They were childhood friends with little in common except for the musical background of their respective families. While Arjun was consumed by a passionate drive to get on stage and realize his grandfather’s unfulfilled dream, Mannu had little interest in his music tutor father’s instruments and was content with remaining a child at heart with no higher ambition than enjoying the good things in life. London Dreams movie review…
But little did they know as they grew up that someday it would be music that will bring them together – and drive them apart.
Arjun (Ajay Devgan) is an intense and darkly brooding. He is a complex man burdened by guilt, jealousy and the belief that God has abandoned him. But he’s also deeply committed to making the dream that has haunted him since childhood into reality. Such is his obsessive compulsion to fulfill his dream that he won’t hesitate to manipulate and destroy the one human being who has implicit and total faith in him – his childhood friend.
His childhood friend Mannu (Salman Khan) is loud and boisterous. He is the loveable rogue who chases women, drinks heartily and is heavily into debt. He is an absolute devil, who happens to sing like an angel. His only redeeming feature is his absolute belief in his friendship with Arjun.
While Arjun ends up in London and works his way up from the streets to forge a band – London Dreams – with Zoheb (Rannvijay Singh) and Wasim (Aditya Roy Kapoor),. two Pakistani brothers, and Priya (Asin), a music enthusiast from a conservative South Indian family. When Priya meets Arjun, she’s impressed by his intensity and love for music.
Zoheb is blindly loyal to Arjun and only sees the world through the prism of Arjun’s eyes – and so Arjun’s joy is his joy. Arjun’s pain is his pain and Arjun’s perceived enemy, he makes his own too.
Wasim may be Zoheb’s brother. He may be as loyal to Arjun. But he isn’t as blind and retained the capacity to tell right from wrong… good from bad….
Far away in Punjab, music becomes just a mere survival tool for Mannu, who takes to playing at weddings in the village.
Then Arjun does what good friends do – brings Mannu to London to become a part of London Dreams – and soon regrets it.
Overnight, the irreverent Mannu, with his inherent musical gift, effortlessly achieves the adulation and glory that had taken diligent Arjun years of struggle and sacrifice.
But when Arjun loses Priya also, the girl he secretly loved, to Mannu, he battles his inner demons to devise a sinister strategy to destroy his best friend. As the band goes on a three-city tour of Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, Arjun meticulously sabotages Mannu’s career and love life…
Finally, at Wembley, one of Europe’s largest stadiums, where he hopes to have his moment of glory, a rude shock awakens Arjun – at the expense of his band, his friendship and his credibility – a humbling experience that teaches him the true meaning of acceptance in life.
Ajay Devgan pulls out a well-balanced performance in London Dreams. Salman Khan though well cast overacts a bit in many scenes, notably the scene in a success party where he appears in a towel. That is unrealistic by all counts. Asin is just okay. It is fine to see Rannvijay Singh and the curly-haired newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor who have an interesting presence in the film London Dreams.
London Dreams’s director Vipul Shah magnificently etches out the protagonist’s character right from his childhood, through the time after he runs away from his uncle on landing in the UK. The film London Dreams brilliantly depicts the burning desire in him to achieve his goal yet he is the man with a golden heart who would do anything for his friend. Arjun even sacrifices his desire of professing his love for Priya as he feels it could divert him away from his dream.
Cast of London Dreams:
Asin Thottumkal – Priya
Ajay Devgan – Arjun
Salman Khan – Mannu
Rannvijay Singh- Zoheb
Aditya Roy Kapoor – Wasim
Brinda Parekh
Om Puri
Khalid Azmi
Manoj Pahwa
Credits & Crew of London Dreams:
Presented by Block Buster Movie Entertainers
Producer – Headstart Films UK Ltd
Director – Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Head of Productions – Sanjay Bali
Executive Producer – Aashin A. Shah
Story & Screenplay – Suresh Nair
Dialogues – Ritesh Shah
Cinematography – Sejal Shah
Music Directors – Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Background Score – Salim Suleiman
Lyrics – Prasoon Joshi
Editor – Amitabh Shukla
Production Designer – Nitish Roy, Andrew Munro (UK)
Choreographers – Remo, Chinni Prakash – Rekha Prakash, Bosco-Ceaser. Rajeev Surti
Re-recording – Future Works Media Ltd (Hitendra Ghosh)
Sound Designer – Parikshit Lalwani, Kunal Mehta
CA, Financial Advisor – Ashok Kumar Mehra & Co
Publicity Designs – Himanshu and Rahul Nanda
PRO – Spice
Costume Designers- Ashley Rebello, Alvira Agnihotri Khan, Anna Singh, Archie
London Dreams, movie review