London Dreams falls short of its ambitions

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      Starring Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan, and Asin. Rated PG. Now playing

      London Dreams aims to be an intense portrait of ambition corrupted by narcissism. Instead, it loses its nerve and settles on trite mediocrity.

      The film opens in rural Punjab with young Arjun, whose dreams of being a rock star are stifled by his father’s objections. His friend Manjeet comes from a family of musicians but he has no desire to practice despite a natural talent. After the death of his father, his uncle takes the adolescent Arjun to London where he promptly runs away and makes enough money busking with his reed flute to pay his fees at a posh music school. Right.


      Watch a clip of "Man Ko Ati Bhavey" from London Dreams .

      Cut to the adult Arjun (Ajay Devgan), who finds some success when he forms a band with two Pakistani Brits and a groupie/dancer, Priya (Asin). After a trip back home, he gets the grown-up Manjeet (Salman Khan) to join the band in London. Soon Manjeet begins to eclipse Arjun in the spotlight and in Priya’s heart. Arjun reacts by plotting his friend’s demise.

      Devgan is intense and brooding in his role, but he doesn’t have the charisma to pull off a rock star. While the film ventures into some seedy territory, it never goes far enough for us to take it seriously and is then belied with a banal ending that strips the previous two-and-a-half hours of any credibility.

      The songs, which are central to this story, aren’t strong enough to have filled Wembley Stadium with a mixed crowd of fans cheering for Hindi music. This film inevitably demands comparisons to last year’s Rock On!!, whose music was also composed by the team of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. There, the performance sequences (where the actors actually sang the tunes) were exhilarating; here, they are dull. Perhaps that’s because Devgan and Khan fail at the first task of any Bollywood actor: lip-synching.

      Comments

      6 Comments

      Pawan

      Nov 2, 2009 at 5:56pm

      Londan Dreams is very good entertainer with exquisite performance by Ajay Devgn. Ajay Devgn came with serious character after Omkara and delievered very good performance. Story revolves around friendship between Arjun and Manu. Salman Khan acting is also good but Ajay Devgan is far better than Salman in every seen of the film. People can expect such type of role from Ajay Devgn and he has given very good second Diwali gift after ALL THE BEST. At last I want to say that it is must watch movie. All the Ajay Devgn fans can enjoy the movie becoz they will definitely get what he wants.

      Vipin Honda

      Nov 2, 2009 at 10:44pm

      Salman Khan had done superb job in London Dreams, in one word u can say that London Dreams is Salman Khan’s film, in the whole film”¦ it is Salman who truly entertain the audiences and everybody in the theatre looks happier when Salman remains on the screen, when he is absent on the screen”¦ every audience are longing for him to appear and they eagerly wait for Salman to be seen in the whole time of London Dreams in the theatre, I would say that it is Salman’s life best performance, his charismatic acting appearances, looks, dialogue delivery and comic moments makes the movie worth of audience’s money and time! Only because of Salman Khan, the film London Dreams looks better, tastes better and entertains better! Ajay Devgn had also done a decent job by his serious acting, actually Ajay only suits for serious roles, after Naseeruddin Shah, Ajay Devgn is the best choice for serious acting, and he can’t do much in other roles! Asin had not so much things to do in LD but she really looks cute and better looked than she was in Ghajini! Overall London Dreams is a full entertainer, and if u are a Salman Khan fan, u will enjoy the most!

      My Rating for London Dreams: 4.5/5

      aksay kumar

      Nov 3, 2009 at 1:27am

      yes u said it true vipin honda thats sounds nice,,,,
      every one has done a great jod .but over all its salman khan the real and reel king of bollywood..london dreams is the best film of 2009...hat up to vipul shah..My Rating r also for London Dreams: 4.5/5

      vicky

      Nov 3, 2009 at 2:12am

      a must watch

      raahul(raakool)

      Nov 6, 2009 at 1:47am

      is this Itrath Syed mad....london dreams is a good movie...n salman khan ...
      wat to say he is mind blowin....he is the london dreams......
      i think he is the best actor in industry rite now..

      Rabab

      Nov 6, 2009 at 11:15am

      it is an awesome movie and its genre is musical and whoever has a passion about music will definitely love this movie and give it a rating of 5 stars