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#BollywoodMovieReviewz @AeDilHaiMushkil: A Karan Johar movie on the stands, smell of festivities all around and a well-deserved short break! Well it had all the ingredients of a promising Saturday afternoon. So I stole some time from preparations for the Diwali Celebrations, and headed to the nearest CinePlex!
Ayan ( Ranbir Kapoor) is a Bollywood music freak, of the retro kind.The setting is London but the casting and sensibilities are Desi. Ayan aspires to be the reincarnation of Mohammad Rafi but lacks Dard in his voice, as diagnosed by Alieza ( Anoushka Sharma) after a botched-up party hook-up scene that doesn't quite go according to the script. He actually has a girl friend ( Lisa Hayden) whom he has fought with. Anoushka, the veteran in all matters of heart, tells him his love is frivolous, has no "weight", which she demonstrates quite literally and he is just a lost baby from whom a favourite toy has been taken away! Obviously he doesn't know the meaning of pain of loosing real love! By implication, it is clear that she does! So what follows is the growing up of Ranbir, the healing process of Anoushka's broken heart and a fun-filled first half, replete with great music, peppy, though repetitive, pub-crawling scenes of London-by-night and later, An Evening or two in Paris! And some in Vienna!
The second half throws everything off-gear, rather it presents you The Mushkil aspect of the theme. The ex in Anoushka's life, the oh-so-handsome Fawaad Khan, returns and Anoushka does the Qabool Hai act with him. Ranbir, who has grown up, learnt the art of shedding silent tears, instead of the mushy, mama's baby ones he shed when Lisa cheated on him, finds Aishwarya, the shayara and hooks up with her on the rebound from Anoushka. Here onwards the film gets complicated, if it already wasn't. My theory is that all the protagonists actually have complicated relationship status in their real lives and that is reflected, albeit artfully, on this aesthetic kaleidoscope composed of rich NRIs. It's a relationship quadrangle and lacks conviction in parts, but since it's done cleverly, you tend to play along- doing a willing-suspension-of-disbelief act. As someone explained later: life, relationships and matters of the heart for the swish set born after 1980 have actually become complicated! In real life. You are just good friends; you are soul mates; you love each other but it's not "in that sense" romantic love etc etc! All bunkum, you might say, or all real aspects of life! These and all other possible Mushkils you can imagine surface in the second half, leaving you gasping for fresh air! Sigh.
All said and done, this is actually KJo's best effort in so far as taking up complicated relationships in an evolving social milieu are concerned! Not in the genre of KKHH, which typified puppy love, but more Second-Decade-of-Twenty-First-century variety! Vague, complicated yet intense and genuine! Parts of the movie are super brilliant, parts just fizzle out! But the sum of the whole is quite entertaining. At the end of the day, the movie is about Ranbir Kapoor's brilliance as a Showman, the true grandson of his illustrious grandfather! And not to miss Anoushka! She with the ordinary looks, has an acting caliber that comes alive only under a director like KJo. Vibrant and innocent, mischievous and impish, she is made of many parts!! But my favourite scene in the movie is the stand-off between Lisa Hayden and Anoushka! Lisa, so brilliant and befitting the "Vatavaran" of the movie, is grossly under-utilised and I loved her, as in Queen! Pritam Singh's music is both foot-tapping and soulful. Aishwarya looks stunning, despite the age and leaves an impact.
When all the ghosts of the quadrangular relationships are slain, another ghost appears! For that, go watch the movie........................and come back humming..Maine Saiyan Ji se break up kar Ilya hai! How inspirational!
The second half throws everything off-gear, rather it presents you The Mushkil aspect of the theme. The ex in Anoushka's life, the oh-so-handsome Fawaad Khan, returns and Anoushka does the Qabool Hai act with him. Ranbir, who has grown up, learnt the art of shedding silent tears, instead of the mushy, mama's baby ones he shed when Lisa cheated on him, finds Aishwarya, the shayara and hooks up with her on the rebound from Anoushka. Here onwards the film gets complicated, if it already wasn't. My theory is that all the protagonists actually have complicated relationship status in their real lives and that is reflected, albeit artfully, on this aesthetic kaleidoscope composed of rich NRIs. It's a relationship quadrangle and lacks conviction in parts, but since it's done cleverly, you tend to play along- doing a willing-suspension-of-disbelief act. As someone explained later: life, relationships and matters of the heart for the swish set born after 1980 have actually become complicated! In real life. You are just good friends; you are soul mates; you love each other but it's not "in that sense" romantic love etc etc! All bunkum, you might say, or all real aspects of life! These and all other possible Mushkils you can imagine surface in the second half, leaving you gasping for fresh air! Sigh.
All said and done, this is actually KJo's best effort in so far as taking up complicated relationships in an evolving social milieu are concerned! Not in the genre of KKHH, which typified puppy love, but more Second-Decade-of-Twenty-First-century variety! Vague, complicated yet intense and genuine! Parts of the movie are super brilliant, parts just fizzle out! But the sum of the whole is quite entertaining. At the end of the day, the movie is about Ranbir Kapoor's brilliance as a Showman, the true grandson of his illustrious grandfather! And not to miss Anoushka! She with the ordinary looks, has an acting caliber that comes alive only under a director like KJo. Vibrant and innocent, mischievous and impish, she is made of many parts!! But my favourite scene in the movie is the stand-off between Lisa Hayden and Anoushka! Lisa, so brilliant and befitting the "Vatavaran" of the movie, is grossly under-utilised and I loved her, as in Queen! Pritam Singh's music is both foot-tapping and soulful. Aishwarya looks stunning, despite the age and leaves an impact.
When all the ghosts of the quadrangular relationships are slain, another ghost appears! For that, go watch the movie........................and come back humming..Maine Saiyan Ji se break up kar Ilya hai! How inspirational!
