Filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya and Bollywood superstar Salman Khan have teamed up over the years to provide wholesome family entertainers and the duo is back after more than a decade with their latest Diwali offering for the entire family. Loosely inspired by the 1894 adventure novel The Prisoner Of Zenda, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo tells the story of Prem (Salman Khan), a happy-go-lucky chap, who is persuaded to step into the shoes of Prince Vijay Singh (Salman Khan), who he resembles, to act as a decoy.

Salman Khan joined hands with Sooraj Barjatya after 16 years to make a family drama and the result is far from satisfactory. The story revolves around a royal family in Pritampur, a fictional estate in North India where Prince Vijay Singh (Salman Khan) is soon to be coronated as King but nothing is right in his family. Vijay's half sisters hate him because they are illegitimate and seek their equal right in the property.

Over the years, director Sooraj Barjatya has established a certain tone and genre of cinema that he makes catering to his audience. He sets a large family in place, makes the main character suffer throughout the film and picks his villain from within the family. However, amidst the drama, he brings out the core values of loving your immediate family and extended ones too. With Salman Khan's return as the character 'Prem', in a Sooraj Bharjatya film after two decades, this premise has only become magnificent.

What would you expect from a Sooraj Barjatya-Salman Khan collaboration? 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' has all that and err... just that... Their most successful film together, 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' had charmed us off our feet with its simple story, good-hearted lead pair, melodious music and a family crisis. Barjatya, seems to have woken up from a Rip Van Winkle brand of slumber to serve us the same syrupy sweet dish in a new, shiny plate.

Long live comfort zone. Few minutes into Sooraj R Barjatya's Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and it is obvious where this out-dated melodrama set amidst far-fetched royalty is heading. Barjatya, the soft-spoken, immensely likeable filmmaker, is not looking to jab a pin in his reality-proof bubble inhabited by noble, gracious folk and its most popular citizen Prem, played by Salman Khan.

A lot has changed in the Hindi film industry since 2006, the last time Sooraj Barjatya's name flashed across the screens as a movie's director. His Vivah didn't exactly set the box office on fire, at least not on the lines of what his earlier films Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain did on the ticket windows. Cut to 2015 and Barjatya has now rehashed the same formula in his latest venture, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (PRDP), complete with a masterstroke: He roped in Salman Khan to up the film's star value a million notches.

Straight away, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is Salman Khan's triumph. Salman simply blows the top off the theatres with a double role that makes you laugh, gasp, sigh - and cry. Prem Dilwale, Ayodhya's Ram Leela artist, admires Princess Maithili (Sonam) and her charitable work. Prem decides to meet Maithili at the coronation of her fiance Prince Vijay (Salman) in Pritampur. But Vijay's fallen prey to a conspiracy by his wicked brother Ajay (Neil) and relative Chirag (Armaan).

In 1989, 'Maine Pyar Kiya' released. Coming from the Rajshris, a production house that prided itself on being low key, the film's impact was cataclysmic. Bollywood discovered a new hero. Salman Khan found his most durable role in Prem, who took his 'dulhaniya' away much before Raj. And debutant director Sooraj Barjatya found his mtier, and mind-blowing box office success.

As a movie enthusiast, one awaits successful actor/director combinations to affiliate for yet another film project. Almost three decades ago, MAINE PYAR KIYA [1989] gave 'birth' to one such union -- director Sooraj R. Barjatya and actor Salman Khan. Their subsequent films raised the bar, with moviegoers certain that the duo would live up to the lofty expectations. The film fraternity was equally enthusiastic as well, since the duo struck gold at the ticket counters.

Blood is thicker than water. That's what Sooraj Barjatya films are mostly about. Family ties, the stresses and tensions that every family needs to go through and the likes. If you've watched this director's films in the past, you'd get the drift. If not, there's always Salman Khan to fall back on.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo takes off from the holy city of Ayodhya with the pious background song of 'Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payo' which is something we associated with quite early on ever since the title of the film was declared. Soon, we meet Prem Dilwala (Salman Khan), a happy-go-lucky 'Ram Bhakta' who performs for the Ram Leela shows in quite a contemporary fashion. He is smitten by Princess Maithili (Sonam Kapoor) whom he first meets at a flood relief camp and ever since makes sure to send donations to her NGO, Uphaar trust.

Let's start by saying that Prem is back after good 16 years! Salman Khan as Prem is overpowering and alluring for the watchers. You will see a lot of similarities between his character as Dilwala Prem (yes that's what he is called) and that of Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi in 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan'. But yes, this Prem is a typical Rajshri wala guy, who is pure at heart and believes in keeping the traditional familial values uptight.

It is obvious that Sooraj R. Barjatya has spared no expense or effort in erecting the ornate sets and designing the unabashedly garish look of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. But one crucial aspect of the film that would have cost little or no money (the director is himself the writer) but taken far greater effort - the screenplay - is completely neglected.