Aladin

Based in the municipality of Khwaish, abused by his classmates, Aladin Chatterjee, who was orphaned when his parents, Arun and Riya, died in an accident in Siachen Valley, lived with his paternal grandfather until the later's passing. Now alone, grown up, studying in Khwaish University, and still being abused by fellow-college mates, he finds himself smitten by the lovely US Exchange Student, Jasmine. Unable to express his feelings for her, he rubs a lamp that was gifted to him on his birthday, which summons a genie named Genius. He gets 3 wishes, but wastes 2 of them, but on the 3rd one he insists that Genius assist him to win Jasmine's heart without any magical tricks. Hilarious chaos result when everything seems to fail while an immortal and deadly entity, Ringmaster, and his hordes, prepares to confront Genius and Aladin so that he can acquire more magical powers with the help of the lamp on the day of the sighting of a rare comet and the truth behind the death of Aladin's parents.

From the very first scene I knew this was going one of two ways: Diabolical or passably entertaining - nowhere in between or above the latter. For me, I somehow felt suitably entertained by 'Aladin'. It's not a great film, at all. However, it's in a similar vein to productions like 'The Cat in the Hat' so always divides opinion. If you can find enjoyment, you'll obviously like it but otherwise you'll hate it. I'm under the former. The cast help a lot. Riteish Deshmukh suits the role of Aladin, while Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt are enjoyable as Genius and Jaffar. Despite the title/titular character, it's more so a film that refers to 'Aladdin' rather than a remake/reimagining of the famous folk tale. I liked how they set this up, sure it is dumb but it works in my opinion. I did start getting bored towards the end, so the run time is most definitely too long - 90 minutes, as opposed to 132, would've been ideal. I'd be rating this much lower if not for the likeable cast and the fact that it doesn't take itself seriously; until the end, I guess. I entirely get if you dislike this, but I didn't... quite the opposite to be honest.