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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......
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......
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