Yamla Pagla Deewana

The contribution of the Deol family to Hindi Cinema is not to be underestimated. It gave the first Indian He-Man..Dharmendra who in his hey days used to consistently top polls listing him as the most handsome man in India. Even though he did not win popular Film awards, he is one of the kings of Hindi Cinema.

His son Sunny carried on this tradition and has done his family proud.Even Bobby, the youngest son along with their sister Esha has jumped into the movie business.

The film is a tribute to the three male Deols', without giving anything away..paying homage to the lost and found formula story our Hindi films. It captures emotion, good locales( Varanasi and good o'l Punjab) as well as tickling the funny bone.Specially, the second half, which brings the house down. The music is not bad and add to this a fresh female actor who does a competent job opposite Bobby. Anupam Kher is a scene- stealer.

A word of caution, I saw this movie in a multiplex in a city in Southern India, so a major part of the jokes were a bit difficult to comprehend for the regional audience If you are a bit less informed and are not too familiar with this, ask a friend who is well versed to accompany you. Trust me, you will not regret it.

Over all my rating is 6 / 10

Enjoy !

The Deol family is back after APNE giving you a Dabangian kind of a feeling in which even when you know that its all illogical, full of loop holes and also over the top, yet you do enjoy the most of it with a smiling face and also laugh at certain sequences occasionally. In other words I felt like watching a new DABANGG made in Punjab where we have Sunny Deol punching the villains and throwing them mercilessly like the rotten vegetable bags lying in the godowns.

Before writing further, I would like to say that its not at all logical at any place, so all the critics looking for some meaningful cinematic value in it may get disappointed. But at the same time its also not a silly or head-aching loud comedy made on the lines of Priyadarshan's last few comic ventures. Though it has a Priyan kind of a climax but overall the script uses its four ingredients - action, comedy romance and emotion quite effectively in the narration which in the end leaves you mostly satisfied. So, if you loved watching its trailer, then the chances are that you would surely enjoy the movie equally, if not better.

Starting with an expected solid Sunny Deol fight scene, the director Sameer Karnik makes his intentions clear that I am only interested in giving you entertainment and nothing else. Beginning from Canada, the film reaches Benaras when Sunny visits the city in search of his father and brother. Here Dharmendra and Bobby Deol are introduced as the famous con-men of the city but I seriously felt that the entry of our lovable Dharmendra could be much better.

Frankly speaking YAMLA PAGLA DEEWANA is one of those few movies whose second half is better than the first saving the film on the whole. The first half is just fine entertaining you in bits and parts. But it starts dragging after an hour with few un-required songs (why 2 item numbers in the bar) and a not so impressive romantic angle which should have been deleted at the editing table itself.

Post intermission the film moves at a great speed and has many more entertaining moments (with only 1 song) as compared to its first half. And that's what saves the movie literally and wins the game. The writer Jaswinder Singh Bath is highly inspired by the folk story of MIRZA SAHIBA along with movies such as DDLJ and JAB WE MET which clearly shows in his second half.

Especially the second half belongs to two more performers other than the Deol family. And they are Anupam Kher, as the girl's father and Mukul Dev as the girl's elder brother. Anupam Kher is simply too good in the character of Joe Bhaaji. He is comic, he is loud, he is hilarious and yet elegant in his own impeccable style which is another achievement by the veteran actor once again.

Accompanying him impressively is Mukul Dev speaking Punjabi so fluently as if he is a regional actor taken from the Punjabi theater. I really doubt that the viewers would even recognize him in his Punjabi getup having long hairs.

Both Dharmendra and Sunny Deol give a very controlled yet effective performance, which remains the highlight of the film. They both are sure going to get all the claps and seeties in their own north belt undoubtedly. In short Sunny is going to be loved and Dharmendra is going to be cherished by his fans after a long time. Coming to the youngest of the three, Bobby Deol, he gets the maximum attention in the story as the main character for whose love interest, the whole drama is played in the second half. Bobby looks smart and does fine both in the get up of a con-man in the first half and as a Sikh NRI in the second.

In the remaining cast Kulraj Randhawa scores the best looking gorgeous on the screen much better than many famous big names of the Industry. Johny Lever and Sucheta Khanna are great. Nafisa Ali and Amit Mistry make an impact in their brief roles. Emma Brown Garrett, as Sunny's foreign wife is surprisingly good with her two Sikh Kids. Most of the audiences really laughed out loud whenever one of the kids used to say "Ditto". Himanshu Malik is OK but Puneet Issar gets wasted having nothing substantial to do in the script. Cinematography of YPD is eye- catching capturing the outdoors of both Benaras and Punjab. But the dialogues and the action are the real jack here which fit in perfectly matching all the Punjabi characters.

Coming to the biggest weak point of YAMLA PAGLA DEEWANA, it is the music which should have had more Dhol and Punjab in it instead of 2 item numbers (in the bar) and 2 romantic songs. In the whole soundtrack I found only one song "Charhaa De Rang" having the much required melodious notes in it. Other than the soundtrack its a lengthy movie of almost 3 hours of duration which essentially required editing at many places. Moreover, the writers could have thought of another climax moving away from the usual Priyadarshan kind of an ending and the director at least could have shown the role of Police in our system somewhere in its 3 hours (There is no Police anywhere in the movie throughout).

However another merit of the movie I would like to mention here is the appreciable sarcasm incorporated beautifully in its script regarding the passion of Punjab with NRIs and VISAS. I really hope the people living in Punjab would take a note of it while watching this.

In all, it's entirely a masses entertainment movie on the lines of DABANGG, which should be loved by all fans of Deol family especially the viewers in the North Belt of the country.

I am Deol's fan(specially Dharmendra & Sunny) and know that they could better than lot of people think. There one of the first home production was Dillagi a good movie and good songs, then Apne was also OK and now YPD. The major problem of all these movies I have found is length of the movie and unwanted emotional scenes which attracts to only few people (mainly punjabi's). if Dillagi had climax scene only for 5 mins instead of 15-20 mins It would have been a HIT. If Dharmendra had cried lesser in Apne, it would have also been a HIT. And if they had not showed first half of YPD in Banaras which doesn't suit either of the Deol's, This would have also been a HIT movie. Dharmendra and loving son Bobby was doing 80's conning in the Banaras which is not possible in 2011 and on top of than charming Bobby has to do romance with punjabi girl that too in Banaras and suddenly movie take turn to PUNJAB when real fun starts and which everyone was hoping after watching stunning movie trailer over internet :). It was more like DDLJ kind of drama but more like JAT punjabi style not like Sharukh khan style but it was full of fun, hilarious. I would like to give credit to Mukul Dev which acted really well as drunken punjabi. At the end I would recommend movie to all the Deol's fan but also wanted to write my feeling regarding this movie as well that Deol's cannot make audience cry in funny comedy movie which I guess is become their trademark.

The USP of 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' should definitely be the sharing of screen space by the Deols and the fact that a large portion of the movie is based in the home ground amidst the Jats/ Sardars/ Punjab. The taste buds of Deol's fans + North India + Overseas market is satiated to great lengths. The Santa/ Banta jokes are aplenty. To fire up the screens, not one but two item songs are thrown in for good measure (cashing on the success of "Munni Badnaam" vocalist of to croon both "Tinku Jiya" & "Chamki Jawaani").

░ Dharam Paji:: The 75+ star manages to pull off a good performance, though as expected wrinkle lines are obvious. A few of his nostalgic lines are bound to draw whistles in the cinema halls.

░ Sunny:: His character is confined to play the macho man who stutters the moment his better-half turns him into battered-half. The "Dabbang"'isque action is revisited showcasing the "dhaai-kilo-ka-haath" in full glory.

░ Bobby:: Not quite there. Wish he could put in that little extra to pull-off the "Gajodhar" character.

░ Kulraj Randhawa:: The Preity Zinta impersonator has a charming screen presence. Though the romantic track is not fleshed out adequately.

░ Anupam Kher:: His comic timing deserves a mention and his character seemed Santa-Banta rolled into one.

░ Puneet Isaar:: Not enough screen-time.

░ Mukul Dev & Himanshu Malik: I failed to recognise them both in the Sardar get up.

░ Johnny Lever:: Not even worth a mention. Thankfully very limited screen-time.

░ Nafisa Ali & Emma Brown:: The role can be termed as special appearance.

The plot is very much 1970's and the voice-over from Ajay Devgn serves the disclaimer of "lost & found" script at the very start of the movie. On that note, the writing should have been further polished. The screenplay is the weakest link. Additionally the editor could have trimmed at the right place to make a lasting impact of the scene.

"Yamla Pagla Deewana" has been marketed well, especially the promos which managed to create a buzz (and more or less encapsulated the funny moments!).

Samir Karnik seems to know how to hold the reigns, the only thing he needs is to hold them tight!

PS: The original Rafi's title track has been re-mixed quite well.

Previously three Deols came together in APNE which was a boxing family drama. With YPD they venture into new territory - comedy. Is this attempt successful ? Yes !

This movie is about journey of sunny paaji to India from Canada in search of his father and younger brother. So first half is dedicated to formation of plot and is based in Benaras. Real fun begins in second half in punjab. With bizarre situation created they succeeds in making you laugh. Dharam paaji, sunny paaji, bobby all are good in there performances but special praise should go to Anupam Kher for his hilarious performance as eldest brother of heroine. There is no much innovation in story, music is average.

Overall a nice entertaining movie. My rating - 7/10