Shaadi No 1

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Shaadi No 1: Full of laughs

Lindsay Pereira | November 02, 2005 17:15 IST

The latest from David Dhawan, Shaadi No 1, involves the lives of three young couples – Raj (Fardeen Khan) and Bhawna (Ayesha Takia), Aryan (Sharman Joshi) and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), Veer (Zayed Khan) and Diya (Esha Deol).

Life’s not easy for the men, as religion and demanding careers conspire to keep their wives from paying them much attention. They don’t have jobs either, which makes things worse. Even as they attempt (and fail) to kill themselves, they come across a suicidal businessman called Kothari (Satish Shah) who needs rescuing. He employs them, they resolve his business hassles, and he tells them about his other nagging problem: three young daughters – Madhuri (Riya Sen), Rekha (Aarti Chhabria) and Dimple (Sophiya Chaudhary) – who now live abroad and refuse to accept the idea of arranged marriages.

Special: At the movies, this Diwali

Kothari wants the boys to help by wooing his daughters and then dumping them, in order to prove how fickle love affairs can be. The guys agree, rush off abroad, woo the girls, and then promptly fall in love with them. Now, the girls have followed them back to India, and the men must learn to juggle their time with their wives.

To make things worse, the wives have found a long-lost relation – Lucky bhaiya (Sanjay Dutt), aka Lakhwinder Singh – who plays the mandolin, seems to know exactly what’s going on and has a storehouse of morals and advice for every occasion. Sort of like a soothsayer, but more heavily built.

Things get complicated. Kothari wants the boys to stop dating his daughters, but they are enjoying themselves too much to care. Lucky tries warning their wives, but they refuse to believe him. Raj, Aryan and Veer are worried about Lucky, so they think of bumping him off. In the meanwhile, the wives and girlfriends have met and become friends, completely ignorant of the fact that they are sharing their lives with the same men. There’s more chaos and confusion, but you have to watch the film to find out how Dhawan manages a strange, surprising solution.

There’s a lot of music and dance, of course, but Anu Malik needs to work a little harder. Of the six tracks, Dil nahi toda karte is the only one that’s hummable. Others, like Chand ko tod doonga and God promise dil dola, aren’t that hot. Surprisingly, it is guest composers Aqueel and Sanjeev who score a potential hit in Aiyashi aiyashi. Also, I must confess, the only track I had a problem understanding was the one that went Hello Adam, Hello Adam, I am your madam…

A number of good supporting actors, including Rajpal Yadav, add colour, while each heroine has a little character trait that’s appealing. Dhawan’s direction is tight, which isn’t difficult to swallow considering it’s his fifth movie with producer Vashu Bhagnani after Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Biwi No 1, Coolie No 1 and Hero No 1.

There are some good performances, including those put in by Esha Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Riya Sen. Sharman Joshi stands out. Still, all said and done, it’s a good effort on the part of all concerned, and they dance their hearts out at every turn, both before and after the interval. As a Diwali release, Dhawan couldn’t have timed it better. There’s laughter, madness, and a lot of celebration, making this a good option for a boring afternoon or a late night.

Eventually, what makes Shaadi No 1 interesting is the fact that it epitomises what Bollywood has always been: A celebration of illiteracy, with bright lights and an orchestra.

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Re: Shaadi No 1

Movie Review

Shaadi No.1 - For a change a comedy that falls flat
Exclusive by Joginder Tuteja, IndiaGlitz [Wednesday, November 02, 2005]
OK, so Shaadi No. 1 could put a full stop to all the infidelity/extra marital threesomes that we have been witnessing since ‘Masti’ followed by ‘No Entry’. Agreed that its just the germ of ‘grass-greener-on-the-other-side’ syndrome that is prevalent in ‘Shaadi No. 1’ with the screenplay being different but still this time around the funny bone isn’t really tickled great deal. There are occasional laughs and chuckles but at number of places they just fall flat. And sad, but the truth is that Sanjay Dutt’s act just doesn’t lift the movie. In fact at places it makes you wonder why didn’t the makers of ‘Shaadi No. 1’ try attempting something different than this. Net result - ‘Shaadi No. 1’ turns out to be the case of too much too soon for the viewers.

When the opening credits roll, the story is clear that ‘Shaadi No. 1’ is set to be another no-brainer flick. And you in fact love the feeling as you have come prepared for exactly the same from this Vashu Bhagnani-David Dhawan comic flick. The movie begins with an attempted suicide by Raj [Fardeen Khan], Veer [Zayed Khan] and Aryan [Sharman Joshi] who are frustrated since neither do they have a great job in the day nor do they have a great night lives with their respective wives Bhavna [Ayesha Takia], Diya [Esha Deol] and Sonia [Soha Ali Khan]. Reason being that while Bhavna believes in ‘pooja-paath-mannat’ 30 days a month, Diya is an upcoming actor who hardly has any time for home. Meanwhile Sonia is a lawyer who spends much of her time preparing for her case. To top it all, there are also an admiring Pandit [Menon], director [Rajpal Yadav] and lawyer [Ali Asgar] in the lives of three of them.

While our three men are unable to commit suicide, they end up saving the life of businessman Kothari [Satish Shah] who is facing heavy losses due to strings of unsuccessful business ventures. They offer Kothari some advise to save his business who offers them a job in his company in return. They continue to be depressed and frustrated until Kothari gives them another offer that they cannot refuse. He wants his ‘phoren-returned’ daughters Dimple [Sophie Chowdhary], Madhuri [Riya Sen] and Rekha [Aarti Chabbaria] to be brought on a right path so that they choose the men he selects for them. Plan is for Raj, Veer and Aryan to ‘patao’ them and later ditch them so that the gals realize the value of arranged marriage! Though the men are initially reluctant to grab the offer as they wanna be loyal to their wives, the greed of better pay package force them to take the plunge.

Kothari arranges for the six of them to meet on a “foreign location” and soon the girls fall for the charms of the three boys. Even Raj, Veer and Aryan are happy now as they get a chance to bit the forbidden fruit. Not able to believe their luck, now they want the best of everything. Solution? They decide to convince their wives to allow them to marry twice!!!

Excited about their plan they return back to India only to find the thorn in their flesh - ‘Lukhwinder Singh Lukha’ a.k.a ‘Lucky bhaiiya’ [Sanjay Dutt], who turns out to be a distant brother of their wives. From here begins a hide and seek game between the Lucky and the trio of Raj, Veer and Aryan. While Lucky is all out to expose the deeds of his ‘jijus’ to his sisters, Raj, Veer and Aryan need to keep the wives and girlfriends away from each other. This cat and mouse game continues for another hour or so before it reaches its conclusion that is highly reminiscent of ‘No Entry’!

In the beginning things still go a bit smooth with the introduction of the characters and especially the escapades of the three men and the girlfriends. The way they go around ‘pataofying’ them does make you smile and even laugh a bit. There is a good dose of skin show also in the first half that should keep men happy. One believes that things would brighten up with the introduction of Sanjay Dutt. But this in fact brings the movie down as more than making you laugh, his character irritates you at most of the places.

Sanjay Dutt follows the same pattern yet again as in ‘Jodi No. 1’ and ‘Ek Aur Ek Gyarah’ and this time around it is a complete overkill. His over-the-top ‘Punjabi’ man trying to give ‘misaals’ at every opportune moment brings on smiles only at a few places with viewer getting tired of them after some time. Second half was expected to be exciting [as promised by Sanjay Dutt at the interval point] but that is sadly not the case. Things get predictable with the story not moving at all and coming to an almost standstill. Entire sequence of trying to bump off Sanjay Dutt over a hill and him returning back from the dead is outright predictable with one looking forward to something better happening.

The pre-climax around the true colors of the men being revealed and the climax that follows is also not the best conclusion of ‘Shaadi No. 1’. There is also a glaring gap about the relationship of Sanjay Dutt between the three wives and is out rightly avoided. Also, the characters of the three men towards the end has been projected as if they were at fault all the time with wives going completely scot-free!

Director Dhawan (with help from cinematographer Johny Lall) packs each and every frame of ‘Shaadi No. 1’ with colors and gloss but some very average screenplay lets him down. Dhawan tries to make best of what is available to him but the final result is hardly of the kind that would make you clap and scream.

Dialogues by Milpa Zaveri are forced to follow a synchronized pattern in order to give equal footage to the all the actors. So if Fardeen Khan has a comment for a situation then Zayed and Sharman follow suit. Same happens in the case of wives and girlfriends. Due to this some of the lines are indeed funny whereas the rest completely fall flat. Anu Malik’s music is another downer as none of the songs remain with you after the movie is over.

There are 12 important characters in the movie in addition to Sanjay Dutt and Satish Shah and frankly everyone manages to come up with just an average performance. None of them are able to rise above the script and the end result is just about fine. If Dhawan thought that Sanjay Dutt alone would be able to lift the movie then that unfortunately doesn’t happen. Those expecting Rajpal Yadav to steal the show would be disappointed as he is hardly in 3-4 scenes and a song.

In the end, ‘Shaadi No. 1’ is one of the weaker products from David Dhawan in recent years. Those looking for some non-stop ‘masti’ and ‘hungama’ would at maximum manage to have a few smiles in their way but that’s about it. Quite average!

Rating: **
http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/review/7495.html

Kisi ne dekhi yeh movie???

^^^ Talked to Shikra ^^^
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Re: Shaadi No 1

-
garam masala

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Re: Shaadi No 1

sounds good

hopefully will c it on eid

How do you eat your Biryani?
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Sounds kinda sick..

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Re: Shaadi No 1

The Diwali Openings

The much-awaited festive week has begun, but I have to admit, I am not feeling euphoric.

With Rs. 45 crores at stake during the Diwali and Idd week this year, the entire industry was hopeful that the three major releases -- GARAM MASALA, KYON KI… and SHAADI NO. 1 -- would embark on a flying start at the ticket window.

But if the initial trends are an indicator, GARAM MASALA has indeed opened big, while SHAADI NO. 1 is at No. 2 position [good average to average opening] hmm not bad and KYON KI… at No. 3 [average to dull].

However, everyone's optimistic that the business would gather momentum from Thursday, while a bigger push should come in from Idd. Yet, all said and done, the 5-day weekend [the films have opened on Wednesday, instead of Friday] should benefit the three releases eventually.

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Shaadi No. 1 Review
By Taran Adarsh, November 3, 2005 - 09:30 IST

Vashu Bhagnani and David Dhawan have an unbeatable track record: COOLIE NO. 1, HERO NO. 1, BIWI NO. 1 and BADE MIYAN CHOTE MIYAN, money-spinners all. So when the duo gets together after a hiatus, you expect them to hit a boundary yet again.

SHAADI NO. 1 follows the tradition of David Dhawan movies faithfully. Leave your thinking caps at home and throw logic to the winds when you saunter into a movieplex to watch a David Dhawan flick, that’s the mantra you need to follow.

But you really can’t expect every David Dhawan enterprise to be as entertaining as AANKHEN, JUDWAA and MUJHSE SHAADI KAROGI. You realize that David hasn’t deviated from the tried and trusted formula he has been churning out successfully over the years, but the problem with SHAADI NO. 1 is that it runs out of ideas after an engrossing first hour.

SHAADI NO. 1 tries to pack everything available on the shelf: Comedy, double entendres, skin show, great visuals [Lyon, France] et al. You laugh aloud – there’s never a dull moment initially – as the three husbands try to get closer to their respective wives and the subsequent plans they hatch to get closer to the three sisters. So far, so good!

But there’s a slip between the cup and the lip…

Just when you thought that the aircraft was off to a great start, you gradually learn that the flight to fantasyland isn’t smooth at all. The snag here lies in its post-interval portions when the story actually stagnates and you realize that the writer[s] has utilized all the tricks in the first hour itself, with not much to offer in the next hour.

All said and done, SHAADI NO. 1 doesn’t sweep you off your feet, the way David’s earlier rip-rollicking laugh-fests did so delightfully.

SHAADI NO. 1 tells the story of three couples: Raj [Fardeen Khan]/Bhavana [Ayesha Takia], Veer [Zayed Khan]/Diya [Esha Deol] and Aryan [Sharman Joshi]/Sonia [Soha Ali Khan].

The husbands feel that their wives don’t respect them enough since they are worthless. They even try to commit suicide, but in vain. As luck would have it, they save an entrepreneur, Kothari [Satish Shah], from committing suicide, who eventually asks them to join his business.

Kothari has a problem: His daughters, Madhuri [Ria Sen], Dimple [Sophie Chaudhary] and Rekha [Aarti Chhabria], are in no mood to have an arranged marriage. Kothari wants the three guys to woo his daughters and then dump them, so that they realize that love affairs can go wrong as well.

Initially, the guys refuse to bail out Kothari, but he issues an ultimatum: Woo his daughters or else lose the job. The guys fly abroad, court the three sisters and actually fall in love with them. But when they return to India, they suddenly discover a kabab mein haddi in the form of Lucky Bhaiya [Sanjay Dutt], who claims to be a distant relative of the three wives.

In the meanwhile, Kothari wants the guys to stop dating his daughters, but they are in no mood to obey his orders. In fact, they even discuss the issue of a second marriage with their respective wives. The complications multiply…

Remake of the Telugu film SANDADE SANDADI, SHAADI NO. 1 is a typical David Dhawan flick. Never ask questions when you watch a David Dhawan film, because chances are you may not get the answers at the end of the day. But the moviegoer knows the David Dhawan formulae too well by now and wouldn’t really complain if the joyride is exhilarating enough to last for two hours.

In this case, things go awry in the post-interval portions. Ideally, the second hour should’ve been much more racy and punch-packed, but things keep deteriorating as the story moves towards its finale. Alas, even the climax belies the expectations and is a complete letdown. In fact, the end is so bizarre that even hardcore David Dhawan fans would find it difficult to gulp it down their throat.

David Dhawan tries his best to woo the aam junta with his by-now-famous brand of comedy, but he doesn’t get much help from the writer[s] of the enterprise. There’s no novelty whatsoever and certain portions actually make you wonder whether the writer knows the basics of writing well enough.

Take for instance the sequence when the three guys decide to eliminate Sanju and his body even falls off a cliff. But how does he surface as a ghost? Even the climax, when he rescues the three wives one after the other, looks weird and doesn’t even raise a chuckle. And how and why do the husbands have a change of heart? Most importantly, who is Sanju in the first place and why does he pretend to be the three wives’ distant relative? No explanations are offered!

Anu Malik’s music is another weak spot. While ‘Dil Nahin Toda Karte’ and ‘Jitne Channel TV Ke’ are somewhat foot-tapping, the rest are plain mediocre. Cinematography [Johny Lall] is up to the mark, especially the outdoor work. Dialogues [Milap Zaveri] are well worded.

SHAADI NO. 1 has a huge star cast, but only a handful of names register an impact. Fardeen, Zayed and Sharman are efficient and what comes as a [pleasant] surprise is that both Fardeen and Zayed have handled the light moments with ease. As far as the leading ladies are concerned, Ayesha Takia and Esha Deol can be singled out. Sanjay Dutt’s role might appeal to the masses mainly. Satish Shah is proficient.

On the whole, SHAADI NO. 1 is too ordinary a product to leave a strong impression. At the box-office, the 5-day weekend might help the film to an extent, that’s about it!

**

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Shaadi No1

Starring Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Ayesha Takia, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Aarti Chabria, Riya Sen, Sophia Choudhary , Satish Shah.
Directed by David Dhawan
Rating: *

Claustrophic kitsch…..Crowded comedy… These would be polite ways of putting across the chaos of colour and corny puns that constitute the essence of David Dhawan’s new comedy.

Honestly, Shaadi No.1 is the giddy limit. Its swirling surge of satire and characters makes your head spin and stomach churn. We’ve seen David Dhawan do such ensemble comedies before. But never with such conflicting and anarchic consequences. Never before have so many characters jostled for immediate and irretrievable attention. To ensure the audience doesn’t get restless during the harebrained hilarity, the narrative remains constantly fidgety.

The cinematography and editng suggest a deep link between shallow comicality and rituals of the courtship game.

At any given time in this slammer of a marital satire we see the three heroes, Fardeen, Zayed and Sharman either talking about sex or money.

The power- play is paced at a breakneck speed. The ambience created is that of a corny libidinous carnival. Every ten minutes or so the guys get to sing and dance to Anu Malik’s young-at-heart- but- jaded -by –repetition tunes either with their respective wives or their girlfriends.

Don’t expect this film to respect sexual and ethical space. David Dhawan’s fast-burn plot has no room for niceties. It catches the tempo of a rap song and turns it into a hectic hip-hop of inane dialogues topped by disembodied images of unfaithful husbands looking for sex outside their homes.

Masti , anyone? This time David Dhawan not only pays a homage to David Dhawan but also to that other raja of raunchy ruminations Indra Kumar.

While the basic plot in Shaadi No.1 seems inspired by Indra Kumar’s Masti the clamorous cast’s climactic dangle from a high-rise pole with Satish Shah (dressed in a US construction worker’s uniform) drilling the pole, is straight from Indra Kumar’s Dil.

The mélange of mirthful episodes is so haphazard and so pointedly designed to tickle one’s funny-bone without any durable or even likeable impact, that at the end of it you wonder if Dhawan has gone back to the valley of the droll that he had patented before his most recent comedies Mujhse Shaadi Karogi and Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya.

Not that this latest ouch-ouch-hota-hai outing from the master blaster doesn’t have its funny moments. Zayed Khan descending in Spiderman attire to ‘rescue’ Sophia Choudhary is the one time you spare a smile to this raunchy (though not excessively vaulgar) raga of rile.

But the rile lacks style. The verve is sapped of real vitality. These are guys and gals whose gags are so familiar and fatuous, you want to gag them.

Annoyingly bloated in vision Shaadi No 1 is like a television sitcom blown up and condensed to be accommoded on the 70 mm screen. The characters share their comic karma without any chemistry. There’s neither any bonding among the three heroes(even Masti managed to muster a modicum of camaraderie among the riotous trio of male protagonists). Nor do the lead pairs look like screen couples.

Ayesha Takia and Fardeen Khan, for instance, look more like an overweight housewife and her trainer(with whom she might or might not be having a fling). Zayed and Esha (with Rajpal Yadav, in a hilarious cameo as an intrusive film maker) look more like strangers involved in a one-night stand than a married couple. As for Soha and Sharman Joshi, they are akin to a sibling rather than a spousal bonding.

Bonding is one of the many casualties in this feverish fling with farcical frivolity. At any given time we get at least 7-8 characters in every frame shouting, pushing , shoving and striving to create a clamour of glamour.

All in vain. Sanjay Dutt presides over the parodic proceedings. His thick Punjabi accent and a raging satirical attitude seem like a grotesque travesty of his wonderful comic performance in Munnabhai MBBS.

In fact the saturated over-done pun-clogged dialogues make a reference to Munnabhai, only to remind us how far removed this far-flung farce is from providing genuine fun.
http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=8579