What sets ‘Dostana’ (Friendship) perfectly apart from the rest of director/producer Karan Johar’s productions isn’t its clear-cut theme but its eccentric concept. Touching on a topic rarely dealt in Bollywood, ‘Dostana’ makes a bold move in exploring the idea of homosexuality in a humorous context. Verdict: absolutely hilarious.
Sameer aka Sam (Abhishek Bachchan) is a male nurse working at the Howard Medical Centre in Miami and Kunal (John Abraham) works as a professional photographer, merrily mingling with gorgeous models. Fate brings these two individuals together on an apartment hunting spree and quite predictably lands on the same destination. The apartment in question is owned by the beautiful Neha (Priyanka Chopra) who works for the prestigious fashion magazine, Verves. Although the two fell in love with the place at first sight, their dream of moving in was short-lived as Neha’s overly suspicious aunt rejects them on the ground that she only accepts female tenants.
Feeling thoroughly depressed and utterly helpless, Sam and Kunal came up with a ludicrous idea to win over the heart of Neha’s aunt and eventually to move in – by pretending to be a gay couple. Thus begins a hilarious journey with utterly funny twists and turns all at right places at right times. Things get out-of-hand comical when both fell in love with Neha, who thinks they are gay.
Unlike his previous productions, ‘Dostana’ doesn’t fall into Johar’s larger-than-life melodramas. Rather it simply follows a light-hearted yet immensely entertaining comedy full of positive energy.
It seems that the plot of ‘Dostana’ has a relative resemblance to Hollywood comedy ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry’ with a slight rib-tickling touch on ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (mainly on scenes depicting the glam world at the fashion magazine). Nevertheless, the movie guarantees you full of belly laughs with witty jokes set in the most-unimaginable comical situations. You can barely control yourself when it comes to certain scenes such as when Sam’s homophobic mother (played by Kirron Kher) learns about her son’s unconventional sexuality and the scene in which the gay editor-in-chief of Verves, M (Boman Irani) meets with Sam and Kunal.
As is the custom in most of Johar’s previous work, ‘Dostana’ doesn’t fall behind when it comes to reminiscing his blockbusters such as ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ – only this time around succeeding to crack you up one notch further.
The direction by first-timer Tarun Mansukhani was another high-point, clearly visible throughout the movie. Although the direction wasn’t seemingly challenging, the effort to bring the wacky humour, all the same time maintaining the light-heartedness and upbeat flow of the story was nothing but praiseworthy. Shot in various locations of Miami, Florida, the cinematography impeccably captures the beautiful locales, giving an exotic touch to the movie.
This goes without saying but Dharma Productions was famed for its rhythmic and hip music featured in each of its movies. Just as one would hope, most of the numbers in ‘Dostana’ are quite upbeat and get you going on to the groovy side. However, ‘Desi Girl’ and the opening item number ‘Shut Up & Bounce’ could be handpicked through the rest for its irresistibly cool and melodious tunes.
The top-notch and amiable chemistry between Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham is highly amusing. For handling such a challenging role so effortlessly, the ‘gayness’ they exude should only be hailed. Priyanka Chopra was looking her best and played her part with confident and ease.
The only disappointment in the movie is its inadequate ending where things were sort of left ‘unfinished’. Granted, wrapping up the end of such a mindless comedy in the perfect possible manner wasn’t as simple as it seems but the director should have known better than to just abandon the story only half-baked.
Nevertheless, in a nutshell, the movie has definitely triumphed in the comedy department and promises you a good-laugh if not a side-splitting good time with your buddies.
Rating: 7/10