PRODUCER – Rajat Rawail, Bhushan Kumar, Nitin Manmohan, Kishan Kumar, Sohail Khan
DIRECTOR – Anees Bazmee
WRITER – Salim Khan (Story) Rajiv Kaul, Rajan Agarwal, Ikram Akhtar (Screenplay)
CAST – Salman Khan, Asin, Paresh Rawal, Anuradha Patel, Mahesh Manjrekar
MUSIC – Pritam Chakraborty, Devi Shri Prasad
Who is exactly ‘ready’ for what is not quite clear in the film but the film itself is quite a ready entertainer. It is a remake of the Telugu super-hit film of the same name, and many a times seems like along with the plot it has carried those sensibilities home too.
So Prem (Salman Khan, who else but him can be behind that name?) is a good-for-nothing and his family guruji predicts marriage to one Pooja as an answer to all his wayward ways. Meanwhile, Sanjana (Asin) is busy running away from her forced marriage and lands up at Prem’s doorstep impersonating the real Pooja. They fight and promptly fall in love but soon trouble lands in the form of Sanjana’s two uncles who want to lay hands on her inheritance by getting her married to their sons. The now-in-love Prem steps up to sort matters and set everyone in line. He does that with the help of his ever-supportive family and Balidaan Bhardwaj (Paresh Rawal) that is a treat to watch even if the loud-ness and crassness is a pity.
There we have said it. Ready is loud and crass but not as woefully cheap as some of the director’s previous films. It has some genuine laughs and twists that keep the ride going even if at times it isn’t as pleasing as it is meant to be. The quirky screenplay keeps the jokes going one after another in a range of screwball, goofy humour at times self-parodying (In a hilarious sequence Asin imagines Prem removing his shirt and showing off his muscles, a joke on the now-regular act of the star) and also taking digs at contemporaries (An action sequence begins with Prem landing on the table in the same stance as Shahrukh Khan is shown to do in Ra.One promos).
So is the pot pourri funny? Yes, if one is able to remember the million characters in the film with their names and functions and relationships while one is also keeping track of the million plot twists. There are songs that sprout of nowhere and one-liners that range from silly to forced to funny. The production values are stunning and the performances helpful. There is a chemistry between the family members and except the to-be-redeemed villains, Akhilendra Mishra and Sharat Saxena, everyone steers clear of loudness or over-acting including Asin. Salman Khan plays his character nice and light infusing it with some quirk here and some nicety there. He isn’t the lovable rogue here and that’s a change to watch. Paresh Rawal and Mahesh Manjrekar perform with conviction and energy and so do Anuradha Patel and Manoj Joshi.
If toilet jokes do not offend you then there is quite a bit of colour and humour to please in this one. But if you like your movies ‘correct’ and authentic then just remember this is that type of a movie whose characters, are fully conscious and functional even while in coma, just to provide laughs.
Originally published here
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