Dostana Hindi movie Review

Banner: Dharma Productions
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan
, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra, Bobby Deol & Shilpa Shetty
Music
: Vishal - Sekhar
Editor: Manan Sagar
Cinematography: Ayananka Bose
Dialogues: Anvita Dutt Guptan
Story - screenplay - direction: Tarun Mansukhani
Producer: Karan Johar
& Hiroo Johar
Release date: 14 November 2008

Review

Story
Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan) is a nurse. Kunal (John Abraham) is a fashion photographer. Neha (Priyanka Chopra) works for a fashion magazine. They live in Miami. Sameer and Kunal are desperate for a rented accommodation. They had to lie to Neha that they are gays in order to share accommodation with her. One lie leads to another one. They also fall in love with Neha, but unable to express their love because she thinks that they are gays. Meanwhile Neha gets a new boss Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol) who falls head over heels for Neha. She too likes him. The rest of the story is all about who Neha goes with.

Actors:
Abhishek Bachchan is very good with his ‘gay’ antics. John Abraham is cool. Priyanka Chopra is red hot in bikini dress in one scene. She is perfect for this role. Shilpa Shetty did a special bikini song that comes during the titles of the film. Bobby Deol fits the bill. Kirron Kher has a brief but hilarious role as mother. Boman Irani is wasted.

Technical departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: It is a comedy film in which a small lie leads to several funny things. Direction of the film is nice. Screenplay is adequate. The narration goes little slow in the second half. However, director could able to bring lot of funny moments out in the film. But, the basic premise of two guys forced to act as gays in order to get a rented accommodation does not sound convincing at all. The scenes in which the gays make Bobby (editor-in-chief of Verve magazine) a bakra by teaching about how he should dress and behave in front of Priyanka.

The best scenes in the film are

1. The ‘love in Venice’ illustration by Abhishek.
2. Kirron Kher entering heroine’s house
3. Kirron Kher giving arti to John after accepting him as son-in-law/daughter-in-law
4. Gabbar Singh s a gay because his punch line was 'Kitne Aadmi The'.
4. The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai scene where John and Priyanka dance in synchronization with Sharukh & Kajol for a song in front of a giant TV.
5. The scene in which Priyanka suspects that these guys are also trying for Bobby.

You can see innumerable reference to Hollywood films in characterizations, plots and scenes. Here are a few among them

1. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry – Two guys conveniently acting as gays
2. When Harry Met Sally – faking the orgasm
3. The Devil Wears Prada – heroine’s office set up and Boman Irani’s intro scene
4. Meet the parents – hero working as male nurse
5. Dumb and Dumber - Two guys scarifying the lady to a 3rd guy after fighting for her (and remember fundraising dinner fiasco similar to that of auction fiasco in Dostana)

Other technical departments: The songs composed by Vishal Sekhar are good. Cinematography and visuals are very nice. Dialogues are witty. Choreography is cool.

Analysis: The first half of the film is good. But the second half has got some problems. The story meanders in the second half. However, the director succeeds in getting things right in the climax. The plus points of the film are casting (Abhishek, John and Priyanka) and comedy. The negative points are illogical premises and loose ends in the second half. On a while, Dostana holds a good entertainment value for multiplex crowds.