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Yuvvraaj Review

2 stars

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor, Zayed Khan...  Director: Subhash Ghai  




Other Critic Reviews
The musical drama Yuvvraaj strikes the right cord in parts. A superb performance by Anil Kapoor and good performances from the rest of the cast holds the typical Subhash Ghai movie together.

By Ashok Nayak  2 Stars
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From the opening shots of Katrina Kaif labouring lusciously over the cello to the montage towards the end when Boman Irani, playing a zany surgeon, hops skips and jumps in the hospital corridor to announce the hero's recovery, "Yuvvraaj" reworks old themes of family ties and unequal love matches to suit a new clientele.

By Subhash K Jha  3 Stars
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1 stars
By Jahan Bakshi  Fri, 21 Nov 2008
How the mighty have fallen. Really.

I sincerely hope Yuvvraaj is the last film we see from Subhash Ghai. While it almost seems cruel to write off the 'showman' in such a callous, even seemingly casual fashion, my words, I assure you aren't without reason.

Ghai may not have been a true master filmmaker ever, but he sure knew well how to make his kind of cinema, and he made it with a grand enthusiasm and fervor which was uniquely his own. But the admirable conviction of the showman, struggling to keep pace with changing times has become increasingly misplaced- and if his recent films-Yaadein, Kisna and Black And White (not nearly as bad as the last two, but inexcusably tepid) weren't sad proof enough, Yuvvraaj drives the point home. Real hard.

Midway through Yuvvraaj, my friend wondered aloud whether the second half would bring some respite from the agony. And pat came the answer, in Zayed Khan's faux drunken drawl- 'Forget it, it's all over.'

You know Ghai's really gone for a six with Yuvvraaj (no pun intended) as soon as the first song plays on screen. While this is probably one of AR Rahman's weakest and least memorable film scores, Ghai kills it completely on screen with horrid picturisation filled with tacky computer graphics and unbelievably random, disjointed and thoroughly limp visuals. For perhaps the first time ever, I saw Subhash Ghai not knowing what to do with a song, unable to capture it onscreen.

Ghai's Desi musical Rain Man is sheer unbearable pain, man. Honestly, just about the only thing overwhelming about Yuvvraaj is its sheer badness. It's muddled, gaudy, pretentious, terribly acted and hands down, the worst film of the year and I say this with confidence, despite the fact that 2008 isn't even over yet. And while it must have made poor old Beethoven do somersaults in his grave, trust me when I say- that is the least of the film's problems.

For a film so over the top- a pack of wolves stare at you from a painting as relatives straight from a Balaji soap plot havoc- Yuvvraaj is starved of any genuine drama or emotional heft, even of the most shamelessly melodramatic kind. That the actors in the film (with the sole exception of Anil Kapoor who turns in a respectable act, even if he hardly resembles an autistic person) are thoroughly incapable of dramatic performances doesn't really help.

Salman's endless goofball antics tire, while Katrina looks exquisitely pained playing the cello beside the fire. Seriously speaking, Zayed Khan is perhaps the actor I enjoyed watching the most in this film, for he at least brought temporary relief in this lurid cinematic nightmare- his superb albeit unintentional comic timing keeps you chuckling once in a while.

Yes, that's perhaps all the entertainment you can expect in this film that is filled with so much sound and fury signifying nothing, it can only be described as an assault on one's senses and sensibilities. And hence, to conclude- while it would indeed be sadden me to see Ghai end his directorial career having stumbled so spectacularly- I still hope this is his last film. Because while a pessimist may think that things can't get any worse than this, an optimist knows they can.
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