SALAM-E-BARBAADI WITH 12 STARS, 6 STORIES & 23 REELS?
By P Shukla - Eye TV India Bureau
Critic's I-view
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Scene1: Indoor. We see Vidya Balan tarnishing her sati savitri image and appearing in just a white kurta. She also sits on a bed with camera at low angle, to show her underwear! She dons the role of a TV reporter.
Scene 2: A sweet innocent Govinda sits on the walls of some old monument of Delhi and speaks to a foreign girl with the help of street kids. The kids work as translators for them. Govinda plays the role of a taxi driver.
Scene 3: A young boy from Haryana goes berserk to celebrate his honeymoon and eat the forbidden apple. But , but from the very first night he keeps on landing in trouble every time he tries to come close to his wife. Husband: Sohail Khan, Wife: Sexy Isha Koppikar.
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Scene 4: An aging Anil Kapoor flirts with a girl of half of his age in London; he sends his wife back to India and starts romancing a hot chick only to land in the hospital where her wife learns about the affair. The hot chick is Anjana Sukhani, and Juhi Chawla plays Anil's wife.
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Scene 5: A colonel's daughter is madly in love with a boy who is good for nothing. He tries to escape every chance of marriage but the girl is mad in love with him. Boy: Akshaye Khanna, Girl: Ayesha Takia.
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Scene 6. I know you have gone impatient by now and wish to know what I am up to. Sorry, I was trying to scribe down 'Salam-e-Ishq' script to you. If it excites you, then maybe my next destination is as a scriptwriter somewhere in the filmdom. Because this is my kind of presentation of the film and I haven't mentioned Salman and Priyanka's names till now. Had the film been made the way it teased you minus Salman and Priyanka, it could have worked, but once again glittering things of filmdom don't turn out to be gold.
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Nikhil Advani, your life is in risk. Run, before people catch you for making them test their patience while watching a film that is three full hours and around 40 minutes in length, takes 6800 meter footage to narrate in 23 reels. Maybe Bada hai to Behtar Hai (Big is for better for Nikhil. If you insist I can tell you that Priyanka plays an actress who works on the lines of Mallika Sehrawat and Salman is an unwanted entry in her life. Sandwiched between all these pity chracters are actors like Prem Chopra, Tinu Anand and others.
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Director Nikhil Advani's name had been in power blocks of Hindi film industry right from the day his first film 'Kal Ho Na Ho' was released. Karan Johar was his mentor in that film, but he broke relations with him and jumped to an offer from Salman Khan who wanted to make a film with him and put his favorite producers -- Sunil Manchanda, Mukesh Talreja on the platter. Nikhil was impressed and left home of Karan.
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making something other. Sohail Khan's role went to Govinda because Salman so desired. Again, John Abraham's role got a side treatment because Salman wanted it. So, on and on and on, stories kept pouring and people kept eagerly waiting for a new Man Mohan Desai to happen in Hindi film industry. But, MMD's soul may be crying at the fate of multistarrer in Hindi film industry.
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Twelve stars and six stories is the only point that remains in viewer's mind when they enter into the cinema hall. They come with expectations to watch a full time entertainer, but Nikhil lets them down. He lets them down because he does not fulfill thier any expectation. 'Salam-e-Ishq' fails at the very concept level. Using six visual windows on the screen has been a norm with news channels to make thier presence felt to viewers, but Nikhil uses this in the movie. Then, he thinks it is not enough, so he starts using graphics in between the scenes to make people realize that they are watching a film with 12 stars.
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What a pity! Having got so much on his platter, Nikhil forgets how to eat it; he spoils the dish and the party. Sorry, Vidya, sorry John and sorry to Govind, Anjana, Anil and Isha. All your efforts to introduce something novel may not go well with your well wishers. Nikhil has also used 12 singers for music and despite some good lyrics by Sameer and Shankar Ehsaan Loy, the music fails to save the film. In trying all the brilliant cinematography by Piyush Shah on celluloid, editor Aarti Kashyap ends up making a film that is near to' Mera Naam Joker' in length.
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About acting I would just mention two names , Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra, because these are the only two actors that irritate the most in the film. Wonder if they knew it, but what they did on screen is pathetic by thier own standards. Salman Khan is a talented actor and his followers who have been supporting him for the last 15 years, need something better from him. He is degrading himself in films like these. Nikhil has lost whatever he earned in his debut film, but it is an alarm bell for Salman who is losing his shine day by day. Maybe a Jadu Ki Jhappi can help him.
