Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki

Bhai’s mighty punches land on a dull plot. Bhaijaan (Salman Khan) is committed to living his life as a bachelor so that he can take care of his three younger bhais. But when a beautiful woman walks into his life things take an unexpected turn. This Bhai’s jaan are his brothers and they are his absolute priority. While they have already found their life partners, Bhaijaan is still flying solo. So, they desperately start looking out for a match for him. Walks in Bhagya Laxmi (Pooja Hegde), who not only fits the bill, but also shares her name with Bhaijaan’s long gone ex-girlfriend. But here’s the catch — this match is far more complicated than it looks, as Bhagya’s Hyderabadi family has a mysterious and dark past.

It’s a wafer-thin plot that tries to achieve a lot but doesn’t really end up going places. Director and co-writer Farhad Samji’s story throws in a lot of bloody action with little semblance to logic and normalcy. The first half tests your patience with scenes that intend to be funny, but are not. The loud performances don’t help much. The story simply doesn’t kickstart until the interval. The romantic tracks between the three brothers Luv (Siddharth Nigam), Ishq (Raghav Juyal) and Moh (Jassie Gill) and their love interests Chahat (Vinali Bhatnagar), Sukoon (Shehnaaz Gill) and Muskaan (Palak Tiwari) respectively, are banal and clichéd. The chemistry between Bhagya and Bhaijaan faces a few hiccups initially, but warms up along the way. Samji keeps his screenplay busy with too many characters, and doesn’t care much about fleshing them out. They crowd the narrative without adding any value – in terms of entertainment or their performance. The less-than-average soundtrack adds to the runtime with one forgettable number after another. The saving grace is that they are picturised well and are visually rich. Among them, ‘Naiyyo Lagda’ (composed by Himesh Reshammiya) stands out. The background score (Ravi Basrur) could have been a little less jarring and the film could have done with a tighter edit.

Salman Khan pumps in all his muscle literally, to make Bhaijaan’s character lovable and he succeeds in that. The actor still packs a punch as an action hero and has the charm to get away with exchanging goofy and adorable sweet nothings with his lady love. This time, Bhai takes a few jokes on himself too and those are some of the laugh-out-loud moments in the movie. It’s the stylish action (by ANL Arasu) that redeems this film to an extent. Each sequence is very well choreographed with never-seen-before stylised stunts. South superstar Venkatesh and Salman pull out all stops to create high impact with their heavy-duty action scenes. Venkatesh (as Gundamaneni) lends heft to his character of a family patriarch, who will do whatever it takes to keep his loved ones safe. Pooja Hegde has a meaty role, which she pulls off confidently, but could have dialed down over-the-top filmy antics. The other three heroines are used merely as props with very little scope to perform. The boys deliver a below-average performance that are written with zero conviction. Among the villains, Telugu actor Jagapathi Babu is impressive.

This Salman Khan starrer once again plays to the gallery for his die-hard fans. It is a larger-than-life actioner with brutal violence and tons of drama. The problem is that it entertains only briefly. Too many characters, an unimpressive soundtrack, and most of all a weak screenplay that doesn’t match up to Salman’s star power is what lets the film down. However, Bhai’s fans can look forward to watching him beat up the baddies all the way till the end. And yes, hold on, there is that jaw-dropping shirtless moment too!

Genres:Action, Crime, Drama

Director:Farhad Samji

Cast:Salman KhanPooja Hegde, Venkatesh Daggubati