Name: kisi ka bhai kisi ki jaan
Director: Farhad Samji
Cast: Shehnaaz Gill,Salman Khan,Pooja Hegde,Venkatesh Daggubati,Palak Tiwari,Satish Kaushik,Raghav Juyal,Jagapathi Babu,Jassie Gill,vijender singh,Siddharth Nigam
Rating: 1.5 / 5
While many filmmakers understand the importance of a story while backing a movie, some of them often underestimate the significance of a screenplay, and Salman Khan and Pooja Hegde starrer Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan falls prey to the exact same scenario. The overall story and the intent of this comedy action-drama isn’t bad, but it is its substandard treatment that make this Farhad Samji directorial a yawn fest.
Plot
Set in Delhi and Hyderabad, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan revolves around Bhaijaan (Salman Khan), who at a young age bails out three other kids (Raghav Juyal, Siddharth Nigam, Jassie Gill) from a catastrophe struck orphanage, and decides to look after them. As grown ups, they protect their locality from shrewd developers, while having also vowed to never get married because in Bhaijaan’s words, “Humein koi nai chahiye jo bhaiyon ka bandhan tode.” Sexist much? Nonetheless, they eventually find love, which arrives with its challenges, and what follows is a mix of drama, emotions, tears, maar-dhaad, and ofcourse ‘Yentamma’. 
What’s Hot?
The second half, some of the action sequences, and the song ‘Yentamma’. Let's delve into them one by one. While the first half of Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan often leaves you confused and tests your patience, it is the second half where the story slightly picks up pace and finds direction. The latter portion boasts maximum high points with Daggubati Venkatesh and Salman’s emotional sequences, Pooja’s light hearted yet mushy scenes with her leading man, their evolving chemistry, and with the action portrayed in the end. In fact, the fight sequence in the metro right before the interval also leaves an impact. Furthermore, ‘Yentamma’ which features Ram Charan in a special appearance, is truly entertaining and appears at the right time. Action director Anl Arasu lives up to the genre, and Ravi Basrur’s background score helps to lift some dull sequences. Unfortunately that’s about it. These aforementioned points fail to save this disjointed narrative.
What’s Not?
The first half of the film needs severe repairing, especially the part that highlights Bhaijaan and his brothers’ reason to not get married. The idea is not only dated but also offensive. While they try to explain that with the character’s perspective at a later point in the film, it still doesn't manage to justify the approach. Additionally, the first half lacks highpoints, which makes this approx 2 hour and 24 minutes run time seem even longer. Director Farhad Samji and the writers should have fixed this first on the writing table, before taking the movie on the floors. The screenplay is predictable from the word go - Start with a larger than life opening sequence, follow it up with some herogiri, move on to a song, then look for love, and so on and so forth.
Director of Photography V. Manikandan’s cinematography is also average, while some sequence editing and presentation by editor Mayuresh Sawant, seemed to be inspired by our daily soap operas. The dialogues, especially the jokes, are equally unimpressive. The Maine Pyar Kiya sequence with Bhagyashree, Himalaya Dassani and son Abhimanyu was totally unnecessary.
Performances
Salman Khan plays his character with ease, and shines in the action and dance sequences, however its overall impact is limited. Pooja Hegde really shines in her role of Bhagya, which has the right mix of quirks, entertainment, humour, charm and emotions. She portrays all of it and more, effortlessly in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. Daggubati Venkatesh lives up to his part, and his pivotal sequence in the end is worth the hoots. Jagapathi Babu lights up the screen every time he appears, while Vijender Singh’s track is monotonous and boring, which also impacts the strength of his performance. Bhumika Chawla, Raghav Juyal, Jassie Gill, Siddharth Nigam, Rohini Hattangadi, Satish Kaushik, Shehnaaz Gill, Palak Tiwari and Vinali Bhatnagar lend able support, but some of them get overshadowed because of their limited screen time.
Final Verdict
You won’t lose out on anything if you give it a miss.
