Writer: Janak

Writer Ratings:
Overall:
Cast:
Plot:
Effects:
Cinematography:

Watch this if you liked: “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge”, “Main Hoo Naa”, “Namastay London”

"Dulha Mil Gaya (English: "finally found the groom") tells the story of millionaire Tej Dhanraj aka Donsai (Fardeen Khan) and Shimmer (Sushmita Sen), who live in West Indies and share one thing in common, they do not believe in love and marriage. Due to the terms of a will, Donsai must marry the daughter of his father friend in order to inherit property. With this, Donsai travels to Punjab and marries the typical Punjabi girl Samarjeet Kapoor (Ishita Sharma) but then leaves her and returns to the West Indies again.

Devastated, Samarjeet goes in search for her husband only to find that he has tricked her. There, she meets Shimmer and she transforms Samarjeet into a modern Samara Capore to woo back Donsai. He doesn't have a clue that Samara is the same woman he married back in Punjab!

Fardeen Khan looks bloated at times but he does put in some effort to his performance. Sushmita Sen never looked so hot after "Main Hoo Naa" and her comic timing can be remembered. Newcomer Ishita Sharma is extremely likeable. Her emotional sequences or comic ones leave you impressed. Tara Sharma looks good but still hasn't got rid of her pathetic dialogue delivery like her previous films. Vivek Vaswani who also serves as the producer of this film is good for a bit but Johnny Lever is completely wasted in the role of Fardeen's butler. Finally, Shahrukh Khan offers a glimpse of his renowned lover's charm. The superstar puts in his 100% to his half-baked character.

The plot offers nothing new. Debutante director (Mudassar Aziz) could have made this film work had it been released a decade back but now it seems too outdated. It constantly reminds you of sequences in "Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge" and "Namastay London".

Songs-wise, Lalit Pandit's music works well on screen. If one listens carefully to the lyrics of 'Dilrubaon Ke Jalwe' where Shahrukh cameos, most of it is based on the star's previous films put together. Also, one would be surprised that the title song sang by Daler Mehndi is not fully featured in the film and only a little is shown in the end credits together with the bloopers.

The most interesting part is the cinematography. Since the movie was mostly shot in Trinidad and Tobago (first Indian film to be shot there, apparently), the unique locations captured by Sunil Patel (cinematographer) will blow you away.

After intense speculation about Shahrukh Khan's role in the film (he's supposed to make a 10-minute cameo only), the man ended up with a 45-minute performance, which is said to be the longest cameo in Bollywood history although we're not sure how that can be counted as a cameo. Of course, we all know that produer Vivek Vaswani is an important person in Shahrukh's success story as an actor so perhaps it's only natural that the star returned the favour.

"Dulha Mil Gaya" is fun but you won't find the oomph like in the recent "3 Idiots". Despite a multitude of stars, the movie still falls flat in many places.


Cinema Online, 17 January 2010