It is truly sad to see a Yashraj production succumb to such depths of mediocrity. I have to say that even the unexciting Mohabattien and the recent Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai have far more to offer then Mujhse Dosti Karogi. And this comes from a banner who gave us Lamhe and DDLJ. Quite frankly even DTPH had far more flair then Mujhse Dosti Karogi.
The problem with MDK is that it tries to hard to fit into the mould of the atypical Yash Chopra brand of cinema. The swiss Alps, London settings, big families, beautiful girls who dress and look as flamboyent as a New York catwalk model but yet mouth of dialougues of Pehla Pyar, sacrifice and are willing to get married to anyone basically living in a 40’s time warp.
Then you have Hritik Roshan the wannabe perfect guy. Looks good, tries to show that he dresses well, but at the same time a perfect gentleman and a typical ghareloo boy. Add to that a steady stream of family friends and rishtedaars and perhaps a dollop of songs and Yash Chopra candyfloss and you have Mujse Dosti Karogi. Oh and to add the extra spice it is inspired by the Truth about cats and dogs, even though it has none of the charm and comedy offered in that film and that track is finished once Hritik finds out it was not Kareena but Rani who emailed him and is in love with her. After that the film goes into this oft repeated sacrificing my love for my best friend tangent.
The problem is that this seemingly sureshot recipie just does not work. The London setting, swiss alps and Yash Chopra’s wannabe youth setting does not work. Its just been oft repeated. His candy floss Pehla Pyar dialougues which worked in DDLJ and sounded a tad geniune evoke laughter. Worse, still the charecterizations os having catwalk sati saavitri’s and perfect Indian sons is not relevent to our times. Quite frankly, the entire love story is so unbelievabaly corny and undeveloped that it fails to convince the audience let alone stimulate the audience. The email conversations between Rani and Hritik talk about glib Yash Chopra philosophies about love that quite frankly are downright idiotic. Compare this to the more fresh approach of Dil Chahata Hai. The entire setting quite frankly appeals to the fantasies of NRI parents of having the perfect children who themselves are starting to get sick of all this.
Worse, still Kunal Kolhi’s direction and script are so lacklustre that there are hardly any moments and situations that even make the audinece twinge. The first half atleast manages to sustain the audience interest despite it being illogical, predictable and under developed. By the second half the director realizes that he had strethced the truth about cats and dogs track to the hilt and basically makes the second half next to unbearable. It is so predictable that you can predict the next one and a half hours and even the dialougues will be exactly the same. The music is lacklustre and the swiss alp locales seem like home given that we have seen them in close to 100 movies.
Technically the film is above average. As such the narrative however slow it is does manage to flow in a logical manner and the camera work is faultless. But it not particularly exciting.
Its clearly the performances that make this film remotely watchable. Despite her rather edgy charecterisation Rani charms the viewer and walks away with all the emphathy. She looks great and acts with finesse, and makes one wonder why at all Hritik is after Kareena instead. Kareena is also quite good although is overshadowed by Rani. She looks good and fortunately is no where near as annoying as she was in her annoying Poo cariciture in K3G. She handles her emotional scenes quite well, and one wishes that she would chose her roles more carefully. Where is the promise we saw in Refugee? As for Hritik Roshan, he does his usual prettyboy act. Oh and his sissy like emotional scenes are there in dollops here. Beware!!! Clearly, I am not a fan of his and well for all you girls that are I suppose it is safe to say that he is his usual self which many people like but I and many other find annoying.
Clearly, Yash Chopra and gang need to reinvent themselves. One they need to make thier films and charectors more relvent to the times we live in and secondly they need to focus on fresher idead and stronger screenplays.
As for Mujhse Dosti Karogi, it might be suitable to watch on TV after a long day’s work when you just need something to help you snooze or basically allow you to channel surf.