Aankhen, Waqt, Namaste London … Vipul Shah is just 3 films old as a director, but these three films have given him the reputation of being a master at portraying human drama. Then there is the repeat of the unlikely pair, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan. And of course the allegations of being a 40+ Rock On. All this does make one curious about London Dreams, and to be fair the movie does keep you engaged and entertained for the most most part … yes, there are a few flaws, but you are quite likely to forgive and forget them.
But to begin at the beginning, Salman and Ajay are childhood friends at a school in Punjab. Ajay lands in London to pursue his rockstar amibitions, while Salman stays back in Bhatinda. Even though they separate as teenagers, they keep their friendship alive through ‘10 times a week’ ISD phone calls. While Ajay is the silent intense type, Salman is the happy go lucky one. Ajay gets Salman back to London with him, and the talented Salman slowly overshadows Ajay. In fact he even wins over his girlfriend, Asin. How Ajay reacts to this, and whether their friendship survives is what London Dreams is all about.
Salman’s buoyant character, Ajay’s intensity, the human drama and the grey shade revelations do keep us engaged, but inspite of some high budget stadium shoots, the rock musician backdrop does not seem convincing. The ending also seems overly simplistic, but inspite of these flaws - the screenplay and writing keeps us fairly engaged.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s music is very good, but a couple of songs do not live up to the situation’s demands and one does feel that they needed to be really great. Cinematography, editing, dialogues are all extremely competent. A majority of the credit for making the movie engaging and entertaining should also go to director, Vipul Shah. On the acting front, Asin, Aditya, Rannvijay are good. Om Puri and Manoj Pahwa are reduced to playing glorified extras. Finally however, Salman and Ajay steal the show. Salman has the more front bencher friendly part, but his personality helps him raise his performance to a new level altogether. And he even impresses in the intense bits. On the other hand, Ajay plays a more fragile human with distinct grey shades, but he brings a certain dignity to the part, which ensures that the audience sympathizes with him and never considers him to be a villain.
All in all, London Dreams is an engaging entertainer which you can watch with the entire family. It is not perfect, but the positives outweigh the flaws. We give it 3 1/2 stars out of 5.