A fruitful "Partner"ship for the masses. Review on Partner

I have written two reviews for this movie, and am presenting both to you here:

Review 1**: To those who are the arthouse multiplex blah blah etc etc crowd who have different tastes and have no doubt brought diverse theatre to the fore with their stiff upper lips and crinkling noses at this type of nonsensical cinema, and who no doubt will crib at the many demerits and nonsense of this movie, just a tip: STOP watching 90 % of indian cinema since it will not agree with you. Unfortunately movies are made for the masses in majority and people enjoy these movies. So for those who dont exactly appreciate a low-brow comedic outing, may as well turn back here as the following analysis may apall. My wonder is why does such intelligentsia even bother with such movies only to crib later? Dont they know what they are getting into?

Review 2: (To themasses)

Certain movies are made, for two reasons only: Commercial purposes and with the sole objective to make people laugh, no matter how ridiculous the situations are made to be. Partner is one of those films, total madcap comedy and timepass. Having seen interesting promos and of course (no secret) being a Govinda fan, to see him in the mood in a trailer after a long time along with Salman Khan, piqued my interest and I went the first day to enjoy what I thought should be a mad movie providing amples of laughs. Did I get them or no?

Plot: An adaptation of Hitch (I say adaptation since here the focus was more comedy than romance) with Prem(Salman) playing love guru while wooing Naina(Lara) to those who experience "loveria" but are complete 0's at "loveology". One such classic case is Bhaskar(Govinda) who wishes to woo his boss Priya(Katrina) but just cant get her to notice him. What happens from here and what craziness ensues on screen forms the remainder of this movie.

Cons:A couple of really unfunny scenes, nonsensic as they were.. For example the rocket launcher scene, just felt forced and kiddish, not to mention it didnt even relate to the story.

The story takes a bit long for my liking to start (first 10-15 minutes) and can be trimmed, as can the second half, (Rajat Bedi) as they just start stretching it slightly thin, although the end makes up for that.

Chota Don's(Rajpal Yadav) character is not given a proper ending, he was funny and really deserved more screen time.

Pros:

*The chemistry. Just the sure fire and easy going chemistry between Salman and Govinda.

The dialogs are crisp and funny, eliciting laughs without becoming vulgar or cheap, which is a good change.  Furthermore, a lot of small characters also pitch in their mite with good acting, although they deserved a more developed screen time. The movies story is simple but the layering of scenes one after another at high speed just makes one concentrate on the laughs which is what this movie is supposed to do.

Direction: David Dhawan is on home turf here and say what you want about him he is the name when people talk about comedic direction. For the better part of two decades he has been doing comedy and is now associated with a genre. AFter a few duds (Shaadi No 1) its refreshign to see him going a bit more subtle and witty in trying to get laughs and reining in his actors even in such a zany setting. Lets hope he continues on this trend and makes good movies which entertain the paying public and gives them their money's worth.

Performances:It is arguably toughest to make people laugh, as the best of lines if delivered badly can fall flat, and this is where most comedies become "comedies". Hence its necessary that the casting gets it right and plays together instead of trying to steal scenes from each other, thereby bringing the movie down. Without further ado, here are the performances:

Katrina Kaif: Does nothing except smiling and looking cute.

Lara Dutta:Doesnt have as long a role, considering she very good at comedy, but does well with what material she has and seems like she is rising up to be one of the top actresses, she definitely is brilliant at handling comedy.

Rajpal Yadav:Hilariously funny as Chota Don (love the theme track), he is again sidetracked in the second half and couldve made the movie a huge laugh riot if he had come in more scenes with Salman as well as a few scenes with Govinda, with whom he shares surprisingly no screen space. A good performance from arguably one of the best Indian actors right now.

Salman Khan:This guy has played the dude so many times that its hard for him to bring variations into this role, its become that second nature for him. But over here, there is a change simply because in this case his subject harrasses him to the point of insanity, and this exasperation is portrayed by him well. A very commendable and natural comic performance from Salman, who performs after a long time with enthusiasm.and makes for a great pair with Govinda.One hopes to see this effortlessness and relaxed performance from him in his upcoming comic roles too.  It is to be noted that he should be lauded for giving Govinda a chance to return to the lime light with such a role, in his own home production, such security in their stardom is rare.

Govinda:Undoubtedly though, the star of the movie is this man. From being finished off and washed up, he has come back well and delievered to resurrect a career that was going nowhere fast. He looks fresh, and has the same enthusiasm and energy, albeit a bit toned down and family friendly. Gone is most of the excess flab, the vulgar innuendoes and the pelvic thrusts, leaving Govinda to prove that even without these devices he can entertain and perform like very few today (Arshad Warsi is another who's a natural at making people laugh). I hope to see him in more diverse roles and better movies than what he has done in the past and that he doesnt fall into repetitiveness which got him down in the first place.

Conclusively, all I can say is that  the main reason I watch movies and comedies specifically is to relax, enjoy myself and forget about politics, professional pressures and troubles which surround every second of the common mans life. Intelligent, dark and realistic cinema is fine, but once in a while some movies come along and remind you why you enjoy watching movies and what you enjoy watching in them. For me, though illogical , Partner brings on the laughs in good numbers and hence reminds me of what I look for in a film. Pure unadulterated entertainment.

For readers of both the reviews, Id love to hear your comments, so do drop a line

till next time

have fun

faraz