Movie Review - Partner

I caught the much awaited comedy from David Dhawan starring Salman and Govinda, first day first show yesterday. So here goes.....

Story - The basic premise of the story is that Salman plays a Love guru who helps people not confident in love get the woman they want. Enter Bhaskar Choudhary played by Govinda, a bumbling financial advisor (shocking) in a big company, and in love with the owner played by Katrina Kaif (never seen a dumber CEO ). How Salman helps Govinda woo Katrina is the main story and in the middle of all this, Salman falls in love with a sexy reporter (Lara Datta) who is a single mom as well. And Salman has to woo her kid to get to her and also help Govinda get his love. Phewwwww.

Other than that there are hazaar characters floating in and out of the movie for no apparent reason. Rajpal Yadav plays Chota Don (a spoof on SRK's don) and he is so damn irritating that I wanted to get up and slap him. Lara Dutta plays a photographer who clicks underworld characters and shaadi pics as well, wtf. Puneet Issar has a 3-4 scene role.

There are sequences that have no relation to the story like the rocket chasing Salman sequence in Thailand. I really did not understand why the Thailand story was incorporated into the movie. But there are a few nice scenes where you atleast smile if not laugh. And that is just about saying it all. Also introducing Suresh Menon as the gay friend of Katrina made no sense to the movie.

The sequence where Salman teaches Govinda to dance stylishly on Just Chill is the bright spot in the movie and Govinda is at his best then.

Performances - Salman does what he has been doing best in umpteen movies till date. Act like a cool dude which is now 2nd skin to him. Nothing great acting wise. Govinda takes charge here and gets us to smile in a couple of scenes but we can clearly see that his glory days are long gone and his acting in a David Dhawan movie is not what the public are going to enjoy. Katrina kaif has 3-4 scenes where she has to talk in an accent (a thing she does well for a change) and Lara Dutta plays a reporter who has a longer role than Katrina. Lara does well in the comedy scenes. Rajpal Yadav gives the worst performance of his life and the kid who plays Lara's son does well.

Music - Dissapointing. Not one song is a stand out song. The "you're my love" love has a catchy beat to it and that about all. I guess it's time Salman gets Himesh to compose for his films.

Direction / Cinematography - David Dhawan directs the movie and as usual it makes no sense at all. There is no control over the narration - it feels more like he trying to showcase Salman's and Govinda's acting and friendship. Absolutely confused direction. David better get his socks up now, the audience has becoming more demanding and clever. The cinematography is good and glossy.

Verdict - 1.75/5. If its laughs you are looking for, please rent the dvd of No Entry and watch it again. That movie is 1000 times more funny than this one. I say you can safely stay away from this Partner.