Nikhil Advani creates yet another melodramatic Bollyflick that is 'Patiala House'. Given the script, it actually had potential of being an engaging film that tackles issues like racism, relationships and the cricket craze but Advani succumbs to Bollywood formula with the usual ingredients such as over-the-top characters, intrusive background score, brightly colourful songs, stereotypical clichés, needlessly lavish sets, sentimental scenes, overt patriotism, predictable conclusion and what not. I felt that the attempt to tackle racism was weak. A more subtle and sincere treatment could have made the difference here. Yet, if only mildly, 'Patiala House' is a tad better than the usual formula films that are churned out these days mostly because it raises some important issues (although it fails to tackle them well). Akshay Kumar takes a break from the usual mindless comedy. His performance does remind one of the work he did in awful movies like 'Ek Rishtaa' and 'Waqt, Rage Against Time' and he proves to be competent. It's high time that he chooses a decent film and a role that suits him for a change. One wonders when that's going to happen- Rishi Kapoor seems to have taken over Amitabh Bachchan's tyrannical dad role and he grossly overdoes it. Dimple Kapadia is brilliantly restrained but an actress of her calibre deserved better. Anushka Sharma is vivacious and has a commanding screen presence. 'Patiala House' is forgettable but it's not among the worst Hindi films of the year.
