Review of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani

This is Ayan Mukherjee’s second directorial flick after “Wake Up Sid” which portrayed a youth undauntedly living,rather cashing in, on his parents money.This time too he has  not come up with an uncommon story of showcasing youths’ dilemma in life.

Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani unfurls a story of four youths whose interest is not common in life.Bunny is a backbencher having a clear vision of what he wants out of his life-he wants to fathom the world and its beauties,be it edible or enjoyable, by exploring,soaring,falling and discovering.Abhi enjoys betting in cricket and ‘Spirit’.Having not yet decided goal in life,he dreams of running a bar.Aditi is a tom boy who loves to chill out with friends.Naina is a typical high grader confined to the limits set by her mother.She is depicted as a glassy-geek immersed in her medical books.The film starts with a verve-filled song of Ghaghra where Madhuri Dixit plays a cameo role.Soon after,Bunny,Abhi and Aditi plan a trekking trip to Manali and incidently Naina too joins them.Albeit, Naina is odd one out among this group of four as she was not on good terms with the rest of three during her school days, she tries to enjoy the shades of this trip which proves a self realizing trip to Naina since she discovers that she was missing the charm of life and eventually falls for Bunny.But on the other hand, Bunny  never gives a damn to this four letter word which gets one to have the same dal chawal for rest of the life and advocates the pros of flirting.Naina tries to convince Bunny with dialogues like 'Jo maza Mumbai me Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge  dekhne me hai wo maza Opera me nahi,jo feeling India me family ke sath rahne ka hai wo akele New York me rahne me nahi'.But neither could this prophecy nor the spark of Naina’s love turn into fire and Bunny leaves for the USA to chase his dream.Eight years pass by and Aditi decides to marry,despite loving Abhi, a boor-like engineer.Bunny is busy in shooting,as a cameraman, in different parts of the world and is going to get a big assignment of hosting for a channel in France.Meanwhile he gets an invitation to attend Aditi’s marriage at Udaipur where he reunites with Naina,the doctor;Abhi,the loser……Naina’s love gets re-ignited and this time Bunny could not save himself from its heat!

There are several jhols in the storyline:Naina’s mother is shown saying ”Agar ladkiyan jyada masti karti hai to pregnant ho jati hai” but Naina takes the same path sans hesitation,first half shows Naina wearing specs but there is no explanation of her not doing so in the second half,the two female characters are shown as the girls of the next generation but they don’t have courage to express their feelings to the two boys,what a contradiction…etc. 

Ranbir Kapoor has done justice to the parts where he had to shake legs,Deepika Padukone looks very attractive as usual,Kalki is also good.Songs are the few good things of this movie like its locations.Rekha Bhardwaj has done her part to save the Ghaghra and Vishal Dadlani is good in Balam Pichkari alike is Benny Dayal in Batmeez dil.This is David Dhawan-Govinda-type movie which can be vouched for its songs and where you should leave your mind at your home!

Review of Kai Po Che

Abhishek Kapoor has added one more film in the kitty of Male-Friendship-Triology started with Dil Chahta Hai and followed by Rock On and Zindgi Na Milegi Dubara.The film is a simple translation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel into reels.Like his novel,Kai Po Che is all about Cricket,Business and religion based Politics.Chetan Bhagat gets his due credit this time with a mention of Screenplay writer.

The film is set in a middle class milieu of Ahmedabad where three bosom pals cherish their distinctly different dreams.While Govind portrays a typical Gujju baniya,the petulant Ishaan plays a role of local cricketer and  Omi shows us his camaraderie.Omi is the fund raiser of the group and Govind is the manager who takes utmost care of the money by assuring where and when to invest it but he also shows some generosity by providing few tharra parties for his group.They start up a sports store cum cricket coaching centre in one room of a temple managed by Omi’s mama Bittu.Being good at numbers,Govind is entrusted a task of tutoring math to Ishaan’s chirping sister Vidya who later teaches Govind that One and One can also be three! With his business acumen Govind manages well the store and takes some loan from Bittu to purchase a shop in a mall to open a big store.But the Gujrat’s devastating earthquake of 2000 crushes his dream.He breaks down but Vidya helps him restart.In the later part of the film,Ishaan takes on the job of shining Ali,a local boy bestowed with cricketing brilliance and Omi gives in to the wishes of his mama to join his right wing Hindu party.The film reaches the climax with Ishaan coming to know about the relationship of Govind and Vidya and Omi’s bullet piercing Ishaan…..!

This film briefly shows how the balmy air of Navratra helps ripen the couples’ love in Gujrat.The difference between cricket and  religion in India is vividly illustrated in the film .While the former goes beyond sect to unite humans,the latter creates schism between them.Similarly,the film leaves a message for young entrepreneurs that business is all about passion,dedication and perseverance….you must know how to stand again and keep walking after every stumble.

Chetan Bhagat is a writer of Middle-Class-Young-India who knows the nerves of this generation and its complexity. With the help of Abhisek Kapoor’s directorial abilities, he has created three characters who have made the film a brilliant one without the presence of any Amir Khan!They would certainly bag more films in future without being stars.

This is a good movie……even better if you have not read the Three Mistakes Of My Life!