Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd

I defy you to watch this movie without a silly / goofy grin on your face. It’s a lovely topic for a film – honeymooning – either you’ve been on one (and usually they’re fun), or you’re looking forward to when your time will come. And this one delivers with a nice, bittersweet, humorous look at this unique and (for most Indians) once-in-a-lifetime event.

Its about six unrelated couples who board a bus to Goa for a group honeymoon. While most couples are the age you would expect there is one exception in terms of Boman Irani / Shabana Azmi who are 50+. As the journey progresses there are flashbacks about each couple to tell us their background / how they met etc. The rest is all about watching the different relationships unfold - each couple by itself or when interacting together as a group.

What I’ve liked about the movie are the ‘realistic’ portrayals of the different couples – in each one you’re able to spot something which you’ve seen in someone or the other in real life. And even more than the realism, I liked the twists given to each couple’s story – be prepared for something different here…it may not always be logical but its good fun ! Also, as there are no superstars in the movie (unlike Salaam-e-Ishq, for example), the director is not forced to spend too much time on any one couple but truly manages to give us a flavour of each different story. The one song in the movie is a fantastic foot tapping number which is picturised extremely well and for a change there is a reason behind the song and the picturisation as well.

I’m hesitating to say anything more as I may give something away inadvertently…I thought all the cast were very good. Boman Irani continues to amaze me – how does he manage to get inside the skin of so many varied characters in such a short time span ? Shabana brings her usual competent, dignified, calm presence. I really liked Sandhya Mridul (I thought she was great in Waisa Bhi Hota Hai as well) and I hope she gets more movies. The true surprise for me was Raima Sen – she plays half of a very conservative, Bengali couple who gradually sheds her inhibitions and she manages to do this very naturally, slowly moving from being prim and proper to free and sensuous in a very convincing fashion. I’m going to not take anymore names else this para will become as long as some of the Oscar / Filmfare thank you speeches, but I truly didn’t find anyone whose performance was below par or felt out of place.

The movie thankfully does not try and preach to us...there is not much serious stuff here and dont look for any answers to the great mysteries of life or marriage. It merely showcases some very different couple's and what they go through and does it in a very fun, irreverent and quirky way. You can draw your own lessons.

I saw this movie at a very late show (2245 hrs), after having spent the whole day in a factory and then being driven for four hours on a not very good road. I had a terrible cramped seat in the theatre and was sleepy when I went in. However, nothing mattered - I left the hall with a smile on my face as did the rest of the audience. I think you’ll be doing the same as well.