Mere Brother Ki Dulhan Review

After being through watching 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan', one does end up feeling that ultimately this ends up being a film that could have been much better. Overall this is a harmless film and doesn't quite make you look the other way. But then if one is expecting yet another 'Band Baaja Baaraat' or 'Jab We Met' or 'Tanu Weds Manu' then this isn't quite a wedding of the season in the offering.

Ali Zafar breaks up with his girlfriend (Tara D'Souza) and decides to marry immediately on a rebound. He asks his younger brother (Imran Khan) to find a suitable wife for him who zeroes down on Katrina Kaif. As luck would have it, Imran and Katrina fall in love.

Now this is the one line plot of 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan', something that doesn't come across as a surprise since it was pretty much disclosed during the film's promotion itself. One task that writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar had in hand was to take this plot to a different level by making it a hilarious experience. However this doesn't quite happen as you do end up smiling occasionally but never quite find yourself laughing hysterically.

Surprisingly the start itself isn't as zingy as one would have expected from the film. The break up sequence is long drawn, Imran celebrating at the success party of his film is ordinary while the title song that comes immediately after seems a little hurried. Of course this isn't harmful but then one expected things to be far perkier to begin with.

Thankfully the 'ladki dekhna dikhaana' scene turns out to be decently mounted while Katrina's introduction is done well too. In fact the actress does bring in the kind of effervescence that acts as much required ammunition for the film's narrative. Yes, her college girl sequence is overdone but one still looks forward to how things would progress with Imran taking her around for marriage preparations. There are ups and downs at this juncture as well because comic moments just about work okay. Still, overall momentum isn't disturbed in a major way.

The interval point does make one feel that there would be some interesting moments in the offering in the second half. By this time 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' has already gone through some 'Jab We Met' moments (with a hint of 'Pardes' too) while it is apparent that Ali Abbas would now take the 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' route. There is a hint of that as well with Imran and Katrina hatching a master plan. One is even willing to ignore the implausibility of that since it's a film after all but an overdose of songs only keeps hurting the film's pace.

So what really keeps 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' running? Well, decent (though not exceptional) by the three main protagonists who act with some good conviction. Imran as a thoughtful young man is controlled while an uncontrollable Katrina brings on sunshine, as is expected from her. Ali Zafar tends to eat up additional footage by exaggerated dialogue delivery and facial expressions but is by and large quite likeable. Tara D'Souza is okay while Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (who played Manu in 'No One Killed Jessica') is natural as Imran's friend.

Ever since the promo of 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' first came on air, one did expect the film to retain a light hearted feel right through it's little-over-two-hours duration. Yes, the film does maintain a relaxed pace during it's narrative but then it tends to get lazy at number of places as well, something that proves to be it's undoing.

Rating: **1/2

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