'It has been said that Indian cinema has evolved post Covid pandemic, but half an hour into Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan and one realises that the actor has not been a part of that evolution. With this film, he goes back several years, probably into his Yuvvraaj and London Dreams era.
From the Naiyo Lagda dance steps, which look more like a stretching session, to his autotune-smoothened voice in Jee Rahe The Hum, the much-awaited Eid release fails to impress audiences at all levels. Its one-man-beats-all action sequences and cliched love stories, wherein Khan’s three brothers (played by Siddharth Nigam, Jassie Gill and Raghav Juyal) fall in love with three girls (played by Palak Tiwari, Shehnaaz Gill and Malvika Sharma), are barely entertaining. While the three girls say the same things and always appear on screen together, the three brothers are more like Khan's sidekicks who agree with him on everything.
The film, which may not manage to set the cash registers ringing even in the 2000s, tells the story of an orphan, ‘Bhaijaan’, who rescues and adopts three young boys when their orphanage catches fire. He raises them well and is totally devoted to them. His devotion runs so deep that he never marries his girlfriend Bhagya (played by his Maine Pyar Kiya co-star Bhagyashree). Bhagyashree’s cameo in the film along with her husband and son, with the Maine Pyar Kiya background score, is a beautiful little escape to the past that the film offers.
Years on, when life introduces him to another Bhagya – Pooja Hegde, his brothers are determined to make his love life work so they can get married to their girlfriends. The cast-heavy film makes one realise that Salman has roped in almost all of his friends and those in his good books in the film – from Shehnaaz Gill to Vijender Singh, Aayush Sharma to late Satish Kaushik, Bhumika Chawla, Abdu Rozik and Parag Tyagi to Salman’s latest southern obsessions, Pooja Hegde, Jagapathi Babu, Ram Charan, and Daggubati Venkatesh.
While the first half of the film takes place in Delhi, the director shifts the entire story and geography to the South in the latter half as Bhaijaan goes on to fight the battles of his fiancé’s brother in Hyderabad. Mindless action continues as this one-man army throws bodies in the air and at some point in the film, even creates a ruckus in the Delhi metro, smashing windows, and emptying the entire station, yet with no consequences.
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan comes across as a forced attempt to accommodate Salman’s allies in a film and get them some screen time. However, Salman Khan’s fandom may give the film some chance of becoming a sleeper hit.
Film: Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan
Language: Hindi
Director: Farhad Samji
Cast: Salman Khan, Pooja Hegde, Siddharth Nigam, Jassie Gill, Raghav Juyal, Shehnaaz Gill, Palak Tiwari and Malvika Sharma
Rating: 1/5