Charitably bandied together in a sponsored cruise on the hopes of rescuing failing businesses, the various families with their expertly etched out roles crisscross each other’s lives. The audience and the friendly dog get a ringside seat to watch the ceramic outer of the pseudo rich crumble to reveal as ordinary as can be humans that dwell within with their fair share of one upmanship, envy, love, hatred and apathy for relationships gone sour over time.
With Zoya we discover or rather rediscover life family and relationships on journeys to exotic lands. If it was Goa or Spain previously on road trips, this time the terrain shifts from land to water. And startling blue it is. Richness needs to be defined in as sumptuous colors as money can buy and a cruise ship provides that. A smart Zoya also smartly keeps the hoi polloi out by moving turning a cruise ship in the sea into her studio though surprisingly overawed by the territorial privacy and efficiency in shooting that it provided her she does not exploit its facilities too much tending to instead do some PR for Turkey
A gorgeous family of a apparently successful businessman on the brink of bankruptcy, a disinterested son who makes sad business presentations without his heart in it, a married but business savvy daughter and disowned with typical arrogance that rich old school Indians reserve for their female offsprings and a wife quietly resigned to her husband’s secret affairs and lack of sincerity in their marriage. He sponsors a cruise across exotic lands to friendly and unfriendly business partners in the keen hope to buy deals to seal his financial security.
With an assemblage of family, friends and adversaries who could be potential family businessman Mehra ( Anil Kapoor) and his sulking no nonsense wife (Shefali Shah) set off with fun loving son Kabir(Ranveer), a miffed married daughter Ayesha ( Priyanka ) who has been ignored on the invite to the cruise ,her control freak hubby Manav (Rahul Bose), potential future bail out hope (Parmeet Sethi ) and the sutradhaar dog Pluto ( voice- Aamir Khan) meeting on board with dancer Farah(ANushka) and Farhan as Sunny Gill – good friend of Ayesha
With a large cast, well etched characters, numerous endless conflicts, dramatic face offs the possibilities of an entertaining ride is endless and Zoya does not disappoint at all. It requires astute presence of mind, freaking control of the script, tough captaincy and an ability to not get overwhelmed by all the characters in the story crying for attention and a proper happy closure. Zoya makes it look effortless.
It is unfair to start dwelling and describing the story any further without impairing the fun element for fresh viewers because it is all about the surprise element in the sophisticated witty dialogues. There is a constant tongue in cheek refrain through the script. The sarcastic takes on the rich Delhites are never offensive or hurtful but chuckle inducing.
It is a dysfunctional family with each of the characters at crossroads with each other’s expectation. No one is perfect but every character somewhere succumbs to the exhibition of the emotional power that another loved one has on him or her. Can they break out of their own threshold of personal security to discover lost love, make new friends or reconnect in failed marriages. Does love finally conquer the all-powerful language of money. Zoya explores this intelligently and with a lot of entertainment bringing all of this together in a controlled explosion of classy colors, an ensemble of characters each of who acts from the lead to the person who has just one line, scorching beautiful photography.
Most discerning quality of the movie is the way it treats its characters who dot the heavily populated storyline. Not a single actor overacts or hams. Mark out Vikrant Massey as the handsome dude who falls for new comer Riddhima Sud in the scene where they are cornered, Lalit and Vinod as the business men who are always at crossroads and come together to work on a life boat, whistles for Farhan Akhtar making a limited presence as Priyanka’s ex love interest, a slightly out of sorts but impressive Anushka as the dancer, Zarina Wahab as Priyanka’s mother in law and Rahul Bose playing the annoying husband to the hilt. Watch out his reactions during a tennis match.
Even a gaggle of Delhi housewives comprising among them Divya Seth ( an actress of good caliber missing for a long time), Preeti Mamgain ( who impressed us since the Banegi apni baat days) ,Debanshi Shah are absolutely impressive and not forgettable. Even Manoj Pahwa seen so often in movies actually finds his mettle here.
It is difficult not to mention each and every character that dots the landscape and does tremendous justice to their role. I would say a first time in history
Which brings us to the awesome foursome in this story mainly the lead characters who give it all they have. Anil Kapoor and Shefali know their craft but are so wonderfully subdued only erupting briefly when required. Shefali constantly reminds you of Jaya Bhaduri with her brilliant range. Never thought however that we will talk of Priyanka and Ranveer as great actors. But they indeed are just that, stupendous. Priyanka hammed a lot in Barfi but it is a huge relief and a delight to watch a subdued Priyanka speak more with her eyes and soft facial expressions. Ranveer is the real find. He has found himself with his perfected sense of comic timing and there are many times that you laugh because of the silence. Each of the 200 plus characters dotting the landscape of the movie are brilliant and Zoya deserves kudos for that.
Shankar Ehsaan Loy craft some songs with lot of joie de vivre. The nonstop one take shot of Gallan Goodiyan is delightful. Watch out as far as you can into the screen and you can see the most nondescript side actors doing their bit sincerely.
So why does half the crowd come out compare it to TWMR. Because there is no slapstick comedy here and the script unfolds at a leisurely pace. The well-spaced out emotions is what actually helps you to believe that the Mehras are who they are , a dysfunctional but loving family with equally good friends. Beneath the surface dwell good people is the message. They just need to find themselves.
DEspite the crackling one liners through the script the pace slackens at times making you feel the director stepped out to think where to take the movie next. The humour at places is a bit forced or just too sophisticated to make impact. But it does not hurt. You keep smiling through the 31/2 starrer. DDD. Well Done Zoya !
(Alert - I have a strange feeling, people who liked TWMR will hate this movie :-) )
