Review – Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009)

Cast – Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Govind Namdeo, Darshan Jariwala, Zakir Husain, Upen Patel, Smita Jaykar

Direction – Raj Kumar Santoshi

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi, was one of the most awaited films of the year especially because Santoshi earlier in his career made Andaz Apna Apna, which many call the best comedy film ever in Indian Cinema. Furthermore, it starred Ranbir Kapoor who looks to be the best bet as of now to wear the crown of the next superstar in Bollywood. Katrina Kaif paired up with Ranbir Kapoor only adds to the craze.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is very much on the same lines as of Andaz Apna Apna and Raj Kumar Santoshi borrows most of the structure from that film. In the end, one might say Raj Kumar Santoshi ended up making APKGK very similar to AAA in an attempt to recreate the magic of AAA. And the film fails just because of the reason that it now is compared to AAA.

Ranbir Kapoor plays the character of Prem Chopra who has formed a ‘Happy Club’ along with few of his friends and tries to solve problems of other people in an attempt to make money, by making them members of ‘Happy Club’. Katrina Kaif is an orphan who lives with her adoptive parents. Like in many films, our lead hero falls in love with Katrina Kaif after seeing her for the first time (with that face, anyone would fall in love with Katrina Kaif ). So it’s basically a simple romantic story on how Prem Chopra manages to convince Katrina Kaif, all while having over the top comedy.

But the problem of the film is the soft, sweet romantic story of our lead characters. With the director focusing more on the over the top comic scenes, like Andaz Apna Apna, which obviously was the high point of the film, the soft and sweet romantic story between the lead characters never suited the film’s atmosphere in my opinion.

Both our lead characters coincidentally suffer from the same speech defect and stammer whenever they get upset. I don’t understand the logic behind adding this defect in our lead characters in the film. The only thing this defect managed to do is added a few logical flaws in the film as such defects are beyond control of a person suffering from it but many times in the film we see our lead actors talking normally even after they get upset.

Similar to Crime Master Gogo in Andaz Apna Apna, who enters around halftime in the film, we have a gangster Sajid in Azab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani who too enters the film after the interval. But Sajid in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is a big-big failure in comparison to Crime Master Gogo in Andaz Apna Apna who was magical.

The film has numerous funny scenes. And frankly those scenes and Ranbir Kapoor are the only things that make the film work. The scene where Ranbir goes to his job in superhero style spoofing Shaktimaan and Superman, scene where Ranbir Kapoor wears the top of Katrina Kaif, scenes between Ranbir Kapoor and his dad, party scene were Ranbir Kapoor keeps dancing, the chaotic fight in the climax were all very well done. Another great scene in the movie is a reference to Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa where Ranbir Kapoor tries to convince Upen Patel to stop thinking about Katrina Kaif. The scene references Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa where SRK tried to convince Deepak Tijori in a restaurant that Anna is a very clever girl and uses boys for her own purpose. These scenes made the film more than just a time-pass for me.

Ranbir Kapoor was outstanding in the film. Similar to wake Up Sid, he took time to grow on me at the start of the film, but then onwards he was simply extraordinary. Apart from being hilarious in comic scenes, he displayed perfect emotions in romantic scenes. Seeing two very fine performances back to back from him (Wake Up Sid and APKGK), I think he is going to make it big in Bollywood film industry.

Katrina Kaif looked cute and beautiful in the film, but her accent like always was irritating. Apart from looking incredibly beautiful, she couldn’t do anything else. She can’t act for sure.

Govind Namdeo, Darshan Jariwala and Smita Jaykar were very good in the film too. While Upen Patel was as usual disappointing, Zakir Husain who played the role of ‘Sajid’ was wasted.

The music is good. But like most of Pritam’s albums, it won’t be remembered for long. Kaise Bataun, Mai Tera Dhadkan Teri, Prem Ki Naiya are the best tracks of the album IMO.

The film works because of some hilarious scenes which not only help the film in making it more than just watchable, but adds ‘Rewatch’ value to the film too. If at all the romantic story in the film suited the atmosphere more and the film had a bit more uniqueness, it would have worked more for me. As of now it is a film which will do well but won’t be remembered like AAA.

7.5/10. Recommended for some very hilarious scenes and Ranbir Kapoor’s very fine performance.