Humpty sharma ki Dulhaniya: DDLJ with a 21st century tweak

After a busy week in office, went and saw Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya. There's something unreal yet endearing about the film as most romances leave you feeling: weak-kneed, teary and with a sense of wellness at the end. God is in His Heaven and all is well with the world. Amen!

Kavya ( Alia Bhatt) who lives with her family in Ambala, has this dream marriage coming up, with a tall, fair and handsome, doctor from London, a paragon of virtue, son of her father's best friend etc etc. She can't ask for more, can she, except that there is the minor irritant of her desire to wear a designer lehanga for the shadi. Papa ladka tumhari pasand ka aur lehanga meri pasand ka! Off she goes to Delhi to earn a Manish Malhotra for herself, but meets Humpty there and has a great fall! Because one knows there's wedding shopping going on, one wonders and fears whether papa's SUVs and muscle men will allow them to put their lives together again!

The first half is a crazy rag tag of the hilarious trio of Humpty (Varun) and his friends wooing Kavya ( for Varun, of course) and one dramatic scene after another, these two are irrevocably in love. I waited for the second half with bated breath, expecting melodrama, Goondas, emotional blackmail, etc but lo and behold this is not a weepy Alia but a calm and confident modern young girl who doesn't crumble with the first sticky situation that confronts her little life. Nor is the Papa so dry and villainous, btw!

That the film is a tribute to DDLJ is well known. The theme, the punjabi setting, the NRI dulha, the drunken night when "nothing happened" is all hugely reminiscent of DDLJ and consciously so. Yet this is 21st century and that a belle from Ambala can down a beer faster than the Delhi stud, or drink whiskey neat in a welcome party for her groom, while her boyfriend tries to find a chink in the groom's armour, is a surprise even to me! I thought this ' liberation' was the preserve of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore girls with maybe Jaipur/ Lucknow thrown in as wannabe metros, but Ambala? And when "something" does happen between the two, it's almost matter of fact, so much so that it is not allowed to become central to the unfolding drama before the wedding!

The second half of the movie, if you believe me, belongs to Ashutosh Rana! Where has he been hiding these last few years? The guy is pure magnet and as the father of Alia couldn't have done better! That's another 21st century variation of the original babu ji of Amrish Puri's DDLJ. Oye, he himself married a Shastri girl for love, so how long will he resist his darling daughter's charming beau? Her refusal to wear the laboriously procured designer lehanga, touched the coconutty dad's heart like nothing else could have: jab dulha hi pasand ka nahi to lehanga local ho ya designer kya Farq padta hai, papa? Wow! The second half holds and how!

Varun Dhawan is a rock star. Period. He can emote well, he can make you laugh and oh boy, he can even make you cry! What can I say about Alia, except that she's a natural! Heavy with talent through her DNA, as an Alhar Punjabi Kuri in the movie she wins your heart with effortless acting and steals the show yet again as she has consistently been doing since her debut. The last scene is the icing on the cake and the ultimate role reversal of the 21st century, Bollywood ishtyle! Go watch it, guys.

The movie worked for me even with its loud punjabi music, although why they kept the hugely popular Saturday for the end is beyond me! I could hear the young largely female crowd at the Multiplex shrieking with joy whenever they saw Varun on the screen ! For me, it was, ahem, Ashutosh Rana, anytime......

Bobby Jasoos

                                                     Bobby Jasoos


Bobby Jasoos is a silly but funny and enjoyable movie about a bumbling yet ambitious, not-so-young girl Bobby, who aspires to make a name for herself as a detective ! She has a strained relationship with her father who cannot accept the fact that women can chase unconventional dreams and households can actually be run on Women's incomes! The backdrop is the Char Minar area of Hyderabad with its densely populated alleys, meandering through some interesting social and professional narratives.

The Ahmad household is chaotic yet has a method to it, with the co-wives (for want of a better term to describe Sautans! ) existing peacefully, empathetic and benevolent towards each other, yet subtly so, adding to the credibility of the setting! I loved the easy camaraderie between the two and their daughters, loving, teasing and being nasty to each other almost all at once in a well crafted depiction of sibling dynamics!

Trying to break stereotypes, Bobby the eldest daughter, yearns for a profession of her choice in a domain dominated by men! Aided by a series of big cases coming her way from a strange and mysterious client,with promising, rich dividends Vidya Balan in and as Bobby Jasoos is on the way to realising her ambitions. In the process, she once again carries the film on her shoulders, notwithstanding the drab, low on Glamour Quotient, Salwar Kameez's that she dons with such confidence!

For an observer of changing social milieu, the movie throws up various facets of women's issues viz, bigamy, right to choose one's partner, right to remain single, right to follow the profession of one's liking, being financially independent, being a tomboy, even, yet seeking the father's approval of her difference in a conforming society, it has them all! No answers are offered, but that's how life is! More questions than answers!

Bobby Jasoos was never meant to be a serious detective crime thriller on the lines of those immortalized by Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie. It was more in the genre of Enid Blyton's Five Find Outers and the mysteries that they solved. Bobby is strangely reminiscent of Fatty, who loved playing a detective to solve petty village crimes, donning accents and disguises, buck teeth and limping hunch backs included! Or even playing a tramp or a cripple (yes, such politically incorrect words were used back then! ) to see him through the process of solving mysteries!

The film has some exceptionally talented actors, although I must say not all of them were utilized properly. Tanvi Azmi and Supriya Pathak contributed in large parts in creating the Hyderabadi flavour. The boys who make Bobby's gang of Find Outers actually have a Fatty in their midst! The icing on this cake is Tasavvur Sheikh played by Ali Fazal, who evolves easily into Bobby Jasoos's romantic sub-plot. I say, this guy is here for the long haul! He has the looks, the physique, the innocent, large eyes, and the acting talent! He seems to be choosy too! If you can pay attention to another character in a Vidya Balan film, then that guy sure has a journey ahead of him! Watch out for him in the future!

The film has some flaws which prevents it from joining the league of cult films! For one, it ends a bit too simply! The denouement is unconvincing and could have been sharper. It seems almost as if the director hadn't thought of how he would wind it up and had to suddenly find a socially acceptable conclusion to what could easily have degenerated the narrative into sleazy flesh trade/ terrorism/ drug trafficking themes. At the end, it was a feel good film so had to have a feel good ending!

Watchable for the sake of Vidya Balan and Ali Fazal! Meru ko Achha lagin! Thank you Diya Mirza!