Back to India, some years back, one of my colleague dead on his retirement meeting while he was called to give his retirement speech - Reason? He could not face the crowd and could not handle the pressure of meeting an auditorium full of people. Good or bad, Life’s surprises take us to a shock many a time. Height is always dreadful if we are not used to be there.
Need for appreciation is a basic must for achieving success. Many a time this need form as our ego which invite its friends along called jealousy, pride and greed. Ego will blind our eyes and make us deaf. Only after the inevitable destruction it will release us from its clutches.
Arjun (Ajay Devgan) carries a dream to Rock the Wembley stadium of London, where his father failed to make use of a surprise opportunity. His attempts are moving on the right direction. When he made a performance in a public meeting place he ends up in jail, but it gave him 3 friends, two from Pakistan and Priya (Asin) from Chennai to join him. Together they made a band called London Dreams. His childhood friend Manjith (Mannu/Salman) is in financial troubles and makes Arjun to visit India to get some money. Arjun take him to London. Things turn up to a point where Mannu become more famous as he got a better talent. Things get worst where Mannu falls in love with Priya, whom Arjun had a postponed love for Priya, waiting for a chance in ‘Wembley’. Ego takes over success - watch the fate of ‘London Dreams’ in nearby theatre.
The film falls short of excellence where it could have been better made. The basic plot didn’t have any problem (in fact it is this strength of the plot which worked for the film), but it is the screenplay which failed at times. The screen play writer narrated incidents but didn’t bother to explain how or why. This left the audience to take a stand that characters did those things for reasons only known for the writer. The sad part is that it happened in all the important junctures of the film. Second problem for the film is the lack of talent in selecting good songs for this musical. Any musical stories need the support of excellent music which appeals the masses and the classes. Here, the director is handicapped with one single song of excellence (Barso). This song is superb for its spirit, the choreography, cinematography and for its totality. This will be heard in many reality shows. The song which Arjun played in public was lifeless, the one he sung for charming the producer was not exceptional (Khanabadosh. Only the humming with Aasamaniya made it little pleasant). The final song was impressive but it got attention more for its choreography.
The film was going very slow in the beginning and only upon arrival of Salman it picks up pace. The climax was very shallow where the writers didn’t give time to reflect to the characters or audience, also the coolness with which the characters patch up took away the merit of warmth which could have created for a tear drop.
Ajay Devgan did a good job when it comes to acting. Sadly, his character was a let down as it lack concentration, reason for many of his actions. Salman Khan rocks! After wanted, Salman creates some magic in this film as well. Salman can now happily forget MAMK. Asin didn’t had much to do in the film, she just did what is offered to her well. Ompuri is wasted in a small role.
Cinematography is good in most of the time, especially in those scenes in the stadiums and in Punjab. However, felt it was not that effective at many other places. Editing could have been better.
Overall, the film has a soul and the movie just managed to carry it in part. It is a good one time watch.
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My rating: 3.25 stars