Partner - Movie Review

Published: June 26, 2010

By EKTA R. GARG

Starring Salman Khan, Govinda, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif

A good-looking guy is a life coach for less fortunate-looking men, discreetly helping them form lifelong relationships with the women of their dreams. While helping one ordinary guy pursue his beautiful boss, the life coach meets an irresistible woman and falls in love himself.

Sounds like the 2005 Hollywood film, Hitch, right? Right. And wrong.

Director David Dhawan freely admits that his 2007 film, Partner, was inspired by Hitch, and with his two favorite leading men helming the cast, Dhawan manages to come up with a fairly likeable flick.

In Partner, Salman Khan plays Prem, also known as the “Love Guru.” As the baby brother of six sisters, Prem tells us he had ample opportunity throughout his childhood to figure out what women want—and also what they really need when they can’t figure it out for themselves. So Prem makes it his life mission to help men become half of a committed couple.

Prem’s intentions are completely altruistic. Unlike in Hitch, we don’t meet any of the successful couples, but we get the idea that Prem is very good at what he does. His business spreads by word of mouth.

The grapevine brings Bhaskar Divakar Choudhary (Govinda) to Prem. Govinda excels in the role, and his familiarity with Dhawan’s school of filmmaking shows. (After all, he and Dhawan practically started that school together.) Govinda spits out puns that make us groan and smile, and he participates wholeheartedly in inane comedy sequences.

Bhaskar is in love with his boss, Priya Jaisingh (Katrina Kaif, who is required only to look pretty and smile), and he’s heard that the Love Guru can work wonders. What follows are several scenes lifted straight from Hitch—Prem teaching Bhaskar how to talk to Priya, kiss her, and dance (which is really amusing because Govinda is actually the far superior dancer).

While helping his newest client, Prem meets Naina (Lara Dutta, who gives a surprisingly down-to-earth performance). Prem decides he’s in love about three minutes after meeting her. Naina playfully resists; she has her own reasons for not wanting to be with someone.

Dhawan’s films are old-school Bollywood; there’s always a happy ending, and everyone gets what he or she deserves. Knowing Partner’s origins ruins the ending, but it’s fun watching Govinda dance and hearing the foot-tapping music. The scenes with Govinda and Khan are silly at best, but the sequences with their respective heroines are surprisingly sweet. Audience members will be rooting for Bhaskar and Priya by the end. Dutta brings solidity to her role, defying her beauty-queen label and the stereotype that models can’t act. Khan doesn’t have to think much in this one; he’s clearly enjoying himself, and that’s more than enough for a David Dhawan movie for both the cast and the audience.

Partner is rated Worth Watching.

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