Subhash Ghai's version of Rain Man.

Grade: C-

 Yuvvraaj

Indian Release Date: 21/11/08
CBFC Classification:  U/A
Running Length: 2 Hours 30 Minutes

Cast: Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif, Boman Irani, Mithun Chakraborty
Director: Subhash Ghai
Screenplay: Sachin Bhowmik, Subhash Ghai & Kamlesh Pandey
Cinematography: Kabir Lal
Music: A.R. Rahman

 The best way to describe this movie would be to say 'It's a typical Subhash Ghai film', enough said. If you love Subhash Ghai films then you'll love it, if you hate them then you'll hate it because Yuvvraaj certainly offers nothing new or different from what he has previously produced.

 Deven Yuvvraaj (Salman Khan) left home 12 years ago after a fight with his father and is now eking out an existence in Prague as an orchestra chorus singer. He's madly in love with Anushka (Katrina Kaif) but her father (Boman Irani) refuses to allow them to marry due to Deven's lack of money and social standing.

 When Deven's father dies he returns to London to stake his claim to the property only to find that everything has been left to his autistic older brother Ganesh (Anil Kapoor). Deven and his younger brother Danny (Zayed Khan) then hatch a plan to regain their shares of the fortune.

 There is a host of other clichéd characters including their father's lawyer (Mithun Chakravorthy), an evil blue eyed uncle in a wheelchair, his conniving wife, two idiot sons and vampish daughter-in-law straight out of a saas-bahu serial.

 Some of the dialogues are atrocious, including such gems as 'We're not brothers, only partners, and 'Vo Ek Hard Core Anti Family Man Hai'. The movie has cliché after cliché and the outcome is predictable from the very beginning. In the end there was one thing that particularly annoyed me, and that is when Deven and Anushka's father sign a contract that if Deven doesn't become a billionaire in 40 days, then Anushka's father can get her married to whoever he pleases.

 Does the girl have no choice in this matter? If her lover decides to give her up and tell her father he can get her married off then is she just supposed to follow their decision blindly? Does she have no choice of her own? For god sakes this is the 21st century and women are not pieces of property that men can decide to dispose with as they please, enough of these regressive practices in films. Just once I'd like to see the heroine say 'To hell with both of you, I'm not bound by any stupid contact and I'm going to make my own damn decisions!’ Obviously female liberation is yet to reach Subhash Ghai films.

 While the songs themselves are beautiful, as A.R. Rahman has excelled himself once again, the portrayal of them is both amateurish and boring.  'Tu Meri Dost Hain' is a particularly bad example of a song being used as a European travel advertisement with random montages and close ups throughout. While Subhash Ghai has intended to create an opus, it ends up as a largely uninspired rehash of several other films including Barry Levinson’s Dustin Hoffman & Tom Cruise starrer, Rain Man (1988).

 Salman postures and prances around, Zayed Khan mainly pouts and frowns and Anil Kapoor is the only one that does a half decent job with what material he's been given. Katrina Kaif smiles beautifully and that's about the extent of her role.

If you're in the mood to switch off your brain, look at some nice European locales and listen to some good music then go and see Yuvvraaj. If you're looking for anything even remotely different, unique or genuine then stay far away, as a finished product Yuvvraaj disappoints with its clichés and tired style.

Final Verdict: A typical Subhash Ghai film, grand designs and a disappointing execution.

Grade: C-

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