'Ready' is Salman Khan's show all the way

Film: Ready
Director: Anees Bazmee
Cast: Salman Khan, Asin, Paresh Rawal, Arya Babbar, Mahesh Manjrekar and others
Rating: **

After enthralling audiences as Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg, Salman Khan is back in Ready as Prem Kapoor, a brattish chiraag of a Hum Apke Hain Kaun style khaandaan.

Prem's father (Manjrekar) decides it is the time to bring home a bahu and a certain Pooja is invited home. In a classic mix-up, Sanjana (Asin) ends up pretending to be Pooja while escaping a forced wedding.

Turns out, Sanjana’s uncles don't see eye to eye and have their own vested interests in getting her married. Prem’s quest to melt these two down and to get Sanjana to be his bride is the premise of Ready.

While the first half largely revolves around Prem’s shenanigans, it comes packed with predictable jokes and innuendo. While 'Character Dheela' has been much talked about, the music video has a bad hangover of the 'Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte' song from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

The plot of the film twists and turns around pointless landmarks like typical Aamir Khan jokes, silly innuendo, goofy scenes and a few signature Anees Bazmee characters -- a few of which are mildly amusing. Post the pee break (that’s what they call the interval), Salman goes all Hero No 1 to win his lady over.

As the climax arrives it teases you because you know the end is not near as long as Sallu's kameez is still on. Whether the signature Sallu bare chest appears or not I leave it to you to figure out.

Salman Khan plays to the gallery, riding high on his brand equity, humming Maine Pyaar Kiya songs and quoting Hum Apke Hain Kaun dialogues and fighting villains named Aryan, Veer and Yuvraj, whose fate in the film is no different from the fate of the respective films' box office report.

Bazmee gives you a crash course in all popular characters that Sallu has so far played. But he doesn't let you down on the count of sheer stupidity like wind that blows away a heap of fruit or a braking car sending someone soaring 100 feet in the air.

Ready is mindless but entertaining in parts. Expectations from the film were high considering the last film that featured the star was a blockbuster. Ready isn't a patch on Salman’s Wanted or Dabangg in terms of entertainment value. For Bazmee however, Ready is a vast improvement since his last film Thank You.

If you're a Sallu fan, you won’t feel let down.