During my childhood days, I remember how crazy we used to be for comics. Chacha Choudhary, Banke Laal, Pinki, Billu, Raman, Amar Chitrakatha, Rajan Iqbal, Manoj Comics .... so many...comics were the integral part of kids upto 10 years back. Sometimes we all friends would glue around the main central guy in the classroom who would arrive with some new comics.
Such was the magic of comics. Ever noticed one thing that most of these comics had very simple story theme but we loved them for their presentations..how Billu broke the crackers or How Sabu alone defeated Pakistan after giving repeated sixer as the 11th player. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is the same comics presented in the form of motion picture with excellent speed of storytelling and screenplay, and this is in fact the reason behind the success it has achieved within 2 days of its release! COMICS converted into a movie.
Old story new treatment, fresh style of story telling: Poor guy meets a lovely girl, who has her own share of sorrows and already existing boyfriend. Guys falls in love and grows many dreams and one fine day finds that she loves someone else. Thereafter starts strings of sacrifices till the climax when the girl discovers that she actually loves Prem, the Poor!
Did not sound anything special? Should not...but it should look special when you watch the same thing on the 70 mm screen. It ahs been done so beautifully and masterly that I clap for raj Kumar Santoshi who has taken a comedy route on the same thing whose trageic forms you have seen several times with likes of Jab We Met or Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
Clever way of screenplay, artistic way storytelling, classic editing and perfect frames:
did I mention comics has the reason here. Ever noticed why always you do like comics? Because in every frame one scene is finished in short crisp and sharp way, it does not drag and does not bore as something always keeps on happening. Same here every shot is short and apt. they move so fast that one should clap for the pace of the movie which is fast but does not loose the plot or even does not miss a single required expression from every character who were involved in that particular shot. It requires intelligence and grip on the psyche of audience. Editing has added pinnacle to this. You hardly find such editing. The sharpness of ligh and clear air of Ooty has been beautifully exploited to get best shades from everything..from the early morning cool slient skies to the spotless clean face of Prem perfectly matching the innocence of the character as well as the storyline.
Songs take off perfectly: Thereare perhaps 4 songs and all are good. The best thing about them is that they take off perfectly at right time and at perfect camera angle. The best to describe is the song shooted in Greece in complete monotone which starts suddenly after a dialogue. Cinematography is 100% top solid. for the same song which I described above, just watch the way the Colosesum or Greek beaches have been captured! Awesome. Even in general today Ooty is not that beutiful, but these guys have turned it into better than Switzerland. In everyframe the beautfy of a small hilly town came inside roaring and lovingly.
Excellent Direction: It requires genius to turn such simple story line into a great fun. Santishi did that. he perfectly knew the baseline and required arrangements of characters in entire movie. It looked that even he knew every shot perfectly much in advance. Be it repeated slapping shot in the bald before taking the chair from him, the knock on the head of bald dad of Katrina, the entire party rivalry scene where wooing competition happens in Tom & Jerry style, or the scene where Prem gets dedicated to his new job of Laddoo making like a superman! Awesom man awesome!!! Only genious can imagine such things and put them on rolls exactly and perfectly. Even the last scene tells the perfection of frames where Jenny and Prem are getting married in court those 4 guys standing with him were the Inspector whose wife was abducted and the Laddoowala for whom once Prem made Jenny Jalebis with nonstop thumkas...you know why there presence was important for this last shot? Becuase their faces gave the perfect comics type ending! It subtle intelligence of the director.
Here arrives the Real Kapoor lineage: Ranbir Kapoor. People laughed on him after Sanwariya. I was too in that lot. But this year he changed my perception about him with Wake Up Sid, and with this one he completely shocks you. He has done such a seasoned job that you cant imagine this role with any other actor. Also you anxiety for genuine comedy and romantic movies in future should be relieved as This is the guy who will lead these areas with Elan. He has emotion, action, comedy and tragedy everything which a Good actor is packed with and every predecessor Kapoors carried from Prithivi Raj to Rishi Kapoor ( but certainly not Kareena and Karishma who literally look blackspots especially after watching Ranbir here!).
In this movie every guy has given good performance be it Ranbir or even a character actor, but as usual here again we have Katrina kaif the dumb the only negative thing about this movie...who could not act properly again. I dont know why guys take this lady who can’t act and look so plastic. She does not know Hindi and still finds job in hindi film industry with english converted hindi dialogues..where no expression comes on her plastic face. Sonam kappor would be the better choice in all movies which requries face like katrina and talent like Madhuri!
Finally: Must watch this one. After ling time I found housefull board on ticket counter at any multiplex. The movie has everything to make you enjoiy. Since its genre is comedy, don’t try to be a classy critic. For such guys Jail is there. I have watched that too and liked it too. Nitin and Manoj Bajpayee have given terrific performance and you can watch for them.
But if you want your heart to laugh, don’t miss this. Its simply the else forgotten Comics days brought to you back by genuis Santoshi and revealation of acting: Ranbir Kapoor!