Ready (Hindi) Review

In a recent interview, Salman Khan declared that he wants Ready to beat the record set by 3 Idiots, in terms of collection. That may not seem such a tall order, given the fan-base the man has, but is the movie any good?

For those who have seen the original Telugu film, Ready, the Hindi version may look like an over-the-top copy. Fact remains that the latter is at least 15 minutes shorter, and it does have the top cat of Bollywood, Salman Khan.

The plot remains largely the same. Do-gooder Prem Kapoor (Salman Khan), the one who unites estranged hearts, lives in a Hum Saath Saath Hain family. Enter Sanjana (Asin), who poses as the prospective bahu of the house, but is actually on the run from her 'Mafia' family. The Kapoors are bowled over by her, and so is Prem, after a rocky start. His agenda now is to unite all the estranged families with his own, so that they can all live happily ever after.

Ready is all about being loud. However, it is no Dabangg. Comparisons are inevitable, and with his diamond studs and Hill Road clothes in Ready, Prem Kapoor lacks the finesse (yes, finesse) and the novelty of Chulbul Pandey. To give him credit, the actor tries his best to portray a lovable protagonist, but ends up looking tired and jaded.

Asin is tolerable, despite her smug looks. She lets Salman overshadow her (wise decision, that). Her performance is not in any way remarkable, but there is a hint of maturity in her demeanour. She looks disinterested in most frames, and then suddenly puts her game face on, as if she has just realised that the camera is on her.

Paresh Rawal is not his usual self, even as he struggles to play the not-so-honest CA. In fact, he looks rather bored. He has to act drunk in a couple of scenes, but nothing can beat Brahmanandam, who played the same role in the original.

Then there is a hoi polloi of characters that will make your head spin. Mahesh Manjrekar as the vocabulary-impaired father is a far cry from the intimidating Nasser in the original, but instantly likeable. Anuradha Patel as his wife is elegant and poised, but does not have much to do.

Manoj Joshi and Manoj Pahwa - both these talented actors utilise their time on screen to garner a few laughs, but are not overdramatic. The women playing their wives are immensely forgettable. Sharat Saxena and Akhilesh Mishra actually look like brothers, and their roles as the illiterate, menacing, outdated Dons are caricaturish, to say the least, but the duo carries it off. What is unfair is making Punit Issar their father.

Sudesh Lehri, as the once-lecherous man now forced to live with one of the Dons, is convincingly sleazy. Arya Babbar is completely wasted. He is portrayed as a threatening antagonist in the beginning, and then becomes a whining sidekick. Niketan Dheer has tremendous screen presence, and all the action (against Salman), but a weird hairdo and dialogues with zero impact.

Devi Sri Prasad gets a special mention in the credits for the hit song, Dhinka Chinka. In fact, there are 2 versions of the same song in the movie. The rest of the music is by Pritam, and Character Dheela is already a hit.

All's well that ends well, at the end of the movie, but there are a few unanswered questions - what happens to Prem's intended bride, how does one get away with portraying expensive hotels as private residences, who on earth chose the costumes, how come Sanjana has a ready-made wardrobe despite the missing luggage, and why did they shoot in Sri Lanka if they wanted to pass it off as Bangkok (complete with some Hindi-speaking Thai doctors, et al)? What is missing is the masti that the friends brought in (in the original).

Watch if you are a Salman Khan fan, but pray that it does not put you off the Dabangg sequel.