Dulha Mil Gaya review

Sush's Shimmer saves the day


Starring: Sushmita Sen, Fardeen Khan, Ishita Sharma, Shahrukh Khan (special guest appearance), Viveck Vaswani among others
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Stars: **

Dulha Mil Gaya is viewed as a film Shahrukh Khan did as a favour to producer Viveck Vaswani who’d given him his first break in Bollywood. Barring the superstar's presence, the expectations from the film were nil and it didn't seem to have any hope in hell at the box-office.

And true enough, with its rather cheesy story-line and an insipid leading man, Dulha Mil Gaya could well have become a torturous affair, were it not for an utterly winsome performance from Sushmita Sen. The actress plays the part of a high flying super-model with such panache and flair that she completely dominates the proceedings. Sen's luscious presence fills up the screen; and if Dulha Mil Gaya is worth a watch, it is solely for Sush's terrific return to form.

Tej Dhanraj (Fardeen Khan) is a spoilt bachelor staying in the Caribbean with no plans of getting married. But he's in a fix when his attorney (Viveck Vaswani) informs him of his deceased father's will which states that Tej shall get access to the family wealth only if he marries his father’s best friend's daughter, Samarpreet (Ishita Sharma). Also, he mustn’t divorce her for a minimum of ten years. With a plan in mind, Tej arrives in Punjab, marries a besotted Samarpreet and leaves with a promise to return. When he doesn't, Samarpreet takes off to the West Indies where, following an accident, she meets Shimmer (Sushmita Sen), a prima donna of sorts. From there on begins the familiar yet entertaining routine of turning the ugly duck into a swan, while the vain characters (Fardeen and Sushmita) discover true love for their respective partners.

The story is a flimsy one and director Muddassar Aziz seems to suffer from a serious Yash Raj hangover. So you have your petite heroine cycling amidst Punjabi mustard fields with loud bhangra beats reverberating in the background. It must be said that the director doesn't make a mess of the film in any way, and there's a focussed approach in the narrative, however trite it might be. This prevents the film from appearing long-winding or tedious. For a good 40 minutes in the middle, the film moves very smoothly and is a treat to watch.

Now to the main highlight of the film- Shahrukh Khan. In a film where the other main lead sleepwalks through his role, the makers didn't have much option but to bank on Shahrukh to lend the requisite star wattage and charisma. And expectedly, even at his worst, Shahrukh is imminently more watchable than a hamming Fardeen. His pairing opposite Sushmita's character is an exciting bit of casting. Thiers is really the interesting love story. Yet, it must be said that Shahrukh is looking terribly old and drained. The dimpled smile he brings on his face after tiredly enacted scenes, suggest that he was either not in the best of health or his heart was simply not in the film.
The music by Lalit Pundit (of Jatin-Lalit fame) is very good, though one wishes he had made a chartbusting number for the time when Sushmita and SRK come together for a dance. He misses out there.

All in all, Dulha Mil Gaya works out to be a half-decent, time-pass flick, if you keep your expectations low. And yes, as we said, see it for Sushmita, if nothing else.