Review: 'Aladin' has special effects, and many defects

Aladin
Director: Sujay Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez
Rating: (U)
*

Aladin is not really Aladin. Is that too confusing? It shouldn’t be. It’s simple. This film is not what it’s meant to be. Director Sujoy Ghosh and company may like you to believe that the inspiration for the film is the popular Arabian tale, but in reality they have lifted the plot straight out of a children’s series we know as Harry Potter.

Picture this: Aladin’s parents were killed when he was a kid during a tussle between a good genie, Genius (Bachchan) and an evil genie, Ringmaster (Dutt). Just before dying, Aladin’s mother made a wish to Genius to ensure that Aladin is safe. Years later, when Aladin’s all grown up, Genius has to protect him from Ringmaster. And why does Ringmaster want to kill Aladin? Because only one among the two is destined to live – the other has to die.

If that description makes you feel that Aladin is similar to Harry, Genius to Dumbledore, Ringmaster to Voldemort and Aladin’s mom to Lily Potter, you aren’t wrong. So why call it Aladin you say? That one’s difficult to answer.

Of course there’s Jasmine (Fernandes), who Aladin has to woo. He wastes his three wishes in doing so, even though she’s clearly interested in him anyway. “I should warn you that you are not utilising your three wishes well,” says Genius to Aladin. You want to tell him the same.

Meanwhile, you secretly wish for three things yourself. In the first half you wish for the interval, in the second half you wish for the film to end, and when the film still doesn’t end, you once again wish for it to end.

Sadly, this one takes forever to wrap up. Sujoy Ghosh may have had an ambitious plot – a SFX-laden fantasy like this needs a big scale, which it has – but his treatment bores you to death. Some of the scenes seem so pointless, you fervently pray for some ‘magic’ to make the drama livelier.

In stead, you get scenes like the one where Jasmine is walking away from Aladin and Genius tells him, “Agar woh palat ke tumhe dekhe, iska matlab hai ke woh tumse pyar karti hai.” Even as you are amazed at the ‘originality’ of the dialogue, he goes, “Palat.” Now where have we seen that scene before!?

To watch Amitabh mouth the dialogues is even more painful. The only few minutes of the film that interest you a little are when Amitabh entertains you with his antics, but a lot of them irritate you too. Most Bachchan disasters in the last few years have been with young directors who want to explore an image that Bachchan so popularly displayed in the 70s, when they weren’t around themselves.

While there has been some success in Sarkar and Khakee, others like Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag and Ek Ajnabee have been disasters. This one seems to follow the same path. Ghosh, in his over excitement of having the legend in his film, has almost forgotten that the central character of the film should have eventually been Aladin. In stead, Aladin is a mere bystander, while Bachchan gets to do it all, even ‘kill’ Ringmaster in the end, although Aladin is supposed to be the ‘chosen one.’

Riteish is alright in the title role. Jacqueliene, in her debut film, looks promising. Extremely good looking, she has good screen presence and a sweet smile. Acting will follow, hopefully.

Sanjay Dutt has five scenes in all. If the character doesn’t make an impact, it’s only because it’s half baked. He, however, has some interesting dialogues. “Kitna bore karoge Genius,” he tells Amitabh at one point. You couldn’t agree more.