Yuvvraaj
2008

Yuvvraaj

Yuvraj is a drama film about three estranged brothers and their attempts to first compete and swindle each other for wealth, and then finally reconcile. Deven (Salman Khan), a struggling singer, is in love with Anushka (Katrina Kaif). But Anushka's father, Dr. P. K. Banton (Boman Irani), does not care much for Deven, whom he sees as an irresponsible wastrel. Deven tries several tricks to get wealthy quickly, and this takes him on a path where he meets his estranged brothers and realises the family inheritance is with one brother, Gyanesh Singh (Anil Kapoor), who is supposed to be mentally challenged. Deven's other brother, Danny (Zayed Khan), hatches a plan with Deven to scam Gyanesh. The plan goes astray, and Deven intervenes to save Gyanesh from an angry Danny's assault and takes him to Austria, hoping to win him over. Anushka recognises Gyanesh's talent as a singer, and the two get along very well. Danny loses his girlfriend and is penniless, but when he meets his brothers, they become a loving family without any concern for money. There is, however, a maternal uncle who plays dirty and tries to poison Gyanesh after showing him a video with evidence of Deven and Danny trying to scam him. Gyanesh is heartbroken, but towards the end there is reconciliation when Deven rushes his brother to the hospital while Danny gets the police to arrest his uncle.

It is at the hospital that we encounter Dr. Banton again, the only doctor available to help Gyanesh. But he refuses to help, knowing that this is only an attempt to get a hold of money to wed his daughter. A desperate Deven breaks down and promises that he will not marry Anushka if his brother's life is saved. Dr. Banton is impressed with Deven's transformation, saves Gyanesh, and agrees to have his daughter marry Deven.

Locations in Europe: Austria, Czech Republic
Storyline
  • Director/Producer: Subhash Ghai (Director)/ Subhash Ghai (Producer)
    Line Producer/Executive Producer/Associate Producer: Raju Farooqui, Shamira Karim (Executive Producers), Daniela Humlova (Line Producer- Cheeky Monkey Films, Prague, Czech Republic)
    Star(s): Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Zayed Khan
    Songs/Dance: Austria
    Indian/ International Crew: Alexander Oberhauser (Production Assistant - Tirol shoot)
    Language: Hindi


    Film Location Analysis

    By Kaushik Bhaumik

    The film although set in Prague was shot almost entirely in Austrian Tirol centred around Innsbruck. Only the domestic indoor sequences were shot in Prague. There are wide panoramic sequences set in non-descript Austrian Alpine terrain. The film has a running motif of purity that is supposed to be presented metaphorically by the pristine Austrian landscape—the purity of the soul, the purity of music, the purity of music and the purity of the heroine’s beauty. At one point a character in the film says- ‘this location inspires music in me’ referring both to the Alpine locale and the heroine. The character is presented as a simple-minded overgrown child signifying a pure child-like heart and clarity of musical talents. Otherwise, the film is shot mainly indoors in Prague.

    Two songs ‘Tu Meri Dost Hai’ and ‘Tu Muksura’ provide a fanfare of bombastic European palatial Baroque to go with the musical aspirations of the film—mixing high Western classical music with the Bollywood song. The first song is shot mostly inside the Landestheater, Innsbruck. It begins with a lush orchestral set-up inside the theatre. A sequence outside the theatre shows the hero conducting an orchestra while the heroine goes past ensconced in a Fiaker. Given that the title of the film translates as Prince, this scene clearly has aspirations of casting the heroine of the film as some sort of Lady Diana to the hero’s Prince. The song has brief flashing sequence at the Bergisel ski jump, the site of the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics ski jump events won a piece by the Austrians and the East Germans. Then the song finishes off at the Kufstein Castle with the protagonists koochie-cooing against the ramparts of the Bavarian Castle where many Hungarian dissidents to Habsburg rule had been imprisoned in earlier times.

    The ‘Tu Muskura’ song has brief sequences inside the Hofburg Pqlace, Vienna, the erstwhile Winter Palace of the Habsburgs. Again, the aim is to use the Baroque palace interiors to impress the audience with a sense of tasty haute bourgeois Classicism.

    The film marks a turn in the career for the filmmaker Ghai who had begun his career as maker of films featuring lumpen heroes and stringing out lumpen popular music, then went through a series of patriotic musicals to finally arrive as a gentleman with Yuvvraaj, a typical trajectory of ambitions for petty traders turned middling Capitalists in India.

    Additional Information & Links

    ‘Tu Meri Dost Hai’ song video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWdasSZcvHY

    ‘Tu Muskura’ song video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0nfYIIT4cU

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