I know there is a big class of
Junta in my friends who will give me a verbal hiding if I say Chetan Bhagat
writing’s are quite mediocre. But you cannot deny that his books go on to make
interesting scripts and well-crafted movies. In case of the autobiographical 2 states it may be a case of a not less
meaty storyline nestling in the hallowed shelves of Dharma productions. So
production values elevate and provide visual pleasure of rich colors in art and
costumes.
Decades back EK Duje Ke Liye
tackled the tryst of cross-over matrimony between a South Indian boy and a North
Indian girl. This time around the plot is flipped as the hero is a full blooded
Punjabi in love with a Tamilian (Mind you not Madrasan as the script
aggressively implores time and again and rightfully so). All is well between
the modern couple who meet up like any other ordinary youngsters, get
attracted, cohabit without the least bit of shocked drama about it. But
unusually they do find the fizzle missing without getting their parents
blessings and decide to unite the families instead of eloping, giving the
script a long rope to create comical and serious situations around the North
Indian mother in an unhappy marriage struggling to harmoniously adjust with the
stiff about their culture and pedigree Tamilian family of the
girl.
While it looks to be moving forward
as hoped by the modern yet obedient children, their happiness derails and there
is the struggle to convince both sides of the fact that there can be happiness
in diversity.
The film begins quite lazily and
for the first twenty minutes the characters seem to be struggling to get set
into the plot. The direction is also lack luster in places with shocking
editing. In one scene the characters start talking on cue as the film rolls.
This seemed distracting. But then Arjun Kapoor as the good natured sweet and
coy Punjabi boy and Alia Bhatt as the South Indian girl studying at IIM-A get
into the groove and grip the movie and their characters tightly. Their efforts
at staying at each other’s homes to win over the family members is nice and
real. But do they eventually succeed?
The music is intrusive to the plot
in places. There are some memorable scenes between the father , mother and son
and they will get those tear glands working.
The script is weak at places but
never leads to any overacting from the main protagonists. Amrita Singh as the
boy’s Punjabi mother who is leading a battered life and lives only for her son
but just cannot seem to escape the bias
that exists naturally but you willingly forgive her as her love is unbounded
for her son. Amrita Singh is superbly natural in this role and elevates the
role beyond the expectations of the character written. Ronit Roy as her sulking
depressed husband makes a menacing quiet presence and shows why he is so famous
on the small screen. Revathi and Shiv Kumar Subramanian play their roles with comical
maturity.The only sad part is an underused Achint Kaur who is a superb actress waiting to be found and used properly.
It is however Arjun Kapoor with his
extremely well characterized and low key Krish Malhotra and Alia Bhatt who you
cannot take your eyes off and who raise the movie leagues above the strength of
its script. Alia was outstanding in Highway and completely deglamorized. In
this you cannot but help admire her twinkling smile ,mischievous eyes and a bold
act. She is etching her name fast on the landscape of great actresses of the
future.
The rest of the plots are forced including
the setting of IIM, a single shot of the class, a few walks in the corridor and
people in the movie are underused like the faceless classmates and many small
characters who are not fleshed out fully.
Yet the movie does leave you
satisfied and raises a few chuckles at the North/ South - Non veg / veg divide
that still exists today. The director does not shirk from casually walking the
path of the sexual liberation era today and does not make a song and dance
about it .
There was great scope to induce more
comedy into the situations and make it more light and fluffy than morose but it
is nice to see producers promoting scripted movies than unbridled tomfoolery
which release these days. Are love marriages between North and South still as
tough as depicted? I think it will remain as long as regional and caste value
system remains guarded as a means of preserving cultural identity and children
seek to respect and get an approval of that system despite an open approach to
marriages. It is the era of arranged love marriages.
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