Movie: Dostana

Two young men, strapped for cash and desperate for an accommodation, pretends to be gay in order to rent two rooms in an apartment. They share the apartment with a pretty young thing. All three have a beautiful friendship going between them till the cupid strikes. The two young men fall in love with the pretty young thing and begins a one-upmanship to woo the girl. But, the girl falls for her boss. Now, the two young men conspire against the girl’s boss.

When Dostana was released in Nov 2008, the media went into an overdrive  on homosexuality and gays. The name “Dostana” was borrowed from a previous blockbuster of the same name starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughnan Sinha and Zeenat Aman. According to many, the relationship between the main protagonists in this movie was bordering on homosexuality. It is a surprise to me as I always thought it as a good masala(action, drama and sentiments) movie!

The premise of the new movie is interesting. Halfway through the synopsis, you have labeled it as a laugh riot. The posters oozed sex quotient as it displayed a lot of Priyanka Chopra’s body and John Abraham’s butt. Abhishek Bachchan played a spoilsport by covering himself up. If the clothes were not enough to cover him up, he had a shawl wrapped around his neck.

When you have seen with the movie, you see a little bit of John’s butt and a lot of butt-gazing of Priyanka. Abhishek and John (and the camera man) do not waste an opportunity to stare and ogle at Priyanka’s butt in the movie. Unfortunately, this is one of the best things about the movie. For the first time in a mainstream Hindi movie, the protagonists are brave enough to look where it matters (for them) and make jokes. The rest of the movie is a mix and match of various episodes of successful television series Friends and scenes from I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry.

There is a reference to Gabbar Singh( of Sholay) being gay. That was funny.

Abhishek and Priyanka surprises us in parts with attempts to act convincingly. On some occasions, Abhishek shows there is an actor hidden in him somewhere. On other occasions, he is a plain bore. John is a very consistent actor. From his debut movie, he has been proving he can’t act. He has once again proves; it isn’t in him.

Kirron Kher and Boman Irani are superb. Kirron Kher acts as Abhishek’s mom. She can’t accept the fact “maa ka laadla bigad gaya” and she conveys it comically. Boman Irani is Priyanka’s boss who desperately tries to hit on Abhishek. Although his scenes with Abhishek are not funny, there are a few other occasions where he makes us laugh.

The movie is set in Miami and has good production values as they have combined good locations and technology to give a glossy look for the movie. The movie has used a lot of blue screens and inserted the background. So, when you see Abhishek, John and Priyanka on the balcony of their apartment overlooking Miami skylines and beaches, they are infact standing in front of blue screens!

The protagonists have $ 2000 to shell out for an apartment. With that kind of money, is it hard to get a shared accommodation? I thought NY was really expensive. But even there, it was easy to get a shared accommodation with that kind of money. Well, I was an expatriate once.  But Karan Johar (the producer of this movie) & Co has been making movies for the NRI crowd even before I became an expatriate. So, he must know about rents and accommodation better than me!

As for the movie, I have a message to all those who are in or out of the closet. This movie doesn’t empathize with you. It is a farce!

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