‘Yuvvraaj’: a poorly-scripted melodrama

YuvvraajSubhash Ghai's 'Yuvvraaj' boasts of grandeur and extravagance, ambition and passion, but fails on the most important count - the script - which has clear signs of being incomplete as well as underdeveloped!

The shoddy film has the oft-repeated story of three brothers - Gyanesh (Anil Kapoor), Deven (Salman Khan), and Danny (Zayed Khan)
- and their billionaire father who leaves behind a family fortune to be shared after his death.

In fact, there are quite a few takers for the dead man's wealth! Deven, a chorus singer in a Prague orchestra, heads to London to claim his share; while his spoilt younger brother Danny expects a monster chunk of the money to support his decadent lifestyle. In addition, there are the ever-so-regular characters comprising the conniving wheelchair bound uncle, the cliche-spewing aunt, the good-for-nothing cousins, and the cleavage-baring, perfume-squirting sister-in-law - all of whom have their eyes only on the family fortune!

Surprisingly, dear departed Daddy has left the bulk of his fortune to Gyanesh - the eldest of his three sons, who happens to be an autistic. Determined to get what they believe they rightfully deserve, Deven and Danny plot to cheat their mentally-challenged brother, finally realizing the importance of family and brotherhood.

The love angle in the film comes in the form of Deven falling for an eternally cello-playing Anushkha (Katrina Kaif) - the age-old formula is thrown into picture with the girl's father objecting to their marriage.

On the whole, 'Yuvvraaj' appears to be in competition with other box-office disasters like 'Love Story 2050' and 'Drona'. It has been packaged with Ghai's brand of melodrama and emotional overdose that fail to work any longer. Barring a handful of vintage Subhash Ghai moments that still work, the film sadly is far from his best work!