Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

MBKD is a pure breed of Bollywood movie. There is a lot of dancing, songs, celebration, over-acting, a few good jokes (again: very few), masala... If you like to watch such movies where you don't have to use too much of your brain after a hard week's work, you might enjoy this.

Watching MBKD is insult to intelligence and a boring experience. You know you are in the wrong theater when you get up and see people around you in deep sleep. I just couldn't wait for the movie to complete. Any movie that produces that kind of effect can only be hit because of its stars, great advertising and distribution.

The movie is flawed at many instances, but for me the most important thing in a movie is 'the story'. The story has nothing innovative or even interesting. The overall story is predictable and illogical. However, the story has a small twist at the end, which was not predictable (bad news for people who wanted the movie to end soon). You won't predict how unwanted 'the twist' at the end is. For some reason our film industry forgets that making a 'funny story' doesn't mean making a 'stupid story'.

The good thing in the movie is Katrina and her dancing skills. She can make any song look good with her size-zero body. Katrina looks good in any movie until she opens her mouth. Katrina's acting in this movie is childish and 'not cute'. Katrina's character was supposed to be of a cute and chulbuli girl, similar to Kareena Kapoor's character in 'Jab we Met'. But a combination of 'Bad acting' and inability to speak proper Hindi made Katrina look stupid.

Acting of Imran and others is equally artificial. But Imran doesn't look as bad as the overacting of 'Ali Zafar' who is Imran's brother in the movie. For some reason everyone in the movie have stopped working and are behind getting 'Ali Zafar' married.

Decades ago, there was a time when good movies and successful movies meant the same thing. Content was the king and filmmakers made good movies in order to be successful. But then things changed. Commercial success and good quality cinema became distant from each other. Chak De India and Company became less and Ready, Om Shanti Om and Tees Maar Khan started defining success.

This overdose of commercialism also results in films like Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (MBKD) where the corporates decide on the cast first and script comes later. Is script important to filmmakers or to the masses? Probably not. The success of Ready and Bodyguard assure that it's not. Then why fuss about the story of MBKD? Masses in the 100% occupied theater in the late night show were giggling and laughing. The guy sitting next was literally rolling on the floor. It doesn't matter if 10% of the people sitting in that theater did not like the script because they will not decide the success or failure of the film.

MBKD is a love triangle, pretty much a love rectangle, of Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar and Tara D'Souza. Ali, who breaks up his five year long relationship with Tara, assigns his younger brother Imran the task of finding him a bride in India. Imran finds Katrina and falls in love with her much to his own dislike and the trouble begins. Along come extremely unnatural dialog delivery, roughly cut sequences and superfluous song placements. As promising as the premise of the script sounds, it's the extremely unpersuasive first hour that makes the film a drag. Every actor is trying to defeat the other in overacting. On the plus side, the film has pretty good choreography especially in the title song where Chaiyan Chaiyan has been replicated in a very creative way and Madhubala which gives a new life to Jai Jai Shiv Shankar. Bosco-Ceaser, good show, boys.

The second half gets much better after a relatively mundane start and does get funny in a few segments. A big reason for this turnaround is Ali Zafar who has much more screen presence in the second half than the first.

Speaking of Ali's performance, it does have its shortcomings; however, it still remains the best act in the film especially in the second half. His comic timing is much better than Imran's although not as good as it was in Tere Bin Laden (TBL). He was pretty good in his scenes with Tara D'Souza in the second half. He has a pretty special talent in voice variations which excelled in this performance and saved grace in the second half. Most of his shortcomings could be attributed to the director's weak treatment. From Ali's perspective, it was a good movie to sign. With TBL he grabbed the attention of filmmakers and he needed this to grab the audience too and it makes sense for his future in the industry. He needs to improve his dancing skills though.

Imran disappoints. After an entertaining Delhi Belly, this looks like a hasty effort from the actor. Utterly artificial scenes with his childhood friends and no chemistry whatsoever with Katrina. Romantic scenes between the two looked amateurish to say the least. It was another one of those Break Ke Baad and I Hate Luv Storys types of performances by Imran. Katrina Kaif surprised on a few occasions. In fact, in the first half, she was probably the best of the lot mainly because others were pretty bad. Poor bike scenes and poor rock concert song where she could not control her overacting but decent otherwise. Her role was very badly conceived. A 27 year old acting like a 13 year old is never funny.

Tara D'Souza did well in her brief role; however, she was again portraying a confusingly written character. Other supporting cast was a drag except for Zeeshan Ayub who played Shobit.

A huge frustration was the cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee. I'm still struggling to understand what he was trying to do. One of the worst displays of camera works I have witnessed in recent past. 60% of the film was in extreme close-ups with only the actors' faces visible on the huge screen. Camera looked as if it was going to go inside their noses. Sudeep has an impressive career record with Chak De India, Kaminey, Guzarish and a fairly impressive Road. I believe he was probably working on a brief from the director for that completely not-so-innovative camera work.

Which brings us to probably the biggest culprit of the film, the second Ali associated with it i.e. Ali Abbas Zafar. He wrote and directed the film and more often than not failed on both. A very weak script which depended a lot on acting and dialogues, hence, succeeded at some places and failed at others. The story was half cooked and a mixture of several films previously seen like Tanu Weds Manu, Jab We Met etc. Direction was flawed, full of unnecessary sequences, unplanned songs and even continuity errors like shoes changing from within scene.

Overall, MBKD could have been and should have been a much better film if, and a huge if, it had a better script, better direction, better acting and more prominent role for Ali Zafar. It still might be a successful outing on the box office, because as I said earlier, commercial success has new definitions in this day and age, however, it's pretty far away from being a good film.

EXPECTATIONS ---- Yash Raj, Ali Zaffar, Imran Khan & Katrina Kaif - now that's a pair that can drag audiences into cinema halls. MBKD is a brave attempt to compete with a tornado flowing these days named 'BodyGuard'. So, just to change the taste from Action to comedy, MBKD works for a big time. Imran Khan, the most successful teen in B'Town, Katrina, the most successful popular actress and Ali Zaffar, the heartthrob of many gals. MBKD is the biggest surprise that can come with three crackers. Also, the super-successful music is also there. What does one want more?

MBKD is a rom-com based on a new tragedy as it claims itself in teasers. And, so it is. We have seen this type of story in Onir's SORRY BHAI or MY BROTHER'S WIFE (or A BEAUTIFUL WIFE). But MKBD is totally different from them. It's entertaining, funny, clumsy & is filled with strong performances.

Kush Agnihotri (Imran Khan) is looking for the ideal Indian bride for his brother Luv Agnihotri (Ali Zafar), who stays in London. In his quest, Kush goes through an array of wacky encounters with several families until he finally finds that perfect girl in Dimple Dixit (D)(Katrina Kaif), the craziest / wackiest girl he has ever known.

Both the families meet. Formalities are completed. Preparations proceed in full swing. And just then Kush falls in love with Dimple... his brother's dulhan. Dimple is also in love with him. How can their love overcome in this society? That's when a wacky plot with wacky incidents take place.

MBKD deals with a very heavy plot in a funny and light manner and changes the whole mood where a calamity is occurring. Director Ali Abbas Zafar has a dream debut fulfilled by this. His smart direction and handling every scene with good humor shows that he's different from most other directors debuting nowadays.

Imran Khan does a commendable job this time also. Unlike Delhi Belly, Imran achieves such a role this time that has been focused on him entirely. And also he lives with it more than good. Some people call it 'Reserved' and some call 'Fattu' Imran had to do work in such a role and does it bloody good. The dulhan herself, Katrina Kaif was gorgeous and pretty and a powerhouse entertainer this time. But she still needs to work on her Hindi and acting skills. Ali Zaffar was a joy to watch. A dashing, handsome, wild, cool & aggressive player, just opposite to his brother's nature. Ali Zaffar had delivered a far better performance this time than 'Tere Bin Laden' by giving some giggles. Kanwaljeet Singh as Dimple's Daddy & Parikshat Sahni as Colonel Agnihotri (Luv & Kush's Dad) were tremendous. Imran's friends were cool. Debutant Tara D' Souza (as Piyali) was fine. The man who acted a s Dimple's brother gave a bad performance trying to imitate SRK from My Name Is Khan.

Music by Sohail Sen was the major plus point of this movie. Every song was situational (after a long period) and vibrant and excellent. Background Score worked fine too. Next comes screenplay which somehow covers up the flaws and immaturity of the script. A cool and pacy script, we can say. Cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee, which mostly covered Agra & Taj was fine. Costumes were fabulous. Editing could have been much better.

Allover, MBKD tries to be something different in clichéd rom-com movies but for a so-so plot and some clumsy moments, it stays afloat. Forget beating Bodyguard's records, it is somehow a nearly good competition to it. But some funny moments, Imran Khan & a spectacular music score make Mere Brother Ki Dulhan far better than most other movies of this type came in this year. It's lightening, joyful, honest & a bit introvert. So, just go to theaters, pop up the corns and forget stress and tension.

This review is quite short but I will be glad if it helps. MBKD starts of with Luv (Ali Zafar) breaking up with his longtime girlfriend. Being fed up with his hookups he finally decides to settle down and assigns the job of finding a suitable bride to his younger brother Kush (Imran Khan). So Kush gets on the job and finally finds a girl Dimple (Katrina Kaif). Both families meet up and get along with each other. Problem starts when Kush and Dimple realize that they are in love with each other.

During the first half the film runs slowly while the second half is more enjoyable thanks to the comic timing of Ali Zafar who plays his character very well. Katrina plays her role of a mad, carefree girl very well while Imran plays his role fairly, nothing special about him. The film doesn't have a strong script but runs smoothly on the acting of the stars. Music is good. Overall MBKD is a good enjoyable fair that you wont get bored watching. When every movie maker resorts to crude jokes for humor, MBKD is one film that can be watched with your family.

The title said it all and therefore there wasn't any kind of great excitement level before its release among the viewers. The plot was clearly revealed and it had the same outline, which was earlier tackled in a serious mode by Onir in his SORRY BHAI (2008). But this time the mood is all light and the genre changes to 'A Romantic Comedy', supported by some good impressive performances to save the film. So the outcome is all positive and fairly entertaining to give you a good time in the theater with your friends.

Starting off calmly with some light comic sequences, introducing both the brothers Ali Zafar and Imran Khan, the director makes way for the grand entry of the main attraction of the film, Katrina Kaif. And to my surprise she enters in a brand new avtaar of a 'Bindaas Girl' quite different from her till date on-screen image. To be frank, she simply jumps out of her closed kind of shell with this film and plays it real loud and clear, moving away from her Barbie Doll persona. Hence, Katrina remains the biggest reason why you should watch MBKD in the next few days with your friends. The youngster's brigade is surely going to love this new unexpected transformation of the girl and there is bound to be a substantial increase in her fan following after this film. In short, with MBKD, Katrina proudly announces that she is not just a lucky hit mascot for the big stars and has now learned her job pretty well.

The film excels and entertains throughout its first half and then slightly starts dipping post its intermission. But that was clearly unavoidable since the director had selected a theme which was all predictable from the very first shot and had nothing in store to shock the viewers. So the second hour does give you a Déjà vu kind of feeling, since you already know what's going to happen next. Yet the film never disappoints completely and maintains a good entertaining momentum right till its enjoyable climax. And that's the major USP of MBKD which is able to impress the viewers, despite of having an all predictable script.

The songs do help to keep up the spirit on the screen but only in its first half. Post intermission, a few songs serve as an unwanted break, which could have been avoided to give it a more to-the-point edit. Yes, the sequences and performance do seem to be going a bit over the top in its last 20 minutes. But there overall soothing impact maintains the balance and one feels reasonably entertained in the end. Particularly it's the lovable chemistry between its leading cast of Katrina, Imran and Ali which does the trick for the film and they really make you feel the love flowing.

However, one major disappointment in the film remains the less footage given to the role of Ali Zafar. Truly speaking, I was excited to see MBKD only for Ali and not for anything else. But unfortunately he is the only one from the lead cast, getting the minimum scope in the script. Still, the singer turned actor, once again showcases his acting skills after his last year debut in "Tere Bin Laden" and I really loved watching all his scenes immensely. Imran Khan gels well with his co- stars and gives a fine performance too. But at the same time he also seems to be repeating himself in every film and hasn't got something new to offer in terms of acting. The film does have some flaws in its storyline as the younger brother simply makes a fool of his big bro and her beloved, who are never told the real truth behind all the drama staged. But one tends to forget all these flaws, moving with the lighter mood of the film and keeps enjoying.

In nutshell, MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN is a KATRINA KAIF movie all the way and she will surely get many positive returns from the film in every respect. So watch it for the charming KATRINA alone along with your friends and family members. And don't worry if you already know the storyline, because if you do opt for it without any great expectations, then the film will surely keep you engrossed and entertained in a decent way.