MOVIE DETAILS

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Bobby Deol
Director: Tarun Mansukhani
Producer: Karan Johar
Music: Vishal Shekhar
Lyrics: Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar, Vishal Dadlani

THE FILM

Dostana should get credit for making the 'gay' word almost cool and even a sort of fashion statement to flaunt! Yes, the film did manage to get an alternate relationship out of a closet and almost suddenly, every person, whether straight or gay, was seen debating about 'right to be a gay'! The film was fun for most of its duration, in fact almost riotous in the first half, though an unnecessary angle of drawing a child (Bobby Deol's son) into the entire mess was really uncalled for. Still, Priyanka's golden swimming costume, John's yellow trunk and Abhishek's naughty antics made sure that there was no dull moment in Tarun Mansukhani's Dostana.

Talking about Abhishek Bachchan, he rocked and how! One wonders how Abhishek Bachchan was keeping the balance intact when shooting for diverse films like Dostana, Sarkar Raj and Drona simultaneously. For the first time ever, one saw Abhishek Bachchan on screen as a man that he is in real life and one could sense that he was truly enjoying all the fun both on and off the screen. Leave aside the entire gay angle; Abhishek Bachchan truly demonstrated an altogether different facet of his personality with Dostana. Not many actors could have dared running in a feminine manner the way he did in the Venice sequence; something that was just good enough for the price of a ticket!

Priyanka Chopra too looked like never before and even though the film was clearly designed as an Abhishek-John starrer, she ensured that maximum laughs were reserved for that one single scene of hers where she accuses the two young men of falling in love with her boyfriend (Bobby Deol). A priceless sequence, one wonders how Priyanka indeed managed to create a straight face for an entire duration. As for John Abraham, he suffers the same predicament as Aishwarya Rai did for number of years in her career. Being good looking with a fab body to flaunt, he always ends up getting compliments for his physical appearance. Due to this, howsoever hard he tries to prove himself as an actor, it's his body that does most of the talking. In Dostana too he uses this facet of his to his full advantage, but still there are at least a couple of noteworthy sequences where he manages to leave an impression.

Anything that didn't work in the film? The period in the middle of the second half of the film. As mentioned earlier, the laughs centered around the child being taken for a ride, which further became a reason of tension between Priyanka and Bobby, was completely uncalled for. Suddenly, the film looked like it was dragging and there seemed to be no respite in store. Thankfully, the climax was written brilliantly, hence bringing to screen the first ever kiss between two men in a commercial Bollywood flick (Did they really kiss? Find about this and a lot more in the Director's Commentary).

Released around a couple of months back, Dostana has proved to be one of the most stable films at the box office. In fact this was the only film which managed to survive even after the Mumbai terror attack. A successful film, it came as a shot in the arm for Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham who were desperately looking for a box office earner against their names. As for Priyanka Chopra who was anyways back into reckoning with Fashion, she was suddenly staring at the top spot again which was otherwise pretty much in sight of Katrina Kaif.

One must credit Karan Johar, Tarun Mansukhani and company for daring to make Dostana which could have easily have gone wrong on so many counts. One of the riskiest big budget projects to have arrived in 2008, it had to tread a thin line. Thankfully, there were enough gags embellished into the narrative that kept the fun quotient on in spite of an emotional undercurrent as its backbone.

PACKAGING

The DVD comes in a neat DVD box with an attractive plastic packaging

DURATION

The film comes in a two DVD pack with the film's duration being 137 minutes

SPECIAL FEATURES

- The Making of the Film
- Director's Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- 'Maa Da Laadla' Music Video
- Out Takes
- Date with Dostana presented by Karan Johar
- Do The Dostana Dance Challenge
- Theatrical Trailer & Promos

This is one DVD that is quite heavy on Special Features. What takes the cake is almost 45 minutes of deleted scenes. Though some of them are extended versions of the scene that are already in the principal narrative of the film, there are still close to 25-30 minutes of never seen before footage in the DVD. A couple of them make a very good impression though. Watch out for the one where John is making out with his girlfriend before Priyanka comes knocking the doors. The way Abhishek comes to his rescue is a brilliant sequence that deserved to be a part of the film. What certainly 'doesn't' deserve to be a part of the film (and was thankfully ignored) is the alternate climax. Really, if at all this sequence would have stayed (people bidding for Priyanka - of course in a lighter vein - before Bobby bid the highest and walked away with her), the film would just not have performed at the box office in the same way as it did due to the revised climax centered on Abhishek-John kiss on stage!

During his commentary as well as the 'making of the film', director Tarun Mansukhani reveals a lot about what happened during the filming of Dostana. Whether it was John being conned into his trunk being lowered further and further for the ever so popular butt scene or Priyanka Chopra's Miami apartment being actually a set in Mumbai or CG and special effects creating a carnival atmosphere when there were barely two rides available - Tarun takes audience down an interesting memory lane.

He also shares quite a few bloopers that include Abhishek's face being covered with a mask in one of the scenes since he was looking different for the character he was enacting in another film or Boman Irani losing and then wearing his spectacles in every alternate shot. He does mention that for the 'Desi Girl' song, he made Vishal and Shekhar create as many as 55-60 tunes while also disclosing the real status of Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham kiss!

The 'Out Takes' and 'Do The Dostana Dance Challenge' [hosted by Cyrus and attended by the cast and producer of the film] are just about OK though Karan Johar more than makes up for this with his 'Date For Dostana' section. With each of the four principal characters from his film present on his exclusive show, he charms his audience as well as the guests once again with his trademark antics. Watch out for this in case you have missed it out earlier.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
- Subtitles in English, Arabic, Dutch, Telugu and Tamil
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo

PRICE

Rs. 399/=

CONCLUSION

A word of caution though. From home viewing perspective, the film is just the best fit for youngsters and even kids, if you are willing to explain to them the meaning of some of the jokes (example - the ever so memorable 'Oh Kunal' sequence). However, for the elderly, play it on if you are confident that either they won't get the jokes at all or if they get it, they won't be cringing on their seats or staring at you with a questionable look!


RATING: 3.5 / 5