this film, Salman teams up with the so-called king of comedies, David Dhawan who once ruled the box office with hit after hit.

But, once David fell apart with Govinda, neither of them could recreate the magic again. David gave a number of flops and then went in hibernation only to resurrect with this new film released this week 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' with producer Saajid Nadiadwala who has made hits like 'Jeet', 'Judwa' and 'Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega'.

In 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi', Saajid and David have tried to rework on Govinda- Anil Kapoor starrer 'Deewana Mastana' and Raj Kumar Santoshi's 'Andaz Apna Apna', both mega hits.

'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' has Salman Khan once again playing a guy whom luck does not favor a bit, and there are Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra both needing a hit desperately. 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' incidentally was supposed to be the title of film.

that was later changed to 'Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai' (Anil and Aishwarya starrer), a remake of south film 'Pelichuskandam', meaning 'will you marry me'? Its makers promised that it is a laugh riot.

Sameer (Salman Khan) who is an angry man since birth moves to Goa after a break with his ladylove (Amrita Arora). He promises to his grandmother not to fight any one again and his new job brings him to Goa as a lifeguard.

He meets Rani (Priyanka Chopra) here and instantly falls in love with her. He lives opposite her home and tries a lot to woo her father (Amrish Puri) too. But every time he attempts to impress her father something or other goes wrong and upsets Rani's father.

While things do not turn the Sameer way, another problem lands in the form of Sunny (Akshay Kumar) who is not only Sameer's room partner but is also in love with Rani. Each of the two boys tries to outdo the other and win the heart of Rani.

But things do not go the way Sameer had thought and finally he decides to leave the place forever. A lot of stupidity goes on during the movie and David Dhawan tries almost every formula from his old films to keep the attention of viewers intact.

There are vamps, comedians, fights, special effects and drama too to make the film a masala film, but while all the ingredients are there, the recipe is not just right.

It comes as a shock that a master like David Dhawan is now no more a good selector of his stories. The story line that he works upon in 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' is very stale and people have seen things like this too many times.

It worked in 'Deewana Mastana' because of Govinda's timing whereas both Salman and Akshay Kumar do not have that perfect time when it comes to comedy. People are well prepared for stupidity in a David Dhawan film, but that also should have some link to each other.

Here, what Salman Khan does is not comedy. He goes around making fool of himself and potraying a character that would have been just fit for him. He does look smart in his changed hairstyle and bright color costumes but the role required much more meat.

As Sameer, his role is not smartly carved. Even the case of Akshay Kumar is not very different because his role does not gel with Salman's character. His intentions are clear but his gimmicks do not evoke laughter.

Priyanka Chopra looks pretty once again and she is improving her acting in each film but her role in 'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' is not involved with what's happening.

on the screen. She is the cause of the fight yet her character looks very aloof in the film. Most of the song sequences are in dreams and those too hamper the overall impact a lot.

David Dhawan has relied too much on his writers, Anees Bazmee and Rumi Jaffery and they have let him down. Anees' scene creation is below average and Rumi's dialogues have no novelty. Both of them have created so many side characters in the story line, but none of them helps in story progression.

Amrish Puri plays a retired army officer, Kader Khan plays a landlord, Rajpal Yadav does a double role for the first time in his career as Pandit and Rowdy, Satish Shah plays the sleepy security guard and, Upasana Singh plays the s-e-x- hungry wife and above all Shashikala plays Salman's grandmother.

This strong team of character artistes could have made the film a solid one but unluckily none of them helps in building the tempo.

And, as if this was not much David Dhawan sets his climax in a cricket stadium and ropes in Kapil Dev, Parthiv Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Mohammed Kaif and Ashish Nehra to be part of it. But gimmicks do not work if the film does not have a strong story line.

'Mujhse Shaadi Karogi' is an average film with a heavy dose of song and sequences. Sanjay F. Gupta doing his second film as a cinematographer after 'Qayamat' has made every person and place look attractive.

He gets full marks and so do the choreographers Ganesh Acharya and Saroj Khan. Technically, the film is very brilliant but the overall result is like a beautiful body without a soul.

The film has opened to full houses thanks to crowd pulling strength of none other than Salman Khan, but as the initial rush settles down the film will see a sharp decline in collections post-Sunday.

And, that is not a happy sign for trade and film both. Salman Khan's five more films are slated over next few months and if they too fall short of expectations, his career once again will be in doldrums at least as an actor.