Dilwale

Dilwale: 

After a week of weathering allergic cough and cold ( courtesy Delhi Pollution), finally hit the cinemas. The idea was to see Bajirao Mastani , but despite 10 days having lapsed since its release, decent tickets were still not available! So we settled for Dilwale, much against my gut feeling that this wasn't going to be a good way to resume my love affair with Hindi cinema! 

How right was my gut feeling? After 20 minutes we were squirming restlessly in our seats, wondering whether the interval had been dispensed with! But no, it hadn't; the movie was a difficult burden to carry on the shoulders of a fading star like Shahrukh and a super slim Kajol ( in fact, I think she was slimmer here than in DDLJ)! The story revolves around two sets of siblings Shahrukh and Varun Dhawan as Bhais and Kajol and who's-that-girl, as Bahens! Well it adds spice to the story that they belong to two rival Mafia families, who after tasting the reckless life of crime and bullets in Bulgaria, choose to return to india to start a Motor Garage and restraunt business respectively. The romance of the elder siblings was the collateral damage in the rivalries between the two families, but hey, the younger ones can't suffer the same fate! Or something to that effect! 

Well, considering that there are two love stories unfolding here in the backdrop of crime and vendettas, and a bit of comedy thrown in, which fails to tickle you in most parts, I found the handling of the romance most unconvincing! Somewhere, Bollywood seems to be loosing its grip on developing romantic relationships between lead pairs! It moves too fast and you are left wondering " yeh pyaar kab aura kyun hua"? 

The music was good, but besides two good numbers, they seemed intrusive and slowed down the narrative. The romantic sequence between SRK and Kajol, "rang de tu mohe Gerua", seems hummable but was picturised in locations that seemed hugely VFXed! BTW, what does it mean, rang de Gerua? Isn't Gerua the colour of Intolerant India, SRK? 

A word about Kajol, before I conclude! She looked over made up, with her Fair and Lovely skin! I thought she was much more likeable when she was comfortable with her skin tone! Not anymore! So far as acting goes, she couldn't make up her mind whether to assume the bubbly tones of a. Punjabi girl a-la K3G, or a more refined NRI! She had been brilliant in Gupt, two decades back, as the muderer on the prowl! But the few occasions to enact the negative side in Dilwale, are wasted by Kajol! Pity that! 

Anyway, the movie refused to entertain. I haven't looked at my Whatsapp messages in a cinema hall as much as I did during the screening of this one! Or surfed the net to find out what the duration of the movie was! In other words, if you haven't got it by now, it was difficult to sit through this one from Rohit Shetty! Better luck, next time!