This is one film with a massive DDLJ ( Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge movie ) hangover . And it has no qualms about admitting that fact openly , but does not have the budget/money to reproduce ithe magic of DDLJ . While DDLJ showed us Switzerland , this film shuttles between Delhi and Ambala.
However it would have been all right even if the director didn't have money to match DDLJ's resources . What hurts your pocket ( since your money is wasted ) is the fact that the director does not have the directorial ability ( to say it in gentle words ) or more correctly the brains to recreate the magic .
Worse , he does not have even the ambition to match upto DDLJ . While seeing DDLJ was like flying by first class to Switzerland by Swissair , then this film is like taking the third class seat in a train from Ambala to Delhi by Indian railways .
Of course , times have moved ahead since DDLJ . The heroine's older sister has already openly defied her father and married a guy she wanted . But the failure of her marriage puts her father ( Ashutosh Rana ) in Amrish Puri mode---become dead set against love marriages .
So second daughter ( Alia Bhatt ) is going to be forced to marry to a person of her father's choice , and the only choice she is allowed to exercise is that of the clothes for her wedding . But for these Punjabis and Sindhis ( both communities crazed for hypershowmanship---that's why they dominate the film industry which gives us the entertainment , so I should not be really complaining ) a matter of a simple lehenga is a big issue , and daughter insists on going from Ambala to....Delhi , where else....for getting a designer lehenga worth 5 lakhs .
.....And our journey by third class seat on Indian railways ( oh , I mean the movie ) also starts....
Alia has no money to buy the lehenga , but does a beautiful girl need money for that ?? An admirer has to crop up obviously , and he is ready to pull off all tricks in the book to get her the lehenga and use that as an excuse to win her heart....
But what about the fact that Varun Dhawan ( the not-so-secret admirer ) lives in India , and Alia's fiance is from America ?? So we not only have a third grade version of DDLJ , we have DDLJ in reverse !! DDLJ extols the benefits of marrying NRI boys in comparison with India based ones , but now we have a film extolling India based boys in comparison with NRIs . If the film was any good or even okay then I would have been more than happy since I am India based . But it wasn't to be....
Anyway times have moved ahead and what Shah Rukh AND Kajol didn't do in DDLJ is what the lovers do in this film---they have sex and Alia loses her virginity . And off goes Alia to offer herself second hand to her fiance ; maybe it is poetic justice since most of these NRI guys are second hand themselves anyway , having had multiple relationships in a free society .
But Alia has lost her heart in Delhi !! And the one she has lost her heart to ( Varun ) is not going to give it back . In fact he is now Ambala bound ( the viewer's third class journey continues ) to confront her father....
So what happens next ?? Does father Ashutosh Rana finally agree to the match between Alia and Varun ?? Watch the movie for that....
In one respect the film remains true to the original theme of DDLJ---that of harking to ancient Indian tradition that says that marriages must not take place without approval of parents and society , and that the girl's father ( not mother mind you , she is just an inferior female ) is and must be the final arbiter of the girl's destiny . Varun himself is a great believer in all this and he refuses to marry Alia until her father will approve . And he stays in Ambala in order to win the father's approval by socializing with him , just like SRK did with Amrish Puri in the original film . I am not a social reformer , but it does not take a social reformer to realize how unjust this is . Younger generation has different expectations that the elders simply cannot understand , and yet they must abide by the elders !! Why ?? And why is this rule applied far more strictly to women ?? Isn't it against human rights to take away the right of an individual to marry as per her wishes ??
Of course , harking to ancient Indian tradition is what brings in the audience steeped in old customs to the theaters . But the director makes the stupendous mistake of applying this rule to a female ( Alia ) who sashays in discotheques and has slept with her boyfriend---how unreal can a film be ??
And the air of unreality continues in the film . All the time when her marriage preparations are going on and even when her fiance arrives from America , Alia continues to meet Varun and coochie coo with him and kiss him ; does her father and her fiance notice this ?? No....how come , since this is going on practically in front of their eyes ?? Both of them must be blind , what else....
.....Or the better explanation is that the film is a waste of time....
Actually I had a somewhat better option to watch---'Pizza 3D' movie . But I had never been able to review the original DDLJ . Was too young at that time . With this film I had gone to relieve those memories---of watching DDLJ . And then reviewing a film which reminded me of it . But what I got was this....
Alia , Varun and even her fiance all look good . Varun's freinds ( who share in his adventures ) are funny . Music is good too , especially if you like it Punjabi style . All this does not save the film....
Of course , I may be too harsh on the film . The film is supposed to be a light hearted take on DDLJ , and the atmosphere is frivolous . Not meant to be taken seriously , unlike DDLJ which took itself seriously inspite of it's funny moments .
Verdict---not good .
However it would have been all right even if the director didn't have money to match DDLJ's resources . What hurts your pocket ( since your money is wasted ) is the fact that the director does not have the directorial ability ( to say it in gentle words ) or more correctly the brains to recreate the magic .
Worse , he does not have even the ambition to match upto DDLJ . While seeing DDLJ was like flying by first class to Switzerland by Swissair , then this film is like taking the third class seat in a train from Ambala to Delhi by Indian railways .
Of course , times have moved ahead since DDLJ . The heroine's older sister has already openly defied her father and married a guy she wanted . But the failure of her marriage puts her father ( Ashutosh Rana ) in Amrish Puri mode---become dead set against love marriages .
So second daughter ( Alia Bhatt ) is going to be forced to marry to a person of her father's choice , and the only choice she is allowed to exercise is that of the clothes for her wedding . But for these Punjabis and Sindhis ( both communities crazed for hypershowmanship---that's why they dominate the film industry which gives us the entertainment , so I should not be really complaining ) a matter of a simple lehenga is a big issue , and daughter insists on going from Ambala to....Delhi , where else....for getting a designer lehenga worth 5 lakhs .
.....And our journey by third class seat on Indian railways ( oh , I mean the movie ) also starts....
Alia has no money to buy the lehenga , but does a beautiful girl need money for that ?? An admirer has to crop up obviously , and he is ready to pull off all tricks in the book to get her the lehenga and use that as an excuse to win her heart....
But what about the fact that Varun Dhawan ( the not-so-secret admirer ) lives in India , and Alia's fiance is from America ?? So we not only have a third grade version of DDLJ , we have DDLJ in reverse !! DDLJ extols the benefits of marrying NRI boys in comparison with India based ones , but now we have a film extolling India based boys in comparison with NRIs . If the film was any good or even okay then I would have been more than happy since I am India based . But it wasn't to be....
Anyway times have moved ahead and what Shah Rukh AND Kajol didn't do in DDLJ is what the lovers do in this film---they have sex and Alia loses her virginity . And off goes Alia to offer herself second hand to her fiance ; maybe it is poetic justice since most of these NRI guys are second hand themselves anyway , having had multiple relationships in a free society .
But Alia has lost her heart in Delhi !! And the one she has lost her heart to ( Varun ) is not going to give it back . In fact he is now Ambala bound ( the viewer's third class journey continues ) to confront her father....
So what happens next ?? Does father Ashutosh Rana finally agree to the match between Alia and Varun ?? Watch the movie for that....
In one respect the film remains true to the original theme of DDLJ---that of harking to ancient Indian tradition that says that marriages must not take place without approval of parents and society , and that the girl's father ( not mother mind you , she is just an inferior female ) is and must be the final arbiter of the girl's destiny . Varun himself is a great believer in all this and he refuses to marry Alia until her father will approve . And he stays in Ambala in order to win the father's approval by socializing with him , just like SRK did with Amrish Puri in the original film . I am not a social reformer , but it does not take a social reformer to realize how unjust this is . Younger generation has different expectations that the elders simply cannot understand , and yet they must abide by the elders !! Why ?? And why is this rule applied far more strictly to women ?? Isn't it against human rights to take away the right of an individual to marry as per her wishes ??
Of course , harking to ancient Indian tradition is what brings in the audience steeped in old customs to the theaters . But the director makes the stupendous mistake of applying this rule to a female ( Alia ) who sashays in discotheques and has slept with her boyfriend---how unreal can a film be ??
And the air of unreality continues in the film . All the time when her marriage preparations are going on and even when her fiance arrives from America , Alia continues to meet Varun and coochie coo with him and kiss him ; does her father and her fiance notice this ?? No....how come , since this is going on practically in front of their eyes ?? Both of them must be blind , what else....
.....Or the better explanation is that the film is a waste of time....
Actually I had a somewhat better option to watch---'Pizza 3D' movie . But I had never been able to review the original DDLJ . Was too young at that time . With this film I had gone to relieve those memories---of watching DDLJ . And then reviewing a film which reminded me of it . But what I got was this....
Alia , Varun and even her fiance all look good . Varun's freinds ( who share in his adventures ) are funny . Music is good too , especially if you like it Punjabi style . All this does not save the film....
Of course , I may be too harsh on the film . The film is supposed to be a light hearted take on DDLJ , and the atmosphere is frivolous . Not meant to be taken seriously , unlike DDLJ which took itself seriously inspite of it's funny moments .
Verdict---not good .
