Dostana Hindi Movie

Feature Film | 2008 | Comedy, Romantic
Critics:
Audience:
Dostana tries hard to entertain and it succeeds on a few occasions. But overall it's a huge disappointment.
Nov 14, 2008 By Ashok Nayak


Karan Johar's Dostana promises to be a warm take on friendship and love. Directed by Tarun Mansukhani, the film has a fantastic star cast - Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan and Bobby Deol, in a special appearance. High on hype, does it matches expectations?


When Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan) and Kunal (John Abraham) are turned down for an apartment because the land lady doesn't want 2 strapping young men to corrupt her young sexy niece Neha (Priyanka Chopra), they go to plan "G" - they pretend to be "Gay" to secure the apartment.


All is well till they meet the sexy siren Neha and thus begins a journey of fun, frolic and a test of friendship like never before. And Neha's boss Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol) enters the fray as the third contender for her affections.


Basically Dostana is about gays, friendship and love.


The gays are not going to love this, most could find it offensive. Indian filmmakers need to grow up to the fact that, gays are indeed normal people and not always on lookout for sex with the same sex! They are not sex freaks like most films have portrayed them to be. It started with Karan Johar's Kal Ho Na Ho and since then filmmakers have continued to follow those kantaben scenes (Even Golmaal Returns has a few similar scenes).


The friendship part is not well-executed, too many loopholes in the script. While the chemistry between John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan is great. The bond that the three friends share did not connect for some reason. You don't feel for any of the friends when they part ways.


Bobby Deol's character is developed in a hurry and hence the love story doesn't work either. The second half is extremely poor. The whole part of trying to create a misunderstanding between the couple is just so hard to digest, including the scenes that involve the kid.


The film is a mindless entertainer, and probably the best way would have been to promote it as a comedy, rather than a movie on friendship and love. About 80% of the movie completely lacks logic, something that was, personally, totally unexpected from Dostana.


Abhishek Bachchan is in full form with a superb comic timing. A much improved performance if you compare it to his almost similar character in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. John Abraham supports Abhishek pretty well, but never manages to steal a scene. Dostana has to be one of the sweetest roles of Priyanka Chopra's career so far, she proves yet again that she is far ahead of the competition. Bobby Deol is strictly okay.


To sum up, Dostana tries hard to entertain and it succeeds on a few occasions. But overall it's a huge disappointment.


Ashok Nayak

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