Sunday, March 16, 2014
Bewakoofiyaan
Romance By Recession
There are just mild glimmers of interesting points in Nupur Asthana’s
yuppie romance film Bewakoofiyaan. It’s a rare one in which the leading lady
has a career she takes seriously.
Both Mayera (Sonam Kapoor) and the man she loves have trendy MBA-type
jobs that allow them a high maintenance lifestyle of designer togs, parties,
pubs, concerts and holidays all paid for with credit cards. Mohit (Ayushmann Khurrana) earns less than
his “hot” GF (so he and everyone else days), but that doesn’t bother him.
The problem in their romance is Mayera father VK Sehgal (Rishi Kapoor),
a just-retired, honest IAS officer, who believes only a rich husband would make
his daughter happy. So he puts Mohit through the wringer, while Mayera hops
about exasperatedly in the background.
Then recession hits, Mohit loses his job, and the romance skids. Not so much because of the fear of Dragon Dad
(Osama as Mohit calls him), but because money runs out, suitable jobs are not
available; Mohit has no family to lean on and no nest egg, so he has to take
money from Mayera and his friends and that hits his self-esteem.
Bewakoofiyaan
had the potential to be an urban film about real issues that face young
people, but it chooses to be a Father Of
The Bride kind of vacuous comedy. The father’s disapproval was not the
issue, financial instability and disparity was, and a mature film would have
dealt with that head-on.
There are also two things that prevent it from being really
contemporary—it still portrays the career woman as fickle, her life really
depends on which way her love story goes; then, after showing the girl as
strong and level-headed, why could Asthana not have made the man follow his
girlfriend where her career took her?
The film, shot in Delhi, probably because in Mumbai people like Mohit
and Mayera would be living in dingy suburban flats not bungalows and plush
apartments; the exteriors make for better visuals too.
The two lead actors are vapid, and as usual it is left to Rishi Kapoor
to bring some life into his scenes. No
great music to lift the mood either, this one makes a dull date movie.
Labels: Cinemaah
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