Absolutely dis heart ening show!

Dilwale’ has a core cast of two brothers and two sisters – Shah Rukh Khan and Varun Dhawan and Kajol and Kriti Sanon. The interesting part is that of a thread of similarity in the two pairs as the age gap between the siblings is, as the script demands, a good 15 years.

The brothers live in scenic Goa, redesigning vintage cars and servicing the latest models. Into their lives comes in Kriti Sanon, to whom the younger hero takes a fancy. Before their love story can have a happy ending, there are villains and buffoons to be taken care of. Then there is the senior pair’s unrequited romantic tale, on a temporary hold owing to a misunderstanding, another pending task for the new gen couple.

On this premise and burdened by a tremendous hype right from the time the film had been launched, director Rohit Shetty attempts to spin a watchable yarn comprising gang war, mafiosi lives in retirement, youthful romance and a funny don by name King (Boman Irani) who somehow wants to push drug sale in Goa.

Having been shot in Bulgaria the visuals are rich; the stunts are almost on par with Hollywood standards. The cast for the roles – from Johnny Lever to Sanjay Mishra, bringing up the comic quotient, breathe life into it by and large. Still, the start-to-finish flow of the 155-min romantic drama is jerky, uneven and thus entertains only in parts.

In a bid to differentiate his role plays as the senior sibling, content to remain in the shadows and the other that of a hyper, cool cat macho man, Shah Rukh terribly underplays his elder brother part and comes across as soft and ineffective. The first half-an-hour of the film where Varun Dhawan hogs more screen space and tries hard to create an impression leads on to the flashback episode in which the old Khan breathes fire as the ruthless mafia scion.

The main USP of the film –the return of the hit Jodi of Shah Rukh and Kajol– promises to deliver when they are introduced to each other in the first half but after the initial shock factor of Kajol’s real identity, nothing much scintillating happens. The chemistry between the two, as evinced in the two numbers they are featured in is very much present but there is nothing much for their fans to go mushy or nostalgic.

The amateurish tricks employed by Varun and Kriti to re-unite the estranged lovers, who finally do it all by themselves seem a desperate attempt to extend the roles of the younger duo. Another wasted presence is that of the mercurial Boman Irani, who is restricted and ordinary as the funnily serious drug dealer.

While Sanjay Mishra, in his role, which sees him mimic erstwhile villain Jeevan, brings about a lot of mirth, Johnny Lever tries hard as the Malayalee petty thief and is not uniformly entertaining. This is the main issue with the film – trying too many things and leaving a feeling of dissatisfaction for the bade dilwale, Shah Rukh fans usually are.

Film Name : Dilwale

Cast : Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, and Kriti Sanon

Direction : Rohit Shetty

Genre : Romance-action

Likes : The perfect star cast, rich feel to the film

Dislikes : Uneven pace of the narrative, ordinary plot line

Rating : 21/2

By K Naresh Kumar