REVIEW: Pyaar Impossible (Yash Raj)

[sanjay0864]

After the 'very good' Blu-Ray of 'Rocket Singh', my expectations from this 'YRF Home Entertainment' BD was quite high. Although, I wouldn't say the same for the movie itself. What can I say, the typical, oh so pretty 'Yash Raj' fluff, has never been my idea of great cinema. This 'Pyaar Impossible' BD clearly shows, that the tremendous improvements, 'YRF HE' had shown with their 'Rocket Singh' BD, was not just a one off deal. For, this BD actually surpasses the 'Rocket Singh' BD, in both Audio & Video. Although, I wish I could say the same for the movie itself, but the movie is atleast better than the average Bollywood fare and thus this BD is overall a quite satisfying. In short, this is probably the best Blu-Ray disc, released so far by any 'Bollywood' video company. Take a bow 'YRF Home Entertainment'. Highly Recommended.

Title: Pyaar Impossible
Distributor: Yash Raj Films - Home Entertainment
Authoring House: ?
MRP: Rs. 699/-
Running Time: 02:20:45 hrs
Chapters 26
Media: Main Feature - 50GB BD | Special Features - 5GB DVD
Region Coding: A/B/C
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 24Hz
Peak Bitrate 38Mbps | Average bitrate 31Mbps
Audio:
Hindi - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48khz) <-- Default Track
Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 (48khz 640kbps) <-- Redundant & Space wasting
Subtitles: English, Arabic.
Special Features: Presented on separate DVD in 4x3
1. Making Of the Film
2. Making of the Songs
3. Deleted Scenes
4. 'You And ME' Music Video
5. Fun Moments
6. Video Blogs
7. Theatrical Trailer & Promos
8. Other Attractions

Special Mention:
No Watermark Logo, during songs or otherwise. <-- Kudos to 'YRF Home Entertainment' for listening to our feedback.
No scrolling advertisements during songs. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
No advertisements, forced or otherwise, before or during the movie. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
No locking of any buttons during menus. Thereby allowing the viewer to skip to the next menu screen. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
Separate 'Song Menu' to allow direct selection of song. <-- This should be a no brainer for all Bollywood films.
Special Features presented on a seperate DVD to allow more space on the BD for the main feature. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.

Review:
I am glad I had not seen the film earlier for I am sure I would never have had the inclination to view it again on Blu-Ray. As a matter of fact, the only reason I did watch the film, was my curiosity to see the quality of the BD itself. To be honest, I did not find the film bad at all. In fact, except for some typically bollywood cliches and unneccasary mushy scenes, the movie is a decent 'one time' watch. More than the film, I was surprised by the reasonably competent and underplayed performance by Uday Chopra, who for once actually seems quite apt for the role. Priyanka Chopra as always looks gorgeous and plays her part very well. She in my opinion has turned out to be one of the most complete actresses/stars in bollywood today. Overall the film is no 'Rocket Singh', but it is definately above the average fare put out by bollywood.

Similar to the 'Rocket Singh' BD, the audio is presented in two codecs. The redundant & space wasting lossy DD and a lossless 'DTS-HD MA' track. Commendably, the 'DTS-HD MA' track, is set as the default track, keeping in cue with what now seems to be standard for 'Yash Raj' BDs. Just as this Blu-ray improves upon the picture quality of the 'Rocket Singh' BD, it also takes the audio quality, a couple of notches higher. Ofcourse, having the usual bollywood song and dance, helps in providing the sound engineer with more opportunity to shine, specially when compared to the soundstage of 'Rocket Singh'. The audio is crisp and the sound cues quite active and well spread out, which enliven the surrroundings. Unfortunately the long standing "excessive bass from the sub-woofer channel" problem with 'YRF HE' BD/DVDs continues. This, in addition to the loud overall volume level, keeps this from being a perfect audio presentation. I am begining to believe that this is an inherint problem with the original audio mix of most bollywood movies. It is possible, that the sound engineers in bollywood, may be mixing and setting volume levels based on, what is the typical Indian attitude of catering to the 'lowest common denominator', which in this case would be the small time cinemas with poor quality audio systems. In any case, I hope 'YRF HE' will pay immediate attention to this issue, that is if they wish to have their BDs ranked with the best internationally.

An area which 'Yash Raj' has been consistently very good with, is in providing a very good set of special features. This is a tradition they have maintained with this release too. More importantly, keeping in line with the very healthy trend, the special features are presented on a separate DVD of their own. Also, the new professionalism shown by 'YRF Home Entertainment' in not having any Watermark Logos, during songs or otherwise, is maintained on this BD too. Once again 'kudos' to 'YRF HE' for listening to their customers and doing the right thing. The poor quality 'Yash Raj Films' logo during the opening menus is the only major irritant that still continues to plague the 'YRF HE' BDs. The sooner 'Yash Raj' addresses this, the better it will be for them. For, having their own logo presented in a totally artifact ridden, upsampled standard definition video can only be an embarassement to them and most certainly presents the company in very poor light.

Overall, I definately recommend this very highly for a rental atleast and if you are a fan of the standard Karan Johar/Yash Raj' brand of cinema, then this is a Must Own. I Highly Recommend this BD, for it's excellent audio/video quality and special features.

There is one issue I forgot to mention. The movie sort of froze / stuttered chapter 'three' at 00:07:50. But the problem did not repeat itself when I tried to recreate it by rewinding to that spot. But then the next day, the same problem happened at a different spot but in the same chapter 'three'. The problem occured while playing on the Oppo (did not try it with the PS3).

PS: Since I do not use sub-titles, this had escaped my attention. But, 'FreakMan09' has reported that with the sub-titles on, the 'Yash Raj' logo does appear for 3-4 seconds at the begining of the '2nd' and '5th' songs. Although, this is not a problem for those who do not need sub-titles, for the rest it is still totally unacceptable. Personally, I fail to understand the obsession 'Yash Raj' has for self promoting their own logo. I hope 'YRF - Home Entertainment' will look into this and immediately put a stop to any such implementation in the future.

My ratings:
Movie: 3.50 out of 5.0
Video: 4.75 out of 5.0
Audio: 4.75 out of 5.0
Extras: 4.25 out of 5.0 (Special features in HD would have increased this score)
Overall: 4.5 out of 5.0 (Very Poor packaging keeps the score from being higher)
The overall score has been further reduced, due to the presence of the 'YashRaj logo' at the starting of two songs, when the sub-titles are on.


Screenshots uploaded by 'divyansh'

Equipment used for testing:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Screen: Da-Lite 4:3 120" 'Model B' - White Matte
Viewing Distance: 11' 6"
A/V Receiver: Denon AVR5800
Speakers: 5.1
Front/Main: Paradigm Reference 100 v2
Center: Paradigm Reference Studio CC v2
Rear: Tannoy - Mercury M5
Subwoofer: Paradigm Reference Servo 15
BD Player:
Oppo BDP-83 (Hardware Modified 'Region Free' with 'BDP-83-48-1224' firmware)
PS3 (80GB US 'Region A' with firmware v3.15)

PS: This BD is further proof, that if we all persist and are vocal about our rights as consumers, even Bollywood Video companies will listen. 'Yash Raj' needs to be highly complimented for a fine BD and specially for having listened to their customers and for incorporating changes accordingly. In my books, as of now atleast, 'YRF Home Entertainment' has become the best amongst all 'Bollywood' video companies. For not only have they released a great BD, but have also shown that they are progressive and willing to address their consumers' concerns.

Suggestions for producers and authorers of Indian BDs:
1. There is absolutely no need or advantage of having a separate Dolby Digital audio track, since the 'DTS-HD MA 5.1' track provides the best audio for all customers. This is why a single 'DTS-HD MA' track has been universally adopted by almost all Hollywood studios.
2. No DNR should be applied. (Film grain is not only acceptable but is natural)
3. The song menu, should have a 'PLAY ALL' option.
4. The packaging is very important and the 'Slim' BD case used by ALL Hollywood studios and 'BIG Home Video' is the industry standard and must be used instead of the ugly, space consuming & environment unfriendly 'FAT' case used by 'YRF Home Entertainment'. Also, it is important, that dual discs must be packaged in 'Slim' cases designed for dual discs.
5. The movie should start automatically, instead of going to the 'Top Menu'. This is something Warner has been doing for a while now. Although I realize that this is a somewhat debatable issue, since some people might prefer it the other way. I personally feel that since, on a BD, the 'menu' can be brought up at any time and that too without interrupting the movie, it makes sense to straight away go to the movie, which is what most of us do anyhow.