TEAM ENGINE
Powered by the Salman Khan-Govinda duo in good form, this madcap comedy chugs along merrily for the most part.
JULY 22, 2007 – SALMAN KHAN isnât always the easiest of actors to watch, but given a certain kind of director (such as David Dhawan) and given a certain kind of movie (such as Partner), you cannot imagine anyone else carrying off moments such as the one in which he â all sad and alone after being dumped by his single-mom girlfriend â consoles himself with that most depression-proof of foods, ice cream. Heâs seated in front of a photograph of the mother and son, and at some point, he extends to them a spoonful of what heâs digging into. âSitaphal flavour,â? he adds helpfully, as if that would make all the difference in their decision to step out of the frame and share his misery (along with his dessert). Itâs such a cartoonish scenario, and Salman carries it off beautifully â possibly because, in an earlier scene, dressed in a canary yellow Tweety Bird T-shirt (with a cap to match) and bright orange track pants, he looks nothing so much as a cartoon himself. (And I mean this as a sincere compliment.) The only other leading man (okay, one-time leading man) capable of committing himself so completely to this kind of lunacy is, of course, Govinda â and the two of them have a high old time in this reworking of Hitch. Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif (both looking terrific) are the supposed love interests, but letâs not kid ourselves here about the pairing that Partner is really about. Itâs Salman Khan and Govinda.
Govinda plays Bhaskar, a âbewaqoofon ka brand ambassadorâ? who falls head over heels for the heiress Priya (Katrina Kaif), whoâs way out of his league, and Salman Khanâs aptly-named Prem is the love guru who helps Bhaskar get the girl. (Lara Dutta, meanwhile, is a gossip magazine columnist who attracts Premâs attention, and itâs interesting to see who plays her boss: Tiku Talsania, who had exactly the same role when Aamir Khan played a tattle-tale reporter under him in Dil Hai Ki Maanta Nahin.) The setup is right out of Hitch, but for a while, Partner appears to be channelling What About Bob, as Bhaskar wears down a reluctant Prem by charming the rest of the latterâs family. All that charm finally works, and Prem and Bhaskar join hands in tune to a footstomping Sajid-Wajid number. (The songs seem to have been designed to burn up dance floors everywhere, and the way they are staged is sheer eye candy.) Then on, itâs high-grade low comedy all the way, especially with Sanjay Chhelâs dialogues making even the most sentimental of situations worthy of a wink and a smile. (âDhoop mein uska chashma banoonga, baarish mein uska chhaata,â? vows Bhaskar, as he expresses to his future father-in-law his intentions for Priya.)
After a longish dry spell, itâs good to see Dhawan back in some sort of form, even if parts of Partner work better than the whole and even if his material isnât entirely original. The funniest bits are those that reflect the kind of rambling, free-association madness this director is so good at (and these portions have nothing to do with Hitch), like the scene featuring a very funny Aamir Khan impersonator or the other one where Salman, in front of airport security personnel, spoofs his much-documented fondness for taking his shirt off. (One out-of-nowhere tangent that doesnât quite pay off is the angle featuring Rajpal Yadav as Chhota Don, a cricket-crazy Mini-Me of a gangster. Heâs hilarious in a sight gag that has him hijacked by a speeding car, but he vanishes almost entirely during the second half.) But all that said, I couldnât see why Partner had to be a remake of Hitch when it could just as easily have been a remake of Basu Chatterjeeâs Chhoti Si Baat, which came along three entire decades earlier and showed us a mousy Amol Palekar falling for Vidya Sinha and having to be coached on the ways of romance by that marvellously crusty Ashok Kumar creation, Col. Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh. Itâs practically the same story, except that Chhoti Si Baat detailed a middle-class Mumbai that doesnât exist anymore, at least at the movies. Could that be why the folks behind Partner went all the way to Hollywood when inspiration was staring at them right there in their own backyard?
Copyright ©2007 The New Sunday Express
Raj
July 21, 2007
Man…..the way you describe scenes of films is priceless….Looking forward to watching this one.
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HP
July 21, 2007
Glad you mentioned ‘Chhoti Si Baat’ !!!
Cheers,
HP
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krazy
July 21, 2007
Nice review – not a fan of David Dhawan films but this one sounds like fun. And being a heterosexual female, I always find Sallu easy to watch.
As for it being inspired by Hollywood or Bollywood – does it really matter with a film like this? You watch it for the actors and their comic schtick – the story hardly matters.
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g
July 21, 2007
Huh? When did Dhawan go away? I thought he did a remarkable job of adopting to the slick multiplex generation with – Maine pyaar kyu kiya. But just as you miss your Basu Chatterjee (I do too), what I really wish from Dhawan is for him to rediscover the subversive genius of Raja Babu – take that FTII, Pune!
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g
July 21, 2007
On second thought I am giving too much credit to Dhawan. Raja Babu was a supremely tasteless movie BECAUSE of its inspirations from Southern subversive geniuses. The kind who made movies like Himmatwala, Rowdy MLA and the original of Raja Babu. 🙂
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anon
July 21, 2007
good review – when i watched hitch, i thought that kamal is going to remake this w/ prabhu, some new comers, usual crazy mohan gang…looks like david dhawan has done a decent job.
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Shankar
July 22, 2007
So, maybe this is one Salman movie we can actually sit through!! 🙂
On a side note, considering you mentioned “Chhoti Si Baat”, I happened to watch the movie recently. The characterisations are awesome (as is the music). Besides Amol Palekar, Vidya Sinha and a marvelous Ashok Kumar, even Asrani has a terrific role. However, I did the find the pace too slow. There were times when I was itching to grab a pair of scissors and edit the movie!! 🙂 Of course, those were different times and the pace probably was perfect then. But again, I love “Baton Baton Mein” another movie from around the same time. It has a similar though slightly stylish role for Amol and a ravishing (and innocent) Tina Munium with fantastic music, of course.
Sorry for the digression…
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Ravi K
July 22, 2007
I watched Chhoti Si Baat a few years ago and found it to be a wonderful film. The comedy was surprisingly clever for an Indian film, especially from the 70s. If anything, your review of Partner has made me want to rewatch that CSB.
Were specific things lifted from Hitch? The idea of an awkward guy being coached in romance is a pretty common plot. Not as common as the star-crossed lovers, but I’ve encountered it in a few different forms. Even Cyrano de Bergerac can be considered a form of this story.
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g
July 22, 2007
Shankar – pace of Chotti si baat was too slow? Next you will tell us Basu’s Chameli Ki Shaadi needed more WWF style wrestling. 🙂
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Badri
July 22, 2007
Decent watch, though cant beleive it is getting so many favorable reviews.
Both Sallu & Govinda are in rocking form. Sallu is really good, (he was good in JeM) too! But somehow Govinda’s lone due comeback has taken most eyeballs!
The songs are rocking – can pick 3 -the title song, my love and the punj song in the club. The songs are atleast original!
Looks like another Judwaa/ MSK kinda hit for the Sallu-DD combination
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Shankar
July 23, 2007
g, I forgot to mention I was watching “CSB” again after having watched it many years ago. Yes, I did find the pace a bit slow watching it now. Like I said, it has so many wonderful things about it except for the pace. Also, it was probably perfect for its times.
BTW, I’m a huge fan of the Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranjpe etc school of film making and thoroughly enjoy their movies.
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g
July 23, 2007
>BTW, I’m a huge fan of the Basu Chatterjee, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranjpe etc school of film making and thoroughly enjoy their movies.
Amen to that. Another film to add to that select list would be “Saath Saath”. And now thanks to the power of DVD/VCDs, they can be mine, all mine. 🙂
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brangan
July 23, 2007
Raj: Thanks. I don’t think you’ll mind this one too much.
g: “the subversive genius of Raja Babu?” That sounds like the title of a thesis man 🙂
g Says:
anon, krazy, HP: Thanks.
Shankar: Was about to say the same things about Chhoti Si Baat as g. Slow? 🙂
Ravi K: “The comedy was surprisingly clever for an Indian film, especially from the 70s.” Actually, the seventies were quite a fertile ground for comedy in our films. Even something as “tragic” as Anand was full of understated humour. My fave: Renu asks Anand, “Zara doctor saab ko bula sake hain.” And Anand, without missing a beat, replies, “Zara kya… poora bula leta hoon.” And yes, entire scenes were from Hitch but the movie did do a lot of things that were its own.
Badri: But if it’s decent, why can’t you believe it’s getting good reviews?
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Shankar
July 23, 2007
Baddy, Did you watch CSB recently? If not, watch it and then tell me if I’m not right. 🙂
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Ravi K
July 24, 2007
Baradwaj, you are right, there is definitely a tradition of clever dialogue in Indian cinema (particularly from the Hrishida/Basu films). I guess I was talking more about things like that fantasy scene with the trial and a character named Julius Nagendra Nath Wilfred Singh, which struck me as a surprisingly dry touch.
This discussion also brings to my mind Mumbai Matinee, which might as well be called The 32-Year-Old Virgin! It had some pretty funny scenes as well. Not as good on the second viewing IMO but worth watching.
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g
July 24, 2007
BTW I just IMDB’ed Deepti Naval’s filmography and I am shocked to see that the fun but terribly regressive “Kissi Se Na Kehna” (where the doctor wife pretends to be an illiterate girl from the village) was directed by Hrishida.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244590/
On the other hand, nice to know Rang Birangi WAS his handiwork.
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Vidhya
August 7, 2007
After a very long time an looking forward to a Govinda Movie.
Meanwhile – Choti si baat had some amazing melodies and the scene where he learns to eat with chopsticks and then comes back to gice asrani a taste of his own medecine still stands fresh. I personally know 2 friends who learnt chopstick eating in Mainland china(Quality Inn) after the movie. 🙂
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aarkayne
August 8, 2007
Ah…the art of writing good movie reviews, seems almost dead until one gets to this site…thanks again BR for a wonderful read….btw a lot of ANAND’s humour was due to super dialogs by the inimitable Gulzar…my favourite from the movie :
Babu Moshai: Jaante ho Lymphosarcoma of the intestine kya hota hai
Anand : Lympho-sarco-ma? Lagta hai kisi viceroy ka naam hai!
Keep writing and may your tribe increase.
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Hill Goat
August 9, 2007
I agree with only two observations: One, Salman Khan isn’t an easy actor to watch and; two, when Choti Si Baat was there why did Dhawan (I once adulated his cinematic sense of humour) hiked a Hitch to Hollywood. Dhawan has directed several silly slapsticks to peels of laughter but this one was too idiotic to earn a laughter, or even a grin.
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azhar
May 22, 2008
partner to mindblowing super movi hi n salamn always my favourate n salman khan sab aur aur more more hit super khan banege jab wo shadi karenge,,insha allha wo shadi kare to unki life aur fast n easy n monyfull hojaygi mere khayalse,,just my thought,,,,salman khan zindabad I LUV U best of luck
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marinalobo
August 7, 2008
Duskadum
This Show rocks we love Salman
salman khan is 2 good in that show 2 much !!!
do check out his blog on the show and read more about his personal life
duskadum.blogspot.com
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