Salman Khan set a benchmark for the ultimate Boy Scout with his Bajrangi Bhaijaan act, and now he surprises us even more. His character is so virtuous that you will walk out of the theatre fighting a morality crisis. He has a counterpart in Maithili who is solidly under-pressure to perform as per the royal decree.
Our Miss goody two-shoes runs an NGO, eats at not-so-classy restaurants and wears matching clothes. And yes, she sometimes likes to flaunt her little black dress for some ‘quality time’ with her fiancé. Just to make sure the message is conveyed to the audience, Diwan Jee ( Anupam Kher) explains ‘quality time’ with a lot of hesitation and innuendos. On second thoughts, you need to do this in a film which is strictly vegetarian in its approach. For your reference, people eat veg korma, tanduri bhindi and butter chole in PRDP. It’s all so ‘saatwik’ ( pious) , you see. Sweets lovers, don’t feel left-out, laddu-pede-jalebis have also been given ample screen time.
Kher as Diwan Jee is on an extension of his Saudagar ( 1991) role. You get what makes a proper ‘family’ film: Two families, fighting for land, none of them blessed with humility or family love. But, if it doesn’t ends well, then ‘Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost’. So, to complete the rest of the film, we have Yuvraj Ajay Singh ( Neil Nitin Mukesh) , Rajkumari Chandrika ( Swara Bhaskar) , Rajkumari Radhika ( Aashika Bhatia) and some loyalists. One of these loyalists is Chirag Singh ( Armaan Kohli) . Remember Jaani Dushman Ek Anokhi Kahani?
It’s not like the director is absolutely sure of his own screenplay, but he chooses to keep marching on the road better travelled. In one of the scenes, a very important character is getting treated in a dungeon. Another one asks: “Why don’t we shift him to some hospital with security? ” Diwan Jee says, “We can’t trust anyone, ” which translates into ‘go take a walk haters, and don’t leave your logic behind’. That’s why I didn’t dare to even smile when Khan says, “Aap paristhiti ki gambhirta ko samajh nahi rahe hain.”