London Dreams: A Likely Dream Run at the Box Office
Everyone has dreams, few are ambitious enough to achieve them and a small number are willing to go to any length to see them materialize.
Arjun (Ajay Devgn) belongs to the last category. Born in a village in Punjab, his passion is music and that’s all he lives for. His ‘London Dream’ is to perform at Wembley Stadium but his family is dead against him due to a past incident involving his grandfather. All he prays for is for all the obstacles between him and his dream to be removed. His best friend Manu (Salman Khan) is very supportive and their friendship is his life. When Arjun loses his father, his uncle takes him to London where he runs away and enrols himself in a music school.
As fate would have it, a chance encounter with Zohaib (Ranvijay), Wasim (VJ Aditya) and Priya (Asin), a girl who secretly has a parallel personality as she comes from a conservative family, leads to the formation of a band. Together they audition for a blockbuster contract and on winning name themselves ‘London Dreams’. Everything seems to working in Arjun’s favor and makes him more determined to reach the final destination.
Meanwhile Manu is back home, a typical punjab da puttar, who loves his girls, booze and food. He misses his buddy and manages to get him back. Arjun decides that it is time for Manu to come play in his band. Manu has an inherent talent for music and even though he has never been trained, unwittingly steals the spotlight, and Priya. Both of them are what Arjun desires, his dream and his love. Arjun sabotages Manu’s life and in the bargain loses his dream. Eventually he realizes the value of his friendship and together they make music in harmony and live the dream.
Ajay Devgn portrays the obsessiveness of his character convincingly and Salman Khan is absolutely adorable as the funloving, and pure-hearted Manu. This is the second time they have worked as co-actors and it seems to work very well. In their scenes together the chemistry is visible. Asin, Ranvijay and Aditya fit their characters and deserve credit for good performances. The unconventional pairing of Asin and the actors works and she has toned down the over-expressiveness. The music is enjoyable, but for a movie based on a band it could have been better.
The dialogue is well written and includes humor, inducing quite a few giggles. On the whole, it’s a story based on real relationships - human vulnerability in weak situations, the way obsessiveness can make a person reach the brink of insanity and do things out of character, how a strong bond can stop one from making a disastrous decision and save your life or your dreams, etc. It portrays reality, the light as well as dark side of it, just on a larger scale. The drama though is required and makes the movie a complete entertainer. You will not leave disappointed. It’s a must watch.
Contributed by Raashi Malhotra
It’s an awesome movie. Salman rocks and simply steals the show. People laugh and people cry with Salman. He is the real moving force of the film. Ajay is very competent in his role. Asin is good as well. All in all a satisfying experience. Watch it for Salman because his performance only makes this film an enjoyable watchable