Month: May 2013

Review : Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani

(Warning: Spoilers ahead)

Yesterday  I wrote the music review of the film and mentioned that I hope Ranbir does not disappoint – Ranbir did not disappoint but Ayan Mukherjee did while Karan Johar lived upto expectations.

The movie is too long – seriously Bollywood you need not drag a script for 2.5 hours – there is no such mandate and what can be told eloquently in 1.5 hours should be told in 1.5 hours. Too many irrelevant scenes – painting people as stupid does not generate laughs. Having too many forced songs does not help either however good they might be.

Ayan dealt with the relationship of Sid and Aisha beautifully in Wake up Sid his first movie but I did not find any such build-up to Bunny and Naina’s love story in the movie – Ranbir and Deepika’s sizzling onscreen chemistry made up for the complete lack of script.

The story is all too known by now – how 4 friends go on a trip , have fun, enjoy, let go and discover themselves. Move apart , live their lives – some grow up , some don’t. Some move on while some get stuck in a time warp. All too familiar, all too seen and heard before – Dil Chahta Hain, Rock On, Zindagi Na Mile Dobara, bring in the DDLJ romance, bring in the tomboy turned lady a-la Kajol from Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, bring in the irritating Poo like character from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham , the affluent families, the lavish weddings, trekking in mini shorts and denim skirts (only in a KJO movie)

I had thought Ayan Mukherjee would continue to be in his Wake Up Sid zone.  He did in fact for quite sometime in the movie – when he made Naina’s character extremely real and believable – I’m not a Deepika fan but she was good in the movie. Full credit to Ayan for being able to get this girl to actually act. Her expressions were controlled, did not seem forced, she seemed comfortable with the character. Balanced, rational , today’s girl who understood her priorities. Her Naina was believable – geeky, boring, falling for the guy who was not her type.  She had the courage to realise the relationship would not work as they wanted different things and she had the sanity to not lose her mind over him, value his friendship and treasure those moments. That was as real as it can get. I could completely identify with her character. And even when life offered her the second chance she was practical and sane enough to not leave her medical career and go along with her vagabond love.

Kalki as the tomboy turned lady did justice to her part but not to the dancing (No seriously Kalki please don’t dance – my eyes hurt). She was the only reason that the 4 friends came back together. Thank god they did not twist her character by getting her back with her old crush and not going ahead with the wedding. Adtiya Kapoor as Avi was an utter disappointment – he was the worst of the 4 friends who never got his life together. Aditya failed to depict Avi’s bitterness or the hurt he felt – of losing his friends or not getting his life in order like the other 3 did.

Ranbir as Bunny was superlative – I’d go for a movie just to see Ranbir on screen. He brought alive Bunny’s character – he wanted to be free, he wanted to see the world, he wanted to follow his dreams and he did. He had a few regrets but he wasn’t to blame for it. He was brilliant in that last scene with his father Farooq Sheikh before he leaves for America and then later with his step-mother Tanvi Azmi after he comes home – 3 years after his father passed away. Those two scenes were the highlight of the movie for me. Bunny’s mom gets Bunny rid of all of his guilt of not being there for his dad when he should have been. The one scene with Farooq Sheikh when Ranbir is leaving for the USA for future studies was the best scene of the movie – those 4 lines from Farooq sum up the definition of perfect parents that every child craves for.

And then I thought it would be a nice end to the movie – Bunny sets off to get his dream job finally free of all his guilt & regrets, Naina moves on and maybe finds love again – because the fact is that in real life you do. More often than not you do. Sometimes some relations are not meant to be. We don’t always have picture perfect endings and I would have really liked to see Ayan keep it real like Shakun Batra did in Ekk Main Aur Ekk Tu, but he didn’t. So the movie ended like it would in the KJO world.

The reason I felt a bit disappointed with the ending – was it felt lame and out of the blue as the movie did not focus on Naina-Bunny relationship as much at it should have – it felt a tad disconnected  and rushed at the end. And given how the whole relationship played out – I found it difficult to digest that a guy so crazy about his dream, who was lucky enough to have folks supportive of him,  just gave it all up one day. Maybe people do – but in the movie it felt completely out of character for Bunny.

If Bunny had chased his dream job would you have termed him to be a villain? Naina understood him, I wonder why the director did not and made him do a complete U-turn. Think about it!

Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani

Have I told you all that I’m a Ranbir fan – He is a fabulous actor and a great dancer. The latter bit quite under-rated in my opinion. Watch Badtameez Dil and you will know what I’m talking about. When I first caught the song on TV I was not surprised that Ranbir had rendered a fabulous performance – and done great justice to Benny Dayal’s singing (who by the way I completely mistook for Mohit Chauhan when I first heard the first few lines of the song) and Pritam’s foot tapping music. My dance classes begin in 2 weeks time and I can’t wait to dance to this song!

 

It was Badtameez Dil and not Balam Pichkari that caught my attention and I went hunting to check out how the rest of the album was. Needless to say I was not disappointed. Never been a Pritam fan – knowing how well he lifts his numbers but he has managed to deliver three hit albums in a row now.

Shalmali Kolge of the Pareshaan fame is fantastic in Balam Pichkari – it’s a nice foot tapping number and will get its place in all time hit Holi songs. Be assured we are going to bombarded with it once Holi arrives next year. Vishal Dadlani rarely fails to deliver in foot-tapping numbers and this must count among his best ones.

Ranbir movie and no Mohit Chauhan? How is that even possible? Mukesh was Raj Kapoor’s voice and since Rockstar I have felt that Mohit Chauhan’s voice suits Ranbir the best! Amitabh Bhattacharya is fast climbing the charts as the number one lyricist – the lyrics of Illahi portray Ranbir’s character (from what I’ve read in the previews of the story) to perfection.

Khaanaabadoshiyon pe hi jaane kyoon
Ilahi meraa jee aaye aaye

I don’t know why in nomadic ways only I find my heart interested, O Lord.

Sreeram’s voice is quite soulful in SubhanAllah – but the song isn’t one that will leave a lasting impact. Nice to listen to but not the one that will keep playing a loop on your ipod a million times. That will go to only one song from the album – will come to it at the end of this post.

Dilliwali Girlfriend will probably play at most marriage sangeet parties this year and will be forgotten the moment a new chart-topping number hits the scene. Sounds like every other punjabi song that hits the pop scene. Not impressive at all.

You get Madhuri to do an item number and Rekha Bhardwaj to render it – the perfect ingredients to deliver a hit that could go and stake a claim with Kajre Re or Beedi on popularity charts and all that we get is a dampener in Ghagra. Did not click at all. I also thought that the whole Via-Agra bit was completely intentional in the song – fool to think otherwise right?

Rekha Bhardwaj is definitely one of my favourite singers – Namak, Ab Mujhe Koi and the very recent- the phenomenal “Phir Le Aaya Dil” – it would have been quite a disappointment if she had not got a better number than Ghagra in the album – and here is where you thank god for the endearing sufi number “Kabira” by her and Tochi Raina. This is the kind of song that will play a million times in a loop on your iPod. There is another version by Harshdeep and Arijit but that sounds very run-of-the-mill wedding song unlike this one which is meant to be played when you are out at night on a long drive!

Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani overall does not disappoint – I’m pretty confident it will earn nominations next year at all the award ceremonies. Off to see the movie tomorrow – not too high expectations just hoping Ranbir does not disappoint.

P.s: Listen to the first 14 seconds of Kabira and then to the first 15 seconds of the Title Track of Kuch Toh Log Kahenge (never watched the serial – love this number though) and tell me if you notice any similarities 🙂

 

Update:
I have edited out the sentence where I mentioned that Pritam was running into good form of his Jab We Met & Metro days – I was genuinely unaware that Pritam had lifted most songs in these two albums – until a friend @adityeah pointed out on twitter. I really liked those two albums – and my apologies for my ignorance about this bit. Have corrected the sentence as it seemed contradictory.

Dilemma…

Catching up with school friends and college friends always brings backs tons of memories – the good, the bad, the ugly, the embarrassing – and so many times after endless conversations I often go back thinking I wish I had done things differently. I wish I had not said all the things I said back then, I wish I had not held myself back, I wish I had let go, I wish I had expressed my feelings more often, I wish I had been more honest and forthcoming. I wish I had more clarity in my thought and my actions. I wish I wasn’t as confused as I was then. It amazes me that my friendships have lasted a lifetime – I must have done something right.

Over the years I have grown tremendously as a person – my thought process, my approach and attitude to life. I’ve learnt to balance my emotions and I know I have matured with my experiences – the good and the bad. I have become eerily rational and a lot more open minded. I have learnt (albeit after falling flat on my face tons of time) to not get affected by the way people change or behave. I take pride in the way I handle my emotions especially when it comes to tough situations – I have rarely panicked. I know I have changed as a person – I’m still my old cheerful self but I’m not the person I was when I was in school or college. Even in appearance – I’m not the geeky, tomboy, skinny lass I was – I pay a lot more heed to how I look and what I wear. I feel great when I look at myself today and it gives me the added confidence. It feels wonderful when friends and colleagues at work compliment me on my dressing style, eye-makeup and accessories. My mom has always had an amazing sense of style, she has a wonderful eye for everything – be it her lovely collection of saris (which everyone in my family will die for to own), her accessories, her household items – she is the epitome of simplicity and elegance. Until I got married and even few years after that I was a complete antithesis to my mom in this department but today I realize I’ve had that gene of hers hidden in me which is now taking shape. I never thought I would develop an eye for home decor but I did (mom’s hidden gene sprung up once I had to do up the home from scratch). Today I can proudly say that I have done up my little abode beautifully and visitors to my home do tell me so.

So when my friends and family whom I meet after ages tell me I haven’t changed at all – I’m at a loss to react – I don’t know what to make of it. In one way I’m happy because they are telling me that they took to me for the person I was then and am still the same; but then I also feel a little disheartened because I’m happy I have changed and that the folks who would actually notice the difference simply don’t. I have changed for the better and  I sometimes wish they would notice it and tell me so.

Anyone of you ever been through a similar dilemma?

Ignored

You for long – how long it has been? Over 2 months. I’ve not penned down a single word in 2 months. I’m letting work and personal commitments get all over me again and back to ignoring you. I’m not making big promises of writing every day or every week – but you know I won’t be able to ignore you for long.

You are my treasure trove of memories – and I keep visiting old posts now and then, reminding myself that I need to create some new ones.

So for my few loyal readers and folks who keep asking me why I’ve not put up a post in long- I’ll try to make it up soon. Lots of recipes to update – friends are kind of pissed at me for only putting up pictures on facebook/twitter with no recipes to follow – that will be done soon.

I had a great holiday – a minor scare that preceded it and then missed once in a lifetime event with papa’s family 🙁 When you live abroad you can’t have it all !

Tons of things to write – even the cricket blogs need updating – lying dead for long! Champions trophy gets underway in 2 weeks time in England – not too excited but atleast there is India-Pak to look forward to and then the Ashes arrive!

So there you go – chances of you being ignored completely in the next few months seem very small my dear blog 🙂

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