Review: Partner

Kya partnership hai!
Pratim D. Gupta

Partner will ‘hitch’ you. You will roll on the floor laughing and every time you try and get up there’s more madness coming your way. In two-and-a-half hours, you will revisit two of the funniest Bollywood partnerships of the last two decades. Of David Dhawan and Govinda (Raja Babu, Hero No. 1, Saajan Chale Sasural, Deewana Mastana). Of David Dhawan and Salman (Judwaa, Biwi No. 1, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi).
But it is the new partnership of Govinda and Salman that you will take home and hopefully be back for a sequel. Partner, above anything else, is the best cast Hollywood copy in a long time. Kudos to producer Sohail Khan for restricting himself to a photo frame and bringing Bollywood’s two biggest entertainers in the same frame. The script is flung out of the window, the story takes a backseat and the lines go for a toss. And you find yourself on the floor... again.
Forget Will Smith. Kevin James, who? Director Andy Tennant, who loves everything Indian and almost cast Aishwarya Rai in Hitch, would surely love this Bollywood version of his blockbuster rom com. Because Partner does copy Hitch — it’s the same story of a love doctor helping out a hapless lover while struggling to stitch together his own love story — but it also turns the original on its head. Like for the famous kissing scene, our love guru Prem (Salman) doesn’t theorise much and just tells Bhaskar (Govinda): “Ek kiss ke liye kitna sochega.”
The master of matter-of-fact gags, David Dhawan also garnishes his movie with a plethora of in-jokes. So you have someone saying about Salman: “Jodhpur se unka bahut lagao hai.” Or you have Salman pulling off his shirt and announcing: “Main to mauke mein rehta hoon shirt utarne ke liye.” There are digs at everyone from Aamir Khan to Shah Rukh Khan to Karan Johar. While Rajpal Yadav as Chhota Don is bit of a misfit, Suresh Menon as Kiran is a riot.
You don’t expect logic going into a David Dhawan movie but some loopholes are too glaring not to be commented upon. Why would a 1990 IIM Ahmedabad graduate get Rs 30,000 a month in 2007? Why would you keep showing Dubai and calling it Mumbai? Why would a party-beat reporter start dancing in designer clothes at a marriage party she is supposed to cover? How would a toy missile made by a kid set a jet-ski on fire?
It doesn’t matter, really. Neither do the pink blazers and yellow boxers. It all blends into the rangeen razzmatazz that is Partner. All you need is stupid cupid Prem and bloody Bhaskar to be together and make it rock. Watch the scene where Prem tries to teach Bhaskar how to dance. Govinda starts his pelvic thrusts to Sarkailo khatiya even as Salman goes into Just chill mode. The multiplex turns into a muhalla.
And yes, the old Govinda is back. So is the old David Dhawan. And their jugalbandi is as rocking as it always used to be.
His hairstyle may keep changing right through the film, but Salman is quite adorable. Thankfully there’s very little of Lara and Katrina. They are needed to look good and that’s a given with the two.
A couple of songs (Sajid-Wajid) could have been snipped off but the title song and You’re my love are fullto paisa vasool.
And hats off to Sanjay Chhel (screenplay and dialogues) for giving Govinda lines like: “Jahaan guru wahaan chela; aayee milan ki bela.”
Let’s just say this Salman-Govinda partnership is like Sachin-Sourav at their best. Get it?