{"id":635,"date":"2009-11-22T22:44:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-22T22:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2009\/11\/movie-review-ajab-prem-ki-ghazab-kahani-2.html"},"modified":"2023-01-25T14:18:58","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T19:18:58","slug":"movie-review-ajab-prem-ki-ghazab-kahani-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2009\/11\/movie-review-ajab-prem-ki-ghazab-kahani-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review : Ajab Prem ki ghazab kahani"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rating<\/b> : Average (3\/5)<\/b>
\nGenre<\/b> : Comedy \/ Romance<\/b>
\nYear<\/b> : <\/b>2009<\/b>
\nRunning time : 2 hours 35 minutes<\/b>
\nDirector<\/b> : Rajkumar Santoshi<\/b>
\nCast : Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Govind Namdeo, Upen Patel, Darshan Jariwalla, Smita Jaykar, Navneet Nishan<\/b>
\nKid rating<\/b> : PG<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cAjab Prem ki ghazab kahani\u201d turned out almost like I thought it would, although I had expected better. Majorly slapstick-y with a very, very loose story-line, is how I\u2019d describe it. The regular rules on describing character development, depth don\u2019t apply here because, and I\u2019ll say it flat out, there is none. Character development that is. This film, while being physically situated in a hill-station like small town, appears to play out in fantasy land. Hence, to sit through this film, you are required to suspend your disbelief and knowledge of physics, gravity and all that tiresome logic.<\/p>\n

The film, as the title proclaims, is about Prem Chopra (Ranbir Kapoor) who is a 9th standard fail, good-for-nothing wastrel (where have I seen that before ?). Prem is all about being President of a \u201cHappy Club\u201d \u2013 he does nothing else. The Happy Club and it\u2019s members, who are all Prem\u2019s equally good-for-nothing friends, have lofty goals in mind, but run around not amounting to much.<\/p>\n

Prem who lives with and is supported by his parents, wants to \u201cgrow up\u201d once he sights and falls in love with the beautiful Jennifer (Katrina). However Jenny is being forced by her foster parents to marry an odious chap, and she actually loves Rahul (Upen Patel). Prem, by virtue of being her friend, and very classically hero-like in being unable to tell her of his love, finds himself kidnapping her from her very own wedding so she can be with her true love. Things ofcourse do not go as planned, but does Prem get what he deserves ?<\/p>\n

While the film makes it very clear that there is no realism in the story, and the viewer should expect no connections (remote or otherwise) to coherence, it is also not an out-an-out gag fest. There is an attempt to create a film full of buffoonery, tomfoolery and abject slapstick, but Santoshi cannot keep up the momentum. Thus while there are some scenes which are comedic, there were gaps in the film where I was plain bored. Add to that, the fact that this film pretty much conducts itself at a level suited for a teeny-bopper flick, and you get the picture.<\/p>\n

Santoshi who has delivered meaningful films like \u201cDamini\u201d in the past, also managed to turn out half-decent \u201ccomedies\u201d like \u201cAndaz Apna Apna\u201d. This time he tries to be fluffier than usual, if you get my drift, and as far as I\u2019m concerned does not get it right. APKGK has a pretty light-weight script, and is unencumbered by traditional filmi elements such as a believable story or screenplay. Even given that, this film fails to leave a mark, chiefly because I care not a whit about the card-board-ish lead-pair, Prem and Jenny, both of whom share 2 common characteristics. Firstly they both stammer when upset, and the second (which the director may not have intended) that although full-grown adults, they appear to only possess child-size brains.<\/p>\n

This film might descend into stupidity, but it\u2019s stars are quite another matter. Luminous Katrina, and the youngish Ranbir, ooze beauty and charm in every frame. Even though they have no help from the script, they manage to salvage the film to make it an average entertainer. There are other factors which help, like the absolutely marvelous Govind Namdeo, who breathes life into his 10 minute role. Also Darshan Jariwala, playing Prem\u2019s restaurant-owner father, and Smita Jaykar, playing his loving, indulgent mother lend their able support. The songs, which are quite melodious are picturised beautifully and with a sophistication not seen in the film itself.<\/p>\n

The best thing about this film, if I had to name one, is that it did not have any double-meaning jokes, vulgarity, sexual innuendoes or the Johnny Lever style facial contortions that currently pass for humor. Although there were minor irritants like showing a woman\u2019s sari being \u201cunintentionally\u201d unwrapped (only in Bollywood !) , this film was relatively kid-friendly, and I have to say that my kids enjoyed it a whole lot more than I did.<\/p>\n

APKGK (long names anyone\u00a0?)\u00a0is a slap-stick entertainer and will probably do quite well at the box-office. If you go in there expecting a low-brow, loud, in-your-face comedy sans logic you will get your money\u2019s worth. However if your funny bone is not tickled by random people falling off staircases, or a bunch of half-wits running around for no apparent reason, please consider spending your hard-earned money elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rating : Average (3\/5) Genre : Comedy \/ Romance Year : 2009 Running time : 2 hours 35 minutes Director : Rajkumar Santoshi Cast : Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Govind Namdeo, Upen Patel, Darshan Jariwalla, Smita Jaykar, Navneet Nishan Kid … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[70,76,22,11,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-70","category-bollywood","category-comedy","category-rating-pg","category-romance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":5,"uagb_excerpt":"Rating : Average (3\/5) Genre : Comedy \/ Romance Year : 2009 Running time : 2 hours 35 minutes Director : Rajkumar Santoshi Cast : Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Govind Namdeo, Upen Patel, Darshan Jariwalla, Smita Jaykar, Navneet Nishan Kid … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-af","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10362,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/10362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}