HAPPY ENDING: The search for a Happy Ending kills a lot, for bad! [2/5]

You don’t have to be a hardcore fan to know the set recipe for any romantic comedy film. Boy meets girl. Both are opposite in every sense. Girl falls for the boy. Boy hates commitment. Heart breaks. Love aches. Girl leaves. Boy misses. Boy seeks. Boy realizes. And then comes the fairly famous ‘Airport’ scene where things apparently fall into their pre-designed place! How hard it could be! But what if you want to break it and mold the same in a complete new pattern? Well, you have to be smart enough to pull it off and not confused even an ounce to ruin the promise and the prospect. Impressive filmmaker duo Raj & DK’s HAPPY ENDING fits in both the scenario equally. And that makes it an irritating mash-up of likeable scenes & enjoyable smart one-liners with futilely overstretched plot & an almost never-ending climax.

Yudi [Saif Ali Khan] is a ‘one book wonder’ writer who hasn’t written any more in last 6 years in short of good ending but knows well when to call for an end in a relationship. Hearing his girl saying those three magical words could cause him signs of losing his confidence to his illustrious stuttering state. His latest break-up status with the all mental & dental overbearing girlfriend [the cutely annoying Kalki] is still ‘complicated’. He couldn’t tell her straight because he didn’t want to hurt her. ‘What a thoughtful jerk!’ one of his ex-girlfriends compliments him.

In a parallel track, the fading writer Yudi has no other option left but to write a superhit romantic comedy film taking so-called ‘scene by scene’ inspirations from Hollywood hits for a Bollywood superstar [Govinda keeps his charms working]. Though his life so far has been one such romantic comedy, Yudi chooses to go around with a budding writer Aanchal [Ileana D’Cruz] to get help and soon lands himself in situations expected from more than a mile! Well, almost!

The film works well at many fronts. Beautiful locations, pictorial cinematography, smart one-liners and Saif Ali Khan back in ‘his’ den. He does hit every chord right portraying a puzzled, commitment-scared flirt dressed in all designer summery cool clothing line with the costliest car on road. He sure looks confident and comfortable as an actor here and that’s much relief after his horrendous HUMSHAKALS act. Kalki marks an electrifying presence the whole time she’s on screen. Ranvir Shorey succeeds in providing some good laughs but it’s Govinda who never misses your attention and love for his expressive mannerism. My favorite subplot includes Preity Zinta playing an understanding, kind and gracious ex-girlfriend of Yudi.   

Film falters big time by reaching nowhere while looking aimlessly for a different recipe of a romantic comedy. You can not compromise with the one you pulled your guns at. That never takes you any close to heroism. And Raj & DK being the whistleblowers in the industry, it feels worse. You can expect any low from Kohlis, Anands and Malhotras of renowned big banners but not from these two. Film starts settling for a convenient, age-old, tried & tested ending after much wandering in the second half. It gets so dreary that the last 20 min seems unbearably long. Yudi mouths a thoughtful line at the end, “One shouldn’t always look for a happy ending. End it wherever you think it should”. I wish the writers & the makers of the film would have taken it seriously. [2/5] 

AMIT SAHNI KI LIST: Notwithstanding the predictability, Vir makes it watchable! [2.5/5]

The Rom-com genre in Bollywood has been very different from the Hollywood’s. How can you not have chartbusters to sing it laud to tease your lady-love or shake a leg on it in discs on a Saturday night? How can you even expect to fall in love with it without having a melodramatic heartbreak & overemotional demonstration of its pain on both the parties? And more than that, where is the serious & significant involvement of big extended family members? Mr. Ajay Bhuyan, how can you make a Bollywood Romantic-comedy with limited characters just a couple of more than the fingers on your left or right hand? I fear, AMIT SAHNI KI LIST too had been in the question box for sure, for not meeting all these conditions must for a profitable venture. But then, that doesn’t stop it from being a nice, warm, fresh, witty and lovable romantic comedy for most of it.   

India’s one of the most popular stand-up comedians Virr Das plays Amit, a well-settled heavily paid investment banker with a detailed list of qualities his dream-girl should possess. For obvious reasons, no girl could ever get to tick all the boxes on the list and the search for the ideal girl finally meets its end in Mala [Played by the cute & confident Vega Tamotia], a completely opposite to what Amit is actually looking for. By the time, Amit readies himself for her with identifiable changes in his traits and gets engaged to Mala, the surprise awaits at the very next door. His new desirably gorgeous and deliciously smart business colleague Devika [Anindita Nayar] is supposedly the one who fills all the spots in the list. And, now opens the curious case of confusion, conflict and qualms over one’s ability to choose wise and right.  

The force that drives AMIT SAHNI KI LIST is the minimalist exposé of emotions and the subtle humor in the verbal communication. You never can complain of a forced humor here though it is more of ‘the Vir Das’ approach where the wit comes mostly with the words and not with dramatically loud reactions. Vir is in super form. He can simply pause a scene in between and talk to the viewers exactly in a manner he does it with his live audiences. For the tight spots of an uber-cool urban guy who is all focused for his career and life in general but still baffling with the choices he should make, Vir plays it cool and confident. Vega’s Mala is an emblematic carefree, convinced, lovely & lively girl anyone would love to be with. Anindita woos the screen with her presence but still has a long way to go in the acting department. Kavi Shastri as Amit’s friend is impressive, hilarious and very much likeable.

All good? I say not. The obviousness, regularity and the lack of excitement in the plot kills the promises it encourages. This is a film you already have seen many a times before, obviously with different set of actors, different titles to remember and possibly of all types of production values. I wish if the narrative has been reduced and the writing part could think more inventive about the plot than just concentrating to the talents of Vir Das for a maximum use. Music of the film is another letdown and though it has an experimental new-age feel, it sounds completely wasted. At best, AMIT SAHNI KI LIST is strictly watchable. For a Sunday evening with nothing else to do but waiting for another murderous Monday on the calendar, it doesn’t take much from you. An easy watch! [2.5/5]

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS: Flawless performances! Flawed Direction! [2.5/5]

When life gives you tough times, you better learn how to bounce back and have a good laugh at it. Immensely inspired by the idea of diluting the pain with humor, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is a love-story between two young teenagers fighting for their lives with cancer and its after-effects. This romantic journey, at the very start swears not to be ‘sugarcoated’ or ‘melodramatic’ like other fairytales but apparently ends up being a too simplistic, sentimental & single-tracked tearjerker. May be youngsters in love could relate to it more, I find it just another love-story with some good performances and a few moments to cherish. And my subject of concern here is only the film and not the book.

With an attached oxygen tank and a tube to her nose, cancer patient Hazel Grace [Played by Shailene Woodley] meets Gus [Ansel Elgort], a charming cancer survivor with an artificial metallic leg in a Cancer Support group…and the chemistry between two gets ignited from the very first encounter. Together they smile at their disabilities in life with wit and humor and also take the journey to fulfill Hazel’s dream to meet her favorite novelist [Williem Dafoe in a delicious appearance], but the stars have their own set of fate written all over.

Based on John Green’s hysterical bestseller of same name, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS captures the essence, excitement and enthusiasm of first love beautifully with wide-eyed lovers passing on never-ending smiles, crackling one-liners to make other happy and more and more of sweet talks on phone chats but it goes on and on in a single dimension till the second part decides to turn you a puddle of tears by adding melodramatic events. At one point of time, even the witty one-liners lose their steam because of your preempt participation in what comes next.

Performances are saviors. Shailene Woodley’s charismatic presence as a sadistic but sensible teenager is worth looking at screen. Even in her emotional outbursts, she maintains her promise. Ansel Elgort succeeds in winning hearts [of girls] through his lovely portrayal of a diehard lover who doesn’t leave any stones unturned to make sure Hazel could fulfill her wish. Nat Wolff plays Issac, a partly blind teenager who has been ditched by his girlfriend. He shares some of the good enjoyable moments mostly where he’s seen expressing and throwing off all his anger on things like Gus’ trophies and his ex-girlfriend’s house.  Williem Dafoe, after year’s THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is in top form. As a grumpy moody novelist who doesn’t hesitate to talk rough with even his fans, he is brilliant.

Overall, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is a big letdown on the part of Josh Boone. A more cleared vision and a gripping screenplay would have done better. Probably, it’s just another ‘lost in translation’ effort that is better restricted to words and not visuals on screen.  Strictly watchable only because of performances!  [2.5/5]           

LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL: Escape this downgraded version of SOCHA NA THA! [1.5/5]

If Bollywood films are to be believed, everyone in love is predestined to elope from their wedding-mandaps at the very last moment when Pheras are to be performed. Events of similar nature do happen in real life, it’s just I haven’t been lucky enough to witness any such in my whole life of more than 30 years. But one thing I am very sure about…I have seen romantic comedies like Arif Ali’s LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL for more than I could remember. One prominent inspiration here is SOCHA NA THA, the launch-pad of writer-director Imtiaz Ali who incidentally also happens to be Arif’s brother. The similarities and likenesses are so evident; LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL could & should be tagged as a SOCHA NA THA rip-off, but an awful one. It’s an extremely long-boring-escapable journey no one will like to hop on.

The ‘BFF (Best Friends Forever)’ duo Karisma & Dino [Newcomers Deeksha Seth & the Kapoor-clan Arman Jain] are often teased as a couple by their common friends. In a hasty & impulsive pronouncement of love and the passion of being together, they decide to elope as Karisma’s hardcore traditional father would marry her off to any boring guy of his choice and for Dino’s father; Dino is nothing but a plain nobody. Together, they take a ride that is hardly any exciting and too superfluous to find a place in your heart. Much later, just on the verge of interval; they realize the honeymoon period is over and the romantic fairytale is nowhere to be found. Follows the process of annulment of their marriage, parental participation to make things even bitter and finally, the weirdly convenient realization of love for each other! Oh, not again!

Romantic comedies are the safest options to mark a début in Bollywood, and probably the hardest ones too. What one expects from any such effort are a thicken chemistry between leads, freshness in the plot and relatable drama to clinch your emotions at its place. Sadly, Arif as a writer-director doesn’t even try to look any different and gets hugely dependent on his brother’s flicks like SOCHA NA THA [parental angle], JAB WE MET [Stopover at small city] & even COCKTAIL [For most of styling and dialogues] for so-called inspirations. Only addition here that had slightest of promises was their accidental encounter with naxalites of Bastar & Dantewada. Disheartening to say that even this sequence ends up mocking their fight to justice & freedom in a completely ham-fisted item number!

Arman and Deeksha both look confident and do succeed in creating some very good moments to rejoice but the staleness in writing kills it all. Of the supporting cast, most are just wasted and that included veterans like Kumud Mishra, Rohini Hattangadi and Varun Vadola. A R Rehman’s music soothes the soul in between all the baffling scenes haphazardly coming one after the other but it never rules the heart. You’ll find it hard to remember all the ‘Khaleefas’ and ‘Tu Shinings’ sooner or later.

To sum up, LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL suffers from a time-lapse syndrome. Had it come in late 90’s when uber urban generation was gaining the spot with a certain lingo full of slangs, strong urge to reinvent new dimensions to the term ‘new-age’ and a demand of change in cinema, it would have made a clean mark. As of now, it is just another forgettable love-story! Escape it! [1.5/5]

BEWAKOOFIYAAN: A film too easy to celebrate its existence! [1.5/5]

Every creation of art; be it of a pure commercial aspect or for the approval of one’s inner conscious, needs to have a motive, a reason behind its very existence. Sadly, YashRaj Films’ BEWAKOOFIYAAN doesn’t show any sign of having it. I tried looking for it, genuinely. In fact, it is one of those rare romantic comedies where you find the contagious essence of romance missing from the air. All you take out from this dull, unexciting, blatantly too easy love-story is disappointment, exhaustion, drowsiness and a sense of doubt on your sensibility as why did I make the decision to bet my money on it at the first place.

Just before getting sacked from his well-paid job in the airlines sector, Mohit [Ayushmann Khurrana] had enough convincing reasons to make his life a big blasting party. A never complaining girlfriend Mayera [Sonam Kapoor], well almost; promotion in the job, brand new car and a Gold ranked credit card with massive credit-limit! Life is smooth, fast and lavish. Until comes his soon-to-be father-in-law [Rishi Kapoor, the only relief] in the scene; a strict retired IAS officer having close connections with Home Secretary and the head of Police in the state. No prizes for guessing, the love-story takes the much expected turn to be on the ‘Meet the parents’ route. As if it was really manageable, Mohit is jobless due to recession hitting the aviation industry. Next is the potholed ride to impress the father and keeping the love alive between two.

Directed by Nupur Asthana, BEWAKOOFIYAAN is a big let down for Habib Faisal who adeptly has been a pillar in the writing for DO DOONI CHAAR, BAND BAAJA BAARAT & ISHAQZAADE. The wit, rust and textured appeal to the lingo is not a complete miss here but not sharp enough too to create some stimulation. It is a film that runs at a certain pace and forgets to take off. The only part that manages to pull my attention to add some novelty to the part is where Mayera bursts in complain over Mohit for doing her bit of ‘sacrifices’ to not go shopping for a new pair of sandals since his ‘jobless’ status. It is funny but more than that, it has a connecting authenticity to Sonam’s character. I was looking for more of this kind.

Performances here are absolutely average at the most. Sonam’s role of a less crabby-all supportive girlfriend has some unseen flares but with her limitations, it goes for a toss. Ayushmann too is very constrained in terms of exhibiting his emotions. Though, he does seem comfortable in comic parts. If anyone here is really much more than what one expects, is the inimitable Rishi Kapoor. His energy, his aura and his gifted ability to slip in the characters he plays is terrifically tranquil even in such shaky circumstances. Some relief!

Romantic comedies are judged best by the youngsters in love, provided it does have some blazing romantic scenes, an exploding chemistry between the lead, hardcore emotions and some good laughs to make their time together a pleasurable experience to cherish. Deeply dejected in my heart and with all my guts gathered at one, I announce that BEWAKOOFIYAAN lacks most of the above. Watch it on DVD, if you must! [1.5/5]   

SHAADI KE SIDE-EFFECTS: Hilarious in parts, dramatic second half loses the fun, pun & pace! [2.5/5]

The latest being, “this country election has only bachelors contesting against each other e.g. Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mamta, Mayawati, Jayalalitha as only a bachelor is destined to change the fate of country otherwise married people can’t even change a TV Channel at their own”, jokes on marriages are the most tried and tested in any social gathering. Comforting-consolatory for married ones, cheering-encouraging for bachelors! Saket Chaudhary’s SHAADI KE SIDE EFFECTS tries to associate, formulate and encash the very same momentary bits of joy in a full-fledged drama on screen. No wonder, it turns out to be hilarious in parts but after a point, too stretched and unidirectional to recall as a full-on entertainer. An average romantic comedy with perhaps more funny one-liners to count on!

Vidya Balan playing Trisha and Farhan Playing Siddharth Roy [Interestingly, the namesake of Vidya’s real life husband] are a happy couple always trying their best to excite-ignite their marriage life with a certain formula in which they both act like strangers on holiday and keep flirting with each other as much as they could. It works but only till they are not into their parenthood. First, Trisha’s shifting focus from hubby to baby, then expectations to become the best father in the world, Sid is forced to lead a secret parallel life to keep the young carefree Siddharth in him alive.

SHAADI KE SIDE EFFECTS is freshly comic in its first part where humor often comes with funny situations Sid is put in. Though only from man’s standpoint, film does well with observatory analysis of changes in man-wife relationship after having baby. The sleepless nights, sexless life, exhausting baby-sitting sessions, everything just leaves you in splits. Things go overboard when the humor is outdone with the emotional drama to make and meet a justified end to all this.

A romantic comedy with lengthened 2 hours 25 minutes of duration with strictly avoidable song sequences is saved here only by Farhan Akhtar’s dedicated performance. As the irritated, infuriated, neglected, sidelined, unsure, self-indulgent, frustrated Sid, Farhan looks his part well. His charm as a sincere actor is maintained. Vidya Balan has nothing very prominent to show-off since the narrative is male-oriented but she succeeds in playing a dominant, overprotective and sometimes catty wife. A good hand at writing and delicious cameos made by Ram Kapoor, stand-up comic artist Vir Das and Ila Arun are also listing as points in favor of the film. Ram Kapoor as the aspirational father, reliable husband and a well-settled family man is absolutely flawless and perfect to the part. Vir Das continues to live up to his image. Ila Arun is a surprise.

Despite being loudly insensitive about kids [In one exaggerated sequence, Sid forgets to take care of his kid-daughter for a soccer match on TV] and women at all stages, SHAADI KE SIDE EFFECTS produces good laugh but not without forcing you to look at your wrist-watch more than once as when it all will be over. Film’s climax too is very filmy, unsound and forcefully liberal. Overall, marriage is an institution where everyone has his own degree of masters. I am not sure how many will associate to this experience but this one is more like ‘Baby Ke Side-Effects’! Cute & sweet are just a word, after a point! Pun intended! [2.5/5]