Given the frenzy and fandom that SRK and Kajol bring to the table, the job cut out for the rest of the unit becomes a supporting one. SRK spreads his arms wide and Kajol’s eyes acquire a mischievous glint as she heads for a warm embrace and the world doesn’t seem like a bad place to exist in. But to take them for granted and expect that their mere presence would negate the need for a story, screenplay or any other element that makes a film, scripts Dilwale’s doom.
The film includes every Bollywood cliche. Two warring dons, Malik( Kabir Bedi) and Randhir Bakshi( Vinod Khanna), share a khandani dushmani in Bulgaria over some gold biscuits( ignored since 80s movies when smugglers in trench coats and shades would sneakily scurry out of airports with suitcases full of them) . Other predictables in the plot include the film’s leading lady realising her true feelings for the one she previously despised after he accidentally saves her life. Also, Johnny Lever furnishes his much-lauded yet overdone lungi-clad South Indian avatar. Aiyoo for small mercies!
When ex-don-now-car-re-modeller Raj bhai( Shah Rukh Khan) wakes up in a cold sweat, his friends Shakti( Mukesh Tiwari) and Anwar( Pankaj Tripathi) ask him to brush away his past, after all’haadse ko guzar ke 15 saal ho gaye’. This traumatic memory refers to a lost but unforgotten love who is intermittently reminisced and occasionally evokes rage in Raj bhai. Yes, referring to King Khan as’Raj bhai’ is tiring, but that’s how he is known to his younger sibling Veer( Varun Dhawan), an oversimplistic garage help whose life’s motive revolves around impressing his romantic interest Ishika( Kriti Sanon) . Things become a melodramatic mess when Ishika’s sister, Meera( Kajol) lands up in Goa and objects to her choice of union. If you’ve seen the trailers, you know that Meera’s past features Raj bhai, better known as the indestructible Kali, Bakshi’s top dog back in the day. What is it that haunts Meera’s past? Will Raj bhai manage to clear his throat to clarify his differences with Meera? Some of these questions are best left unanswered.