This is THE FRIENDSHIP. Review on Dosti - Friends Forever

Dear Suneel Darshan,

I know this review is rather late and I am sorry for the same. Actually, I didn’t find the time…. Well, you would have already seen your film torn into shreds by the so-called self-styled critics. One of them (a nobody Mayank Shekhar (of Mumbai Mirror) who thinks he’s everybody) even called it a gay movie. Well, our critics are very good at criticizing. Well, the critics (and even some people) were shocked to see that you made an emotional movie (according to them, ONLY Yash Chopra and Karan Johar have this right).

If either KJ or YC had made this movie, it would have got a minimum of 4 stars (Yes, I said minimum). How dare you step into their territory? And second most shocking thing for them was that you bypassed that actor who ALWAYS over-emotes: The “King” Khan and took an actor who never goes over the top while emoting: Akshay Kumar. For them, Akki can’t emote come what may. For them, only one who sheds buckets of tears is a true blue superstar not the one whose mere expressions convey the sadness.

Well Mr. Darshan, what more can I say??? Just read my review to see what I (a COMMON MAN, not a learned one like our revered critics) have to say about your film:

The review:

Music Directors: Nadeem-Shravan

Well, to begin with, we are shown a little boy who has very very rich parents who don’t have time for him at all. He is frustrated with his life until…..a poor boy comes into his life (Actually, the rich lad kicks a football so long and high that it goes down a cliff but he doesn’t realize that and slips when the poor boy rescues him) (Well, the football scene was a tad exaggerated, Mr. Darshan, don’t u think??). So, a strong friendship bond develops between the two little boys (So, Mr. Mayank Shekhar, this according to you is gayish behaviour!!!). The rich boy is Bobby and the poor chap is Mr. Kumar. Ofcoz, Akki is orphaned and he only has his drunken uncle to look after him. So, Bobby decides to have Akki alongside him throughout his life. His parents protest but ultimately give in.

Time passes. Both grow up into Bobby and Akki respectively!!!! Bobby is a spoilt brat who has a wild side to him viz. girls. Akki is always ready to help him get out of trouble… Akki has found his love: Kareena but he is too scared/shy to propose to her (aren’t we all are???). One day, Bobby tells him that Kareena is getting married to someone else. Akki cant believe it and decides to tell her about his feelings. They go to her house only to find that Bobby was just pulling his leg. But, in the process, he does propose to her….

Then, one day Bobby sees Lara and falls head-over-heels in love with her. But, she disappears from his sight. Then, a rocking song, “Dulhaniya” follows. Akki gets engaged to Kareena during this song. Bobby sees Lara too at the ceremony…. But, there has to be a villain. Its in the form of Shakti. The trouble is that Bobby had a one-night stand with his daughter and Shakti is a friend of Mahesh Thakur who is Kareena’s brother. He advises Mahesh that Akki being Bobby’s best friend is bound to be like him. Mahesh confronts Akki and belittles Bobby. Akki is unable to bear it and slaps him in front of Kareena. That’s it. Akki is lonesome now….

Kareena now belittles Akki by saying he’s just a shadow of Bobby and nothing else. He can never ever stand on his own feet. He would always require Bobby’s support… All the above (from Shakti telling Mahesh to Kareena belittling Akki) happens in Bobby’s absence. Akki tells Bobby whatever Kareena said to him and says that he’s had enough of his friendship. Bobby is shell-shocked. Akki wants to leave him forever. Bobby pleads with him not to do so but Akki has made up his mind. Bobby, very reluctantly, agrees and drops him at the airport so that he can go to India. But at the airport, Bobby notices something about Akki and makes up his mind to not let him go at all….

Then, another twist… Kareena gets married to someone else and Akki desires to see her marriage!!!! (Though, only from outside her mansion)….. Oh, by the way, Shakti’s daughter tells Lara about Bobby’s bad ways and Lara doesn’t want to see his face at all. But Akki brokers in peace (and love) between the two…

What happens next?? What’s Juhi Chawla’s role in this movie?? Does Akki get another heroine???? For all these, watch Dosti-FRIENDS FOREVER. A very very good product which is very well polished for Indian audiences… On the positive side, there are a lot of things:

1. Nadeem-Shravan’s music (sadly, their last album together). All the songs are masterpieces. Most notable among them are “Yeh Dosti” (Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan are excellent in this one), ”Dulhaniya”, “Aur Tum Aaye”, “Ishq Na Ishq Ho”, “Lets Boogie Woogie” and “Aisa Koi Zindagi Mein”. Most of these songs justify their placements as they carry the movie forward. They are not existing just to provide some relief.....

   
   




2. Competent direction by Suneel Darshan. Beautiful locales used while shooting… Well done..

   
   




3. The performances by the actors. Laradoesn’t get much scope but she does act well. Kareena is good as usual and its good to see that she has come out of her “overacting” era (seen in K3G and Mujshe Dosti Karogi)…Bobby Deol is first-rate and his scenes with Akki are magnificent.

   
   




4. The emotional scenes are pretty well handled by Suneel Darshan who is fast becoming a wonderful director.

   
   




5. Finally, Akshay Kumar is wowsee, excellent, outstanding. Just see his expressions when he sees Kareena get married to someone else. Perfect. He has enacted the comic sequences wonderfully (as usual) but he does exceedingly well even in the emotional scenes.

   
   

Dosti-FRIENDS FOREVER is one of the best films made on friendship in a long long time. In these times, when one can only see sex comedies and movies based on sex, Dosti proves an exception and one can only thank Suneel for that…

Ratings and comments are eagerly awaited.

Well, Mr. Suneel, hope you would have enjoyed my review… Hope to see some more movies which are non-violent and non-sex based from you….Remember that critics have to criticize and they will do their job unless you are someone who is a “biggie” in the industry….

In this world, there are friends who still would go to any extent for their friendship. And if strong male bonding indicates gayish behaviour, I have no qualms in accepting that I AM A GAY as I bond very well with few of my male friends. This is not meant to be an offence to the gays but I want to tell EVERYONE that very deep friendship (either between 2 males or 2 females) should not be construed as gayish/lesbian....