Movie Review: Shaadi Se Pehle

What happens in the mind of most of the couples before marriage (Shaadi Se Pehle)? Confusion, fright, panic and misunderstandings. And this is what director Satish Kaushik wanted to reflect through this light entertainer. But don’t pull your hopes too high because apart from the top star cast (Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, Aftab Shivdasani, Mallika Sherawat, Rajpal Yadav, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher and Sunil Shetty) and interesting story, the movie is like a luke-warm shower which you might not find too alluring.

Story:
Ashish Kapoor (Akshay Khanna) and Rani (Ayesha Takia) is a couple who are pretty much in love with each other. Ashish has a problem. He tries to stop even the slightest level of tension, by popping a pill to control his shaken nerves. This comes to the notice of Rani’s family members who in turn try to separate them. And if that was not enough for Ashish, there is his friend Rohit (Aftab Shivdasani) who wants Rani to be his, so keep trying to create confusion between lovers. Despite all this, Rani genuinely loves Ashish and sticks to him.

However, when Ashish goes to visit his doctor, he misunderstands the doctor’s diagnosis of hypertension to cancer and thinks that he has only one year to live. And now before dying he decides to do the right thing. He embarks on a plan to make Rani hate him, so that she will not have to suffer the ordeal of his death. He put on a bad-guy act. As luck would have it, in his life enters Sania (Mallika Sherawat), a model. A few songs later, she falls in love with Ashish. She also takes him to meet his brother Anna (Sunil Shetty) a don, who is hell bent on getting them married.

Seeing Sania in Ashish’s arms, Rani gets dejected and dumps him. Down hearted Rani asks her family to choose her a suitable groom. Her family chooses Rohit. Now thanks to ironic fate, Ashish realizes that he does not suffer from cancer at all. So now he wants to pull off Rani and Rohit’s wedding.

Story wise, the movie should have been one of the best comedies of the year. But problem lies in the fact that it runs at its own pace and sometimes it gets so slow that you get impatient. The first half of is somewhat passable but the second half drags painfully, trying hard to make you laugh. The writer could have added few more twists to the movies or even some new dimension. Back ground music does not support the scenes and Himesh Reshammiya Music is a big let down.

Performance wise Shaadi Se Pehle comes as a big surprise. The lead stars Akshaye, Ayesha and Mallika leave you asking for more and actors in special appearance like Sunil Shetty, Rajpal Yadav and Boman Irani steal the show. Others like Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover and Aftab Shivdasani are wasted throughout.

Big relief comes from witty one liner that is thrown here and there. They make for some entertainment. Dialogues are the main highlights of the movie.

Some show-stealers
- Akshay shaking at gun point and saying I am not under pressure
- Boman’s advice to sleep for six hours
- Akshay planning his own burial
- Dunked Rajpay trying to hug Mallika
- Mallika catching Akshay’s bum
- Shetty’s dialogue of Lollypop

In brief, the film a light entertainer where at some places you will Ha-Ha-Ha and at others Zzzzzzzzzz.

Rating: 2.5/5