Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

Plot

Yuvraj Vijay Singh (Salman Khan) is the very rich crown prince of Pritampur, who is soon to be crowned as king (namesake, as there are no official kings, kingdoms in Modern India). He is engaged to Maithili (Sonam Kapoor) a princess from the royal family of a neighboring kingdom. However, due to his stiff and stubborn nature Vijay faces many problems with Maithili as well as with his brother and sisters. His rich half sisters Rajkumari Chandrika (Swara Bhaskar) and Rajkumari Radhika (Aashika Bhatia) live in a separate rented bungalow outside the royal palace with Chandrika working as an accounts head in a municipal school and have filed case against Vijay for a share in the royal property, because they felt their mother (Lata Sabharwal)(a poet and later mistress to the late King) was wronged by the Queen(Karuna Pandey)when she disgraced her in the presence of all of the King's children. Furthermore, Radhika's and Maithili earlier who were best friends during school times, their friendship is shattered owing her engagement with Vijay. Similarly, his half brother Yuvraj Ajay Singh (Neil Nitin Mukesh) vows vengeance and has been wanting to kill him and take the crown for himself. He enlists the help of his manager Chirag Singh (Armaan Kohli) and Vijay's secretary Sameera(Samaira Rao), Chirag is misguiding Ajay at every step while betraying him at his back. Yuvraj Vijay barely escapes an assassination plan coordinated by Yuvraj Ajay and Chirag to kill him but gets badly injured. He's hidden in a secret chamber maintained by two doctors.

Meanwhile, Vijay's lookalike Prem Dilwale (Salman Khan), a love guru, perky, lively and carefree stage actor who falls in love with Princess Maithili, reaches Pritampur to meet her along with his friend Kanhaiya (Deepak Dobriyal). At a bus stop, the Security Head of Pritampur Palace, Sanjay (Deepraj Rana), notices him by chance, and takes him to Diwan Sahib (Anupam Kher). Upon witnessing the striking resemblance between Prem and Yuvraj Vijay, Diwan asks Prem to take Yuvraj Vijay's place while Yuvraj recovers from coma. Prem acts as Yuvraj Vijay but with his simple and caring nature, he impresses Maithili who earlier wanted to break up with Vijay and falls in love with Prem unknowingly. Prem also attempts to reconcile with his sisters by bringing them back to the royal palace; he prepares legal documents handing over all of the royal family's properties to them. His half-sisters are so moved by this gesture that, with a little push from Maithili, they eventually have a change of heart and decline to deprive prince of his fortune and reconcile with him as his sisters.

Meanwhile, Yuvraj Ajay and Chirag find out that Prem is only playing the part of the prince, and thus they kidnap the real Yuvraj Vijay. Chirag decides to double cross Ajay, as he frees Vijay and feeds him false information to pit him against Ajay and Prem. Vijay and Ajay get involved in a sword fight when Prem and Kanhaiya intervene and clear the confusion. Chirag tries to shoot them down but falls to his death. Ajay regrets his deeds, and Vijay reconciles with him. Maithili is shocked to know the truth about Prem not being Yuvraj Vijay, after Prem has left to return to his home. At the end, the royal family reaches Prem's house to reunite Prem and Maithili, they get happily married along with Kanhaiyya and Sameera.

Cast

Critical reception

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4.5/5 stating that "On the whole, PRDP is the perfect Diwali entertainer for the entire family. The film will win abundant love [prem], while its investors will reap a harvest [dhan], making it a memorable Diwali for all concerned." Srijana Mitra Das of Times of India rated the film with 3.5/5 stars stating that PRDP is Salman Khan's triumph and he " simply blows the top off the theatres with a double role that makes you laugh, gasp, sigh – and cry." She also appreciated the performance of Sonam Kapoor, Deepak Dobriyal, Aashika and Swara Bhaskar. Sonia Chopra of Sify gave 3/5 stars rating saying that the film has its faults, but with actor Salman Khan's dual role, the movie is sure to hit the right spots with the family audience. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film a rating of 3/5 stars saying that the director employed the same successful formula he had tried in his previous films, but now "the tropes have gotten rusty, the emotions seldom feel genuine, and the writing is strictly surface level". He concluded that the film's only saving grace is the presence of Salman Khan who is in good form.

Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the film a low rating of 1.5/5 stars, calling it a re-imagining of Ramayan and its million stories, criticizing it as "an out-dated, overblown rehash of the director's previous films", while Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film only 2/5 stars, calling it "as a film straight out of the '80s" rehashing the director's same formula, but appreciated music director Himesh Reshammiya and lead actor Salman Khan as "quite likeable and his comic timing has gotten better". Anna MM Vetticad of First Post thrashed the film as "half-baked, lifeless, low-IQ film with its juvenile humour and family politics that resembles circumstances in the cheapest saas-bahu soaps now running on Hindi fiction TV." and "lacks even the few qualities that made his earlier ventures bearable ". Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated the film a 2.5/5 stars stating, " PRDP sticks to its beliefs on sibling affection, family values and coy courtship and takes a lengthy route to assert so. Yet it is not the predictability but the lop-sided sentimentality of the director's narrative that hurts PRDP's intentions the most." She criticized the director for recycling "men versus women sporting contests, midnight kitchen rendezvous and the pristine aura of Prem", but appreciated the performance of Salman Khan even though it never matched his previous Bajrangi Bhaijaan act.

India

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo collected ₹40.35 crore (US$6.3 million) net on its opening day and became highest opener of the year by beating the record previously held by Bajrangi Bhaijaan.It is also the second film in Hindi cinema to gross over ₹40 crore (US$6.2 million) in a single day after Happy New Year. The Gross collections of the film was ₹55.03 crore (US$8.6 million) on the first day, which is highest in India. On its second day the film saw a 25% drop in its business as it collected ₹31.05 crore (US$4.8 million) nett which is the highest non-holiday second day ever . The film collected ₹30.07 crore (US$4.7 million) nett on its third day which is also the highest non-holiday third day ever to take its three-day total to ₹101.47 crore (US$16 million) nett. The film becomes fourth Hindi movie to gross more than ₹100 crore (US$16 million) in flat three days. On its fourth day the film collected ₹28.30 crore (US$4.4 million) nett to take its extended opening weekend total to ₹129.77 crore (US$20 million) nett which is the highest four-day total for a Hindi movie beating the previous records of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Dhoom 3. The film drops on its fifth day as it collected ₹13.62 crore (US$2.1 million) nett. On its sixth day the film collected ₹12.04 crore (US$1.9 million) nett to take its six-day total to ₹155.43 crore (US$24 million) and becomes second highest grosser of the year by beating the lifetime collection of Tanu Weds Manu Returns. The film collected ₹10.02 crore (US$1.6 million) on its seventh day to take its seven-day total to ₹165.45 crore (US$26 million) nett and beat the first week records of Kick and Chennai Express. The film collected ₹172.82 crore (US$27 million) nett in its extended first week which is the fourth highest first week collection of all time. The film grossed ₹58.67 crore (US$9.1 million) in Mumbai circuit alone from its first week and become second highest first week grosser in that circuit after PK.

The film collected ₹5.50 crore (US$860,000), ₹6.70 crore (US$1.0 million) nett on its second Friday and Saturday respectively. On its second Sunday the film collected ₹8.20 crore (US$1.3 million) nett to take its total to ₹193.22 crore (US$30 million) nett after second weekend. The film collected a total of ₹201.52 crore (US$31 million) on its second Wednesday and thus becomes only second movie of the year to collect over ₹200 crore (US$31 million) nett after Bajrangi Bhaijaan another Salman Khan starer. With this total the film made 100% profit for the producers. The film grossed ₹30.71 crore (US$4.8 million) in its second week to take its two-weeks total to ₹203.53 crore (US$32 million) and beats the lifetime collection of Happy New Year.

The film collected ₹3.10 crore (US$480,000) nett in its third weekend to take its total to ₹206.63 crore (US$32 million) nett.

Overseas

The film grossed $1.6 million(10.62 crores) on its opening day at overseas. The two days total of the film was $3.87 million(25.58 crores). The film grossed $8.9 million(59 crores) in its first four days from International Markets. After its second weekend the film grossed $13.04 million(86.57 crores) at International Markets. It has beaten the lifetime international business record of "Baahubali: The Beginning" in 11 days."Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" has managed to retain maximum number of cinema halls that it was holding in its opening week, but its business has dropped by over 75% in the key international markets.

In its second weekend, "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" has grossed $438,662 from 283 screens in the US, US$163,382 from 24 screens in Canada, £2,16,899 from 103 screens in the UK, A$1,18,146 from 30 screens in Australia, NZ$99,180 from 27 screens in New Zealand, MYR29,788 from 16 screens in Malaysia and €3,650 from 21 in Germany."Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" has collected a total of $13.04 million (Rs 86.57 crore) at the overseas box office in 11 days. The film grossed $14.10 million(94 crores) after its third weekend.

Music

The music rights of the film were sold to T-Series for a record amount of ₹17 crore (US$2.7 million) satellite rights were sold to star network for ₹50 crore (US$7.8 million), making it the most expensive music rights deal in the Bollywood film industry at the time. The full music album of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was released on 10 October 2015.

Sanjoy Chowdhury composed the original background score, while Reshammiya was credited for the themes based on his songs.

All lyrics written by Irshad Kamil; all music composed by Himesh Reshammiya.

Critical response

Critic Aelina Kapoor of Rediff.com gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5, saying that "the music of 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' is well done, has a strong traditional flavour, have a paarivaarik feel and is exactly what the filmmaker ordered." Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave the album a score 4.5 out of 5 and stated that Himesh Reshammiya has delivered his "best ever in his musical career" and "the soundtrack exceeds the massive expectations one had from it." He described the album as brilliant, and praised the lyrics by Irshad Kamil.

Kasmin Fernandes of The Times of India gave the album 4/5 and complimented that "music of the film is pleasant and is reminiscent of jubilant songs from the 1990s." She however, adored the lyrics by Irshad Kamil. Critic R. M. Vijayakar in his review for India-West assigned a score of 3.5 out of 5 to the soundtrack. He summarised that "the score deserves "hosannas" for its courage and conviction in delivering deep and rich Indian melody, good poetry and thematic veracity against today's depraved trends." He also pointed that the album is a pure one, without any "crass words, western beats, rap, and multiple music makers!"

In his critical review for The New Indian Express, Vipin Nair awards the album a score of 6.5 out of 10. He stated that the album might "be a hit with the people who love 90s Bollywood melodies." However, he also pointed that it is a bit dated. Surabhi Redkar for Koimoi.com assigned the album a low rating of 2 stars out of 5 stating the soundtrack "may be better with visuals."