Movie Review: London Dreams

'London Dreams' would have been a masterpiece had it not had a very, very contrived and unimaginably ludicrous climax. What a shame.

London Dreams has it all, two A-list male leads, a gorgeous and talented female lead, snappy songs, beautiful visuals and an interesting story. Unfortunately director Vipul Shah manages to mess it all up by offering a half baked amalgamation of the above. The other problem is that there are so many unrealistic circumstances during its runtime that one can't help go 'oh come on!' as the movie drags to a finish.

We're made to believe that Ajay Devgan, who sings Punjabi Bhangra becomes one of the hottest singers in London, he even manages to make an arse out of himself in front of 90,000 people in the Wembley stadium, just because he is jealous. Although it is quite obvious that for Vipul Shah attention to detail was never in the agenda while making London Dreams, he skips through band practice, struggles, money matters etc, in any case this wasn't supposed to be an origin story, so that's forgiven. The film in fact plays along smoothly and is very entertaining, until that horrible climax. What ideally should've been a dramatic anticlimax along the lines of 'Omkara' turns out to be a typical Hindi Fillum 'all's well that ends well' fiasco.

It was widely touted that London Dreams was inspired from 'Amadeus', thankfully it is nothing like that film. Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan are two friends from Batinda. Ajay migrates to the UK and chases his obsessive dream of becoming a musician while Salman stays back and gets jiggy with every woman in the village. Eventually Ajay forms his band 'London Dreams', comprising of MTV India regulars Ranvijay Singh(keyboards) and Aditya Kapoor (guitar) and the super-alluring Asin (groupie? cheerleader?). Later Ajay calls his buddy Salman to join his band, who unknowingly steals Ajay's thunder and his crush. What follows is Ajay's path towards jealousy and plots to get his friend out of the way.

The first half is superb, some great songs like 'Tapke Masti' and moreso 'Khanabadosh' nicely juice up with the sumptuous visuals, backed by some snazzy editing and choreography. The scene right before the interval is masterfully executed, and will remain one of the best dramatic twists from Bollywood ever to have graced the screen. The energy and emotion surrounding it is just amazing. The second half could've used a trim of about a good 20 minutes, while the final 10 minutes should have been chopped off completely. Incidentally, all the actors look different, overweight even, it is quite obvious that the ghastly climax was added as an afterthought involving reshoots. What a shame.

Performances are generally good, Ajay Devgan is once again convincing with his talented, yet flawed character. He tries his best to deliver a less embarrassing performance towards the end when he is given pretty lame lines. Salman Khan is surprisingly reassuring this time around, and shows hints of prodigious dramatic abilities hidden beneath that cartoonish persona he has built up over the years. Sallu ought to do more offbeat flicks instead of those brainless romcoms. The menthol cool Asin looks mindbendingly attractive and showcases some of her groovy dancing skills. Roadie Ranvijay Singh and Pakau Aditya Kapoor are fine but the latter leaves a better impression.

In all fairness London Dreams is Vipul Shah's best effort to date, all the film needed was a better climax and a shorter second half. Cinematography by Sejal Shah deserves a mention, the scene where Ajay and Salman get drunk under the sky is exquisite, and all of the concert scenes are striking. Most of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music is addictive, but the song at the climax was deadly dull.

Overall London Dreams is a great idea gone limp thanks to a poor third act. What a shame.