Cinemaah

Romance And  Melodrama

De De Pyaar De—maybe marginally less misogynistic than Luv Ranjan’s earlier films-- has been produced by him, and directed by Akiv Ali.

It is supposedly a comedy about an older man falling in love with a younger woman, but ends up exonerating, not callow young men this time, but a 50-year-old for being an unfeeling jerk.

Ashish (Ajay Devgn), gamely playing his own age, is a London-based rich guy, who is called “buddha” and “uncle” frequently, but is also pursued by a self-proclaimed “hot” 26-year-old engineer-cum-bartender, Aisha (Rakul Preet Singh), who is surprised that he didn’t touch her when she was passed out drunk in his apartment. They have some honest conversations about how this 24-year age difference will work out in the future, but decide that they want to be together anyway, so he takes her to India to meet his ex-wife Manju (Tabu) and grown-up kids—the daughter is almost Aisha’s age.

They walk into the beautiful Himachal resort that Manju runs, and walk smack into some major family melodrama, which leads him to introduce Aisha as his secretary. Amazingly, this is believed by his parents, and all the rest, that includes the 47-year-old Manju’s moronic suitor VK (Jimmy Shergill). Please note, older men effortlessly get “hot” young women; older women have to deal with creeps and probably be grateful for the attention.

Like the ‘anti-girlfriend’ rants made popular by Kartik Aryan in Ranjan’s previous films, here the cringe-worthy scene involves Manju and Aisha verbally attacking each other under the guise of comparing old cars with new.

Aisha shows some self-respect much too late, and of course, things get messy; who should come to Ashish’s defence but the loyal wife. Why they separated and why he never came home even to meet his family, with whom she lives, is never explained. “Don’t blame him for everything,” Manju sternly says to everybody having hysterics about Ashish affair with Aisha, as if such a romance is unheard of. Only Ashish’s therapist buddy (Jaaved Jaaferi in a hilarious cameo) verbalizes what is going on—”It’s not age gap, it’s generation gap,” he quite rightly diagnoses.

De De Pyaar De tries to be bold and cool, turns out to be mildly funny and mostly exasperating; but, what the heck, who is looking for depth in what is clearly a date movie?  The three lead actors—Tabu in particular—are terrific.  It would take real guts for a filmmaker to take this story 20 years forward, when the woman is 46 and the man 70!  Try making the audience laugh then!

Kabaddi Capers

It says nothing for our country’s education system, if students in an elite college in Dehradun, have no other dreams than to win dance and kabaddi competitions. Which would lead to the fulfillment of what career goal, exactly?  And pardon the ignorance, but do snooty students in posh colleges even play kabaddi?  The dancing, is, of course, Bollywood style, with overdressed men and underdressed women. The females are mere cheerleaders for the muscular males who battle for the much-coveted Student Of The Year trophy. Nobody in this fancy Dharma Productions college even mentions studies!  

Student Of The Year 2, coming seven years after the first one, this one produced by Karan Johar, but directed by Punit Malhotra, is wall-to-wall cliché. It is meant just to display trendy outfits, display as much skin as possible—in a cold place, the girls are always skimpily dressed—the plot is purely incidental. The worst thing is that the trite script pitting mean rich guy against middle-class good guy is not even entertaining.

Rohan (Tiger Shroff) goes to the ordinary Pishorilal College, while his girlfriend Mridula (Tara Sutaria) gets admission to the swanky St Teresa; Rohan swings a sports scholarship and follows her there, only to find that she now calls herself Mia, and wants to belong to the cool set. The kids of the school trustee, overachieving brat Manav Randhawa (Aditya Seal) and his vampy sister Shreya (Ananya Panday) pretty much dominate the college—he is the kabaddi star and she the dancing queen. Only, Rohan is better at both, and gets on the bad side of the Radhawa siblings, so that he ends of losing his girlfriend and getting rusticated from St Teresa.  But, Shreya sashays over to his side, because, she has had enough of the nasty dad and brother, and well, there has to be a love triangle!  Also because the writing that borrows equally from Archie comics and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, lacks imagination or freshness.

It is obvious to any watcher of Hindi films, that the underdog will win, never mind how many fights, dances and excruciatingly boring kabaddi matches the audience is put through for the film to reach its inevitable conclusion.

Tiger Shroff with his chiseled body and coiled-spring demeanour is perhaps better suited for action roles (like in the Baaghi films); he still needs to work on his acting and speech. Ananya Panday has screen presence, but is styled so that she looks like every other girl on campus wearing the same kind of outfits and hairstyle.  If there is to be a SOTY 3, maybe somebody should be assigned to look around and understand what today’s teens are all about.

Dholakpur To China

The character of Chhota Bheem, the ladoo-eating hero of Dholakpur, has a fan following among kids, and it always interesting to see what the Indian animation industry can come up with, that is not linked to mythology.

Chhota Bheem Kung Fu Dhamaka, takes the hero and his entourage (Chutki, Raju, Kalia, Dholu, Bholu and Jaggu the monkey) to China, set in an indeterminate period of the past. They are all Kung Fu experts and there to participate in the competition organized by Emperor Jian, on his precious daughter Princess Kia’s birthday. 

Kia was blessed by the dragon that people of the kingdom worship, which makes her special, but also the target of her evil cousin Zuhu, who wants to acquire the dragon’s powers that are hidden in a firestone, and also grab Jian’s throne. 

The film begins with the tournament, where Bheem defeats fighters bigger than him. But when Zuhu appears suddenly to kidnap Kia, he is unable to save her. He promises his buddy Ming, who is also Kia’s friend, and the distraught Emperor, that he will rescue the princess.

 He and his gang embark on the adventure to find Kia, followed by some mercenaries, who are lured by the huge reward promised by the Emperor. On the way, he finds an unlikely teacher, and learns how to channelize his strength to fight the powerful enemy.

The film has beautiful animation, but it falters with the plot and pacing. For a film aimed at children, it is much too long and slow, the language is difficult and the songs dull.  The humour is off the mark most of the time, and it is sad to see two fat boys constantly mocked.

There are so many Hollywood animation films released in India, which have fabulous dubbing by top stars. Chhota Bheem Kung Fu Dhamaka is sorely lacking in the voice department; the characters speak in shrill, cartoon-y voices, that grate on the nerves after a while. Kids will probably not mind it so much, and enjoy the well-done action sequences. The film is undoubtedly an improvement on the general standard of locally-made animation films, but to reach international levels will perhaps take time and a lot more talent.