What happens when a dream turns horribly wrong? Thats what you are compelled to think when you watch Vipul Shah’s MAGNUM OPUS ’London Dreams’. Things go horribly wrong in the movie, right from the very average dialogues, to the very weak plot to the boring songs.
Story is about two childhood friends-Arjun and Mannu. Arjun is an ambitious kid whereas Mannu is the happy go lucky kind, with a lot of talent and no ambition. Arjun’s father dies and he goes to London with his uncle. Its really funny as to how he runs away from the London Airport, plays the flute, collects money and gets himself admitted to a swanky music school. Smart Kid, eh?
All of a sudden a grown up Arjun is shown, singing rock songs. 2 Pakistani guys, played by Aditya Kapoor and Ranvijay, out of the blue, join him and form a band. Asin goes to one of their auditions, and she also joins them, though in what capacity, its not clear. Arjun has this huge desire to sing at the Wembley Stadium, the reason behind which is again very melodramatic.
The band becomes a huge hit. Arjun wants Mannu to join the band and brings him to London from Punjab. Now Mannu is the guy who has the talent, the ada as Ranvijay says at some moment in the film and soon after he joins the band, Arjun looses his voice for a moment and Mannu takes over, and wins the heart of the audiences and also the girl, Priya (Asin) with whom Arjun is madly in love. There’s a love track of Mannu and Priya. Arjun get’s jealous of Mannu’s talent and popularity and devises a hideous plan to put him on drugs. Thereafter, Mannu gets addicted and can’t sing anymore. After a lot of twists and turns, and the debacle at Wembley, where Devgan’s Arjun finally gets a chance to sing, everything ends on a good note.
Hard to say anything about the plot, its that bad. Asin has a bad dress sense and has been reduced to playing a glorified extra in the movie. Ajai Devgan aint no rock star. He just doesn’t look the part and has a perpetual frown on his face. Aditya Kapoor shows promise. Rannvijay has some sad expressions on his face. The only relief, comic and otherwise, is provided by Salman Khan, the man with isstyle. He plays the role with panache, makes you laugh even with his corny oneliners and is good entertainment.
Considering that this is a music about movie, the songs are pretty bad. The music by Shankar, Ehsan and Loy is a big downer. The cinematography is good. Sad to say, the direction by Vipul Shah is shoddy. Can’t even call this movie a one time time pass.