Wait in the wings Devgn
16 Nov 2012 12:00 AM GMT
Ajay Devgn. Sir, consider this an open letter if you may or a friendly advice — whatever works for you. It is commendable that you want to make this magnum opus of sorts to pay back Shah Rukh Khan with the very language he perhaps understands — box office figures. Trump him in his game in multiplexes since you cannot ace his endorsements list. Commendable, go for it we say. But if you are to take on the man who made Bollywood romance what it is, we suggest you come up with something better than a comedy/action caper that is awful, to say the least.
Son of Sardaar (SOS) is painful. The jokes are bad, the clichés irritating and what you see on screen will pretty much make you want to hunt Devgn down and hurt him bad. One critic was of the opinion that if one liked Dabangg and Rowdy Rathore, you would like SOS. Sorry. But no! We loved Dabangg, we loved Rowdy Rathore, but SOS is unbearable.
And the irony is, for something along the lines of SOS, Devgn decides to take on YRF in court! Really now.
SOS has a basic storyline which, in Devgn’s defence, is not bad. While an old family fued festers in Punjab, an oblivious Jassi (Ajay Devgn) grows up in London. But the time is now to return to the roots, even if it is to sell off ancestral land. A Billu Paaji (Sanjay Dutt) awaits him in Punjab with swords bare and two farcical brothers —Tony (Mukul Dev) and Titu (Vindu Dara Singh) who have also sworn terrible oaths to avenge their father’s death. No ice cream for Titu and no cold drinks for Tony. Tragic, isn’t it? And Billu has sworn not to marry till he gets Jassi’s head on a plate (metaphorically speaking) and in comes his eternal fiancé Pammy (Juhi Chawla). Okay — their story can still be called remotely tragic. Their family has a another quirk, but of course, atithi devo bhava. As long as you are a guest, you can clearly get away with anything in their house.
Jassi on his way back to India falls in love with Sukhmeet (Sonakshi Sinha), who for obvious twist in the tale is related to Billu Paaji (did you really expect otherwise?!?). And as luck would have it, Jassi figures out that the brothers are out to get him, even after 25 years of the fued being laid to rest, he does the only thing he can possibly do. Stay put in their house somehow. That way he can still live long enough to get the girl and sell the land.
We really wish we could ask you to stay tuned and wait around to find out how all this really falls in to place, but you’d rather not.
So, here’s the deal Devgn. Take on Shah Rukh, but just having Salman Khan in a cameo is not enough. Draw up a better role and get some screen presence while you are at it. Want to take on Yash Chopra? Master the formula first before you can slam it with something antithetical. Pitting Jab Tak Hai Jaan, the old romance formula, and SOS would have been a masterstroke if and only if it had the power of content or feel. Sadly, it has none. Dead pan shots of Katrina, Anushka and SRK would still get more takers in the box office than the monstrosity of a sardar standing on one of the hands of the Big Ben clock. I am sorry. You have lost the plot. And the BO figures!
Son of Sardaar (SOS) is painful. The jokes are bad, the clichés irritating and what you see on screen will pretty much make you want to hunt Devgn down and hurt him bad. One critic was of the opinion that if one liked Dabangg and Rowdy Rathore, you would like SOS. Sorry. But no! We loved Dabangg, we loved Rowdy Rathore, but SOS is unbearable.
And the irony is, for something along the lines of SOS, Devgn decides to take on YRF in court! Really now.
SOS has a basic storyline which, in Devgn’s defence, is not bad. While an old family fued festers in Punjab, an oblivious Jassi (Ajay Devgn) grows up in London. But the time is now to return to the roots, even if it is to sell off ancestral land. A Billu Paaji (Sanjay Dutt) awaits him in Punjab with swords bare and two farcical brothers —Tony (Mukul Dev) and Titu (Vindu Dara Singh) who have also sworn terrible oaths to avenge their father’s death. No ice cream for Titu and no cold drinks for Tony. Tragic, isn’t it? And Billu has sworn not to marry till he gets Jassi’s head on a plate (metaphorically speaking) and in comes his eternal fiancé Pammy (Juhi Chawla). Okay — their story can still be called remotely tragic. Their family has a another quirk, but of course, atithi devo bhava. As long as you are a guest, you can clearly get away with anything in their house.
Jassi on his way back to India falls in love with Sukhmeet (Sonakshi Sinha), who for obvious twist in the tale is related to Billu Paaji (did you really expect otherwise?!?). And as luck would have it, Jassi figures out that the brothers are out to get him, even after 25 years of the fued being laid to rest, he does the only thing he can possibly do. Stay put in their house somehow. That way he can still live long enough to get the girl and sell the land.
We really wish we could ask you to stay tuned and wait around to find out how all this really falls in to place, but you’d rather not.
So, here’s the deal Devgn. Take on Shah Rukh, but just having Salman Khan in a cameo is not enough. Draw up a better role and get some screen presence while you are at it. Want to take on Yash Chopra? Master the formula first before you can slam it with something antithetical. Pitting Jab Tak Hai Jaan, the old romance formula, and SOS would have been a masterstroke if and only if it had the power of content or feel. Sadly, it has none. Dead pan shots of Katrina, Anushka and SRK would still get more takers in the box office than the monstrosity of a sardar standing on one of the hands of the Big Ben clock. I am sorry. You have lost the plot. And the BO figures!
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