Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 24th February, 2012 (India)
Time : 130 minutes
Director : Mandeep Kumar; Writer : Abhijeet Sandhu; Music : Sachin-Jigar
Starring : Ritesh & Genelia Deshmukh, Tinnu Anand, Om Puri
A rare Hindi film where the second half is better than the first. Some genuinely nice moments are interspersed amidst a slightly stretched storyline, some awkward songs and a predictable first half.
Rickshaw driver Ritesh is a good buoy. Genelia,who hilariously interviews a classic Alpha Punjabi male while skeet shooting, is not. Rebelling against her fathers wish to get her married off early to the above prize chump, when the opportunity presents itself she stages a ‘kidnapping’ with the bewildered Ritesh and runs away.
The first half is the now often seen bubbly, sprightly girl paired with the quiet, decent guy. It began to wear thin after a while and I feared the worst during the intermission, but that’s when the second half took a far more pleasant, surprising turn.
Ritesh & Genelia essay roles that they’ve each done many times before. He is always the straight laced guy. And she always packed with that little extra fizz. The only novelty here is seeing them heretogether & that too almost immediately after their marriage. So I guess saying ‘the lead pair has no chemistry’ is ruled out. Tinnu Anand plays the long suffering father well. But the show stealer is Om Puri who plays his role with panache. Dialogues like ‘paanch lakh aur bada do’, ‘naye kism ki angrezi’ flow easily & naturally from him.
The continuity guy had a few off days during the film – several mistakes. Apart from ‘O re piya’, none of the other songs worked. There is a certain sequence (the ring scene) lifted straight from an English film. And I think there is an intrinsic struggle throughout on whether to stay real or to get filmy.
However, when you walk out of the hall, it’s the delightful moments that linger with you. I’m probably being slightly generous in my rating here but as my wife said, Thank God, it wasn’t yet another of those mindless, slapstick variety that passes today in the name of comedy.
3 comments:
Nice post. keep it up. the movie is not so good but ok.
I really enjoyed this film. I watched it on NetFlix and found it very refreshing. My 8 year old son and 6 year old niece liked it too. Genelia D'Souza, Ritesh Deshmukh and Om Puri were outstanding but Genelia stole the show. She is adorable! Bollywood should make more light films like this. I wonder how it performed at the box office. Apurva, I love your blog and read it regularly on my iPhone. I am glad you made it mobile friendly.
Thanks so much, Neel. It was one of the rare Hindi films where the second half, though full of stereotypes, was more fun than the first...
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