Ramaiya Vastavaiya: Fossil of a formula

July 20, 2013 05:35 pm | Updated 05:35 pm IST - chennai

ramaiya vastavaiya

ramaiya vastavaiya

Stale as yesterday’s meal, director Prabhu Deva retrofits his debut Telugu film Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana to launch producer Kumar Taurani’s son Girish Kumar. A rich boy from Australia falls in love with the sister of a farmer during a relative's wedding — the story is straight from the times when Maine Pyaar Kiya template worked. Of course, after intermission the boy is expected to prove his skills in the farm to win the girl.

Even the support cast only adds to the nostalgic value. Those who thought the casting directors of Bollywood are working overtime these days should check this one out. There is Randhir Kapoor trying to set new record in hamming. Poonam Dhillon turns up as a cardboard of mean mother and then there is Vinod Khanna emerging as a fatherly extra from the sidelines. Not to forget Sulbha Arya as the maid! Only Sonu Sood manages to plough through his brotherly image with some poise.

It could have still worked with some emotional garnishing but Prabhu moulds Girish’s character in such a way that he just has to hop around. He jumps around in the first half and then jumps some more in the second making Shruti look better than she is. How she managed to keep a straight face must be a lesson for budding actors.

Still a work in progress, Shruti looks out of place in the village milieu, which is as fake as her nails. The sham turns shimmy when Jacqueline Fernandez tries some African tribal dance moves in mustard fields.

Apart from a couple of hummable songs and some slapstick humour involving Paresh Gnatra there is nothing to recommend in this fossil of a film.

Genre: Romance

Director: Prabhu Deva

Cast: Girish Taurani, Shruti Haasan, Sonu Sood, Poonam Dhillon, Vinod Khanna

Storyline: A rich boy falls in love with a girl from a humble background leading to familiar fracas

Bottomline: Caught in a time warp

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