Prem Ratan Dhan Payo: It is only Salman’s Prem all the way
Sooraj Barjatya has always been synonymous with good wholesome family entertainers, thriving on values and traditions of Indian society. The Indian audience whether in India or abroad has always lapped whatever Sooraj has offered, well excluding an exception of “Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon” wherein he diverted a bit and faced a lot of flak. Another highlight of Sooraj’s films has been its screenplays which stick to the basic premise of the story…
Well “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” digresses from a normal Sooraj Barjatya movie, it gives prominence to the star Salman Khan than the basic premise, and this is where actually the movie falters. Whenever a maker gives more prominence to the star than the story and screenplay it becomes an indulgent cinema…
PRDP written by Sooraj Barjatya tells the story of the good Samaritan Pream Dilwala (Salman Khan) from Ayodhya who is a part of the local 
Ram Leela as a narrator and who is besotted by princess Maithili (Sonam Kapoor). Trouble brews when Maithili’s fiancé Vijay Singh (Salman Khan in a double role) who is reigning the prince of Pritampura falls prey of a conspiracy and meets with an accident and is bed ridden, in order to replace the prince, Diwan Sahab (Anupam Kher) the trusted servant of the royal family replaces Prem Dilwala with the prince. How Prem Dilwala changes the relationship of the otherwise dysfunctional royal family and whether the original prince comes back and who conspires to kill the prince is what the story is all about…..
Sooraj in order to accommodate more of Salman stretches the story for a good 2 hours 55 minutes which is quite a long run, which could have been easily cut by 30 minutes. Another flaw are the song sequences which sprouts out of nowhere and slows down the pace, well song sequence have been Sooraj’s strong point somehow becomes his weak point in PRDP. Another flaw of PRDP is the screenplay which never peeks and maintains a monotonous pace both in the first half as well as the second half. The first half is dedicated to setting up the story, and second half is dedicated half to the love story of Prem and Maithili which falls flat due to lack of any chemistry between the lead pair Salman Khan & Sonam Kapoor, and rest in reconciliation of the brother and sisters of the royal family which looks too rushed and abrupt. The climax is quite weak and you feel the whole action to be forceful rather than being part of the flow. But trust Sooraj with his touch of emotional moments, and he does not falter here, some sequences especially the brother sister sequences are touchy and you feel from the heart, rather the sequences between Prem and Chandrika (Swara Bhaskar) the princess of Pritampura or the relationship between Diwan Sahab & Prem are very well written and are the emotional highlights of the movie. But overall the story and screenplay fails neither to peak emotionally neither entertains completely….
PRDP is a Salman Khan movie and he is there in every frame playing dual role of Prem Dilwala and Prince Vijay Singh, and he makes both the characters his own. He performs both the characters with panache and with complete sincerity and you can differentiate between the two characters even when they are in the same frame. Salman nails the innocence for Prem Dilwala and the arrogance of Prince Vijay Singh very well. Sonam Kapoor as Maithili looks good as the royal princess with her looks but yet again fails in histrionics and again has the same expression throughout the movie, quite a disappointment I must say which also hampers the love story of the movie due to lack of chemistry. Anupam Kher as Diwan Sahab does complete justice to his role of the confidant of the royal family; I must say an earnest performance. Swara Bhaskar as Chandrika, Vijay Singh’s sister is the strongest female role of the movie, and she gives a crackling performance. Neil Nitin Mukesh as Ajay Singh the younger brother does not have much to do, though he suits the role as far as the look goes but the same cannot be said about his performance which gets overshadowed completely. Armaan Kohli who plays the scheming villain does complete justice. Deepak Dobriyal as Kanhaiya is wasted in a half baked role, though he does complete justice to whatever was given. Rest of the cast like Sanjay Mishra, Suhasini Mulay, Sucheta Khanna, Manoj Joshi are wasted in inconsequential roles….
Technically PRDP stands high what with the excellent camera work by V Manikandan, it is a riot of colors giving an ode to the festival season and the royal theme. Production Design by Nitin Chandrakant Desai is the biggest highlight of the PRDP; the royal palaces have been mounted with perfection and become a character of the movie. Another highlight of the movie is the costumes by Alvira Khan & Ashley Rebello, the royal touch in the clothes cannot be missed and especially the jewellery was a real stand out….
Music by Himesh Reshammiya has the impeccable Sooraj Barjatya touch which is melodious yet rich in lyrical value, but top two are the title song and Diye Jalte…
This is the first time when I felt Salman dominating Sooraj Barjatya, which was not the case with their previous ventures. Sooraj rests his magnum opus on the broad shoulders of Salman Khan which will definitely bring in the moolah for the Rajshri’s
I will go with 2 and a half stars (1 extra for Salman Khan)
Movie Rating: 
(2.5 / 5)