After having films like Karz, Ram Lakhan, Pardes and Khalnayak to his credit, Subhash Ghai's latest offering Yuvvraaj seems like a sermon that is, honestly, a bit too long drawn. Family values versus cold hard cash is the premise of the entire film. Simply put, the film tries to weigh one against the other till a choice is reached by those involved.

Separated at an early age, brothers Deven (Salman Khan), Gyanesh (Anil Kapoor) and Danny (Zayed Khan) are reunited to settle a property dispute following the demise of their father. But the settlement is not that simple as most of it is left to elder son Gyanesh, who is mentally challenged. Hatching a plan to change all of it is what Danny and Deven do. While Danny is great at burning his money in futility, Deven needs it to get Anushka (Katrina Kaif) and to convince her money-minded father (Boman Irani). With one thing leading to another, the brothers are faced with choosing between right and wrong.

There was Taal from the Ghai stable some time back, which was a truck load about love and family. Following that was Yaadein which displayed scenes of love, money, deceit and family. Couple them together and you have the same values in Yuvvraaj, remaining as musical as ever. Not to say the movies are any similar, but the values in the three are the same, as is the manner of exploring them. Yuvvraaj primarily falters in the manner it is told. Beyond a point the film begins to seem preachy and less of an experience.

Clearly the film has two parts, the pre interval and post. Prior to the interval the film is slow, sans any interesting moments and in no sense leads to the second half or the build up to the rest of the story. The plot is so predictable that any interest shown in watching the second half is immediately snatched away and you pretty much know how the whole thing is going to end. The moments where you could have gone "ooh and aah" with surprise are stolen...

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