Salman Khan| Asin Thottumkal | Ajay Devgan | New Release | London Dreams

A tale of friendship and envy, the story is about two close buddies. While one is Arjun (ajay), the ambitious guy who believes only in his goal and that is to becomes famous on the stage so that he fulfills his grandfather's dream, on the other hand, there is Mannu (salman) who lives for the moment and is a charmer with his honest heart. Both Arjun and Mannu have a rare passion for music. While Arjun goes to London and forms a band with Zoheb (rannvijay), Wasim (aditya) and the south Indian Priya (Asin). The story takes a turn when Arjun gets Mannu to London and in no time, he realizes that the charms of Mannu gets him closer to the audience while Arjun's dreams seem to be in danger. Also, he receives a big blow when his secret love for Priya goes bust as Mannu manages to win her heart. What happens from there forms the rest of the story.

The director has come up with an emotional tale and though the presentation has been good, the narrative has not been upto the mark. The dialogues were alright, the script was having flaws and the screenplay was a bit erroneous. The major drawback happens to be the music as songs were not impressive, cinematography was a major consolation with excellent capture of the concerts and other angles. Editing could have been better, full marks to the costumes and art departments. Salman Khan carried off his role with energy and causes impact, Ajay Devgan was impressive and gives an intense act, Asin was neat and carried her role elegantly, Rannvijay was regular, Aditya was apt, Om Puri was brief, Brinda was average, Manoh Pahwa managed few smiles. The rest didn't have much to offer.

Arjun migrates to London with his sullen uncle, runs out of the airport and becomes a a rocker almost overnight! Small and very accommodating world.

The sequence where Arjun, now grown into a punk-styled Ajay Devgn sings at Trafalgar Square and within few minutes acquires three band members, could be a self-defining advertisement for opportunities for Asians in Britain.

British soil never seemed more welcoming. Although Salman Khan playing the wild and warm Manu is allowed to make innumerable digs at the Indian revenge on their old colonisers, London seems to say namastey (hello) most warmly to all the characters in the film.

How is the city to be blamed if the characters hide a deep, dark and negative side to their personality that bubbles to the surface in toxic fumes burning and destroying the music and harmony of the spheres?

Vipul Shah's "London Dreams" aims for a more penetrating and profound look at the life of Asians in Britain than "Namastey London". The characters here are far more complex and dark. But their presence is constantly challenged by the predictable and often banal narrative.

From the first few frames, when we see the two friends in rural Punjab share Arjun's international musical dreams, we know exactly the way this story is heading. And that includes the love triangle that grows in London among the intense self-flagellating Arjun, the carefree Manu and the happy-go-'lanky' girl-next-door Priya.

One of the film's seven-eight truly warm sequences shows Asin practising Bharatnatyam in front of her conservative Tamilian father. The dance steps transform into jig the minute dad ain't looking.

Such moments are far too few in Shah's sombre-and-straight narrative. Spontaneity is at a low premium among these wannabe rock stars.

No matter what the length of the rock band members' hair, no one is in a hurry here to let their hair down. They'd rather let each other down. The dramatic confrontations work when they're done unselfconsciously. Some of them, like the confrontation between the two Pakistani brothers in a back-alley of London after the one tells the other about Arjun's treachery and betrayal, is plainly mawkish.

Because the film forever has its pale heart in the right place, the length (nearly three hours) is largely excusable. The meandering atonal music score by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is not.

Why would stadium filled with the whites be screaming at our rockers singing these listless songs? And what does the dream of the band London Dreams really mean?

Move on to the wider questions of jealousy, insecurity and over-ambition and the film delivers wispy wallops in a steady and honest tone. Though the music is plainly awful, the background score by Salim-Suleiman fights a pitched battle against the mediocrity of the songs.

Sejal Shah's cinematography is outstanding, often capturing the characters in various phase of emotional breakdown against the quaint neat London backdrop.

Among the cast, Ajay gets to the heart of his troubled and overreaching character and pulls out a well-balanced performance, though he hardly looks like a rock star - the multiple earrings and other exterior preparations make us cringe. The curly-haired newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor is an interesting presence.

The film is ideally a musical but then it took a beating since the songs and music were a let down. While the first half goes about with the building of the plot, the momentum picks up in the second half and builds up but then the ending has been very disappointing. Few important things are left to a very filmy ending which has spoiled the entire flavor. The film might appeal to the urban and metro audience in an angle but this won't go well with the B and C centers. This could be an average grosser at the box office.