I expected absolutely nothing when strolling into to the cinema to watch a flick that was directed by Sohail Khan - I was squealing in agony when I watched 'Auzaar' and was more or less expecting the same thing to happen this time around. How wrong I was. 'Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya' - the title itself is a direct lift from the legendary song in 'Mughal-e-Azam' and it's clear that nothing about this film is original. But a great deal of care has been taken in almost every aspect of the flick to make it as entertaining (if not sensible) as possible.
A rehash of an old tale where a rich, protected girl from a traditional family falls in love without approval, 'Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya' abounds with clichés. Muskan (Kajol) is the niece of a general Chacha Thakur (Dharmendra). Arrogance may have bypassed the father, but his son Vishal (Arbaaz Khan) is as uncompromising and stubborn as ever. As a result, he rules Muskan's life with an iron rod (stupid git). But since he also loves her dearly, he finds it hard to refuse her permission to go study in a city college - especially on 'Raksha Bandhan'.
And on the first day of college itself, she meets the man of her dreams Suraj (Salman Khan), who is also, rather conveniently, the sole heir of a millionaire. But before the flush of first love has even faded, Vishal gets into a fight with Suraj. And that's the end of their romance. In a storm of fury, he whisks Muskan away back to the family home. How Suraj weasels his way into Chacha Thakur's heart and how Vishal's hatred for Suraj is defeated by Muskan's love form the crux of the story.
Now, I know that after reading this you must be feeling - 'Oh no it's one of those flicks that tries to be DDLJ but gets nowhere near it.' Frankly, that's true, but Sohail Khan gives us a flick that's a thousand fold more bearable than 'Auzaar' even if it is pretty unoriginal.
The performances from the Khan brothers are superb. Salman's talent and his tanned torso has been showcased extremely well in this film as he almost never wears a shirt!! Arbaaz Khan as the over protective brother is just as good - here's an actor that's proved himself with his second flick itself. Kajol is her reliable old self - her performance is such that every scene seems tailor made for her. Dharmendra is also good as is our very own London gal Anjala.
Like I said don't go in the cinema expecting DDLJ or something along those lines. But on it's own 'PKTDK' is a fun filled, pleasant movie with several side splitting scenes. Off course, any similarity to 'Raja Hindustani' is purely co-incidental (or so they?) The music is already popular with Kamal Khan's song 'O,O Janne Jaane' and if all goes well then this Khan brothers labour of love is sure to do well at the box office.
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