Of London..and Ludhiana…

I was waiting for London dreams to hit theatres. In fact I have been hearing about this movie for quite a few years…almost a decade now. Raj Kumar Santoshi wanted to make this film with Aamir and Shahrukh, which was titled Rashque(meaning jealousy in urdu)then, which seems very apt (not because of aamir-shahrukh rivalry, but because it suits the central idea of the movie.lol). That didn't happen.(sad!).Ultimately Salman took the project to Vipul shah. And he managed to make it finally.

Its a story of two friends, of dreams and ambitions, of love and betrayal, in short a potent mix for a dramatic story. London dreams reunites Ajay devgan and Salman khan as co-stars, 10 years after their last superhit-Hum dil de chuke sanam, which is a very memorable film in more than one ways. The actors have done justice. But Ajay devgn( oops the a is gone now, god knows why), is no rockstar, and perhaps the weakest and totally indigestible point in the movie is his rockstar avatar. He doesn't look like one. But he is an excellent actor. And it shows, because this is his forte- dark, sensitive  and angst ridden roles. However, sallu just rocks the movie with his charisma. His ada overshadows ajay’s talent in all the frames.The film is well shot..(including dancing at Louvre and Eiffel etc..now  that's the beauty of a hindi film..lol;)

There are loopholes in the screenplay, ajay’s rise and growing up in london, people switching from london to ludhiana with such ease, the whole world getting suddenly crazy about indian music and this band in particular, the formation of band, etc. require suspension of belief.The screenplay is flawed at many levels, but the film works because the central idea of the film is quite potent. Friends, jealousy, music, love, passion, masti..its all there!.Borrowing liberally from Amadeus, the film works at many levels, mostly because of sallu’s charisma and devgn’s acting power. The best scenes are between sallu and ajay, the bonding shows and works! Asin looks good but the ghajini warmth is missing.Rannvijay and Aditya look good and did their bits and pieces.

Now a film based on music has to have some strong score. and when it comes to rock(lets say desi rock or folk rock) Shankar-ehsan-loy are the safest bet in bollywood. They deliver well. I am big fan of SEL and prasoon, because of the amazing work that they come up with.The songs are all good, never out of place. But what makes the songs rock are the lyrics. Prasoon joshi, like always, has given some memorable lyrics, very earthen in flavor, very motivational in appeal, full of oj-ras as we say in hindi. The association with the soil is evident in lyrics like- O Masti jaamun si, tapkey re darr-darr ke, mastiyon ki shaakh hila de, aaj jashn mana jee bhar ke..or Khwab na sagey, zindagi thagey, fir bhi jane kyu, ummeede jagey.. He has some liking for words like tyohaar(festival), suraahi(the long necked earthen pot),neend-khwaab etc. which have been used at least four-five times in the album. Shola hai tu, which is shot at Trafalgar square or watever, opens the film well. Khanabadosh,(i love the humming sound with this word) is a cool song on the lines of pathshala from RDB. Tapkey masti and Man ko ati bhave saiyaan are both fun songs. Jashn hai jeet ka and yaari also fit the narrative.The songs might not look very good on screen, but if listened otherwise, sound very distinctive. Barso re is a wonderful track, sung in total desi rock style, by Vishal dadlani and Roop kumar rathod. However they have edited the Hanuman chalisa portion from the movie(perhaps to avoid controversy).Had they kept it, it would have been the most rocking section of the film.

Over all its  timepass, quite melodramatic, a good watch. It could have ended up being cult as Rock on, but it falls short on many levels. However, its all ready to set cash registers ringing!! This is how their fan base wants Sallu and Ajay to be. Charismatic and intense respectively:)

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