REVIEW: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

SAME OLD, SAME OLD

My Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani narrative is as much about the cinema hall in which I watched it as the big-ticket extravaganza of the season, both not dissimilar in their sloppiness and lack of respect for the paying audience. This single-screen was once part of an old-style cluster of three halls in central Mumbai where I have fond memories of viewing several popular films of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Predictably it went into redevelopment over a decade ago and was reduced to a small 500-seater, now a shabby space with horribly stained and frayed red carpets, broken seats and a sound system that keeps scratching intermittently like a sore throat. I spot all sorts of garbage on the floor including a big roach, mercifully dead. As for the toilets, it’s best not to go there…

Deepika Padukone with Ranbir Kapoor in the film.

We wait outside in the murderous afternoon heat for close to half an hour before the haloed gates open and people languorously walk through a metal detector and brusque checks by a security woman clearly having a bad day. Inside, a few patrons are quarrelling with the poor old usher about torn and wobbly seats, some even missing cushions. The show is houseful and there’s no place to accommodate them, so they must either make do with what's available, or leave. The frustrated usher reveals that the management is fully aware of the problem but continues to sell those tickets. Fortunately, most films don’t run to full houses so it’s possible to shuffle people around.

And at least the air-conditioning works.

Ayan Mukherji’s film, on the other hand, doesn’t, and but for Ranbir Kapoor’s energetic presence, would have fallen completely flat on its face. You want to reach for the exit sign the minute it opens with a wedding invitation and the bespectacled heroine Naina’s (Deepika Padukone) voiceover reminiscing about days gone by. She’s a replica of her boring namesake from Kal Ho Na Ho. The hero, curiously called Bunny, is a compile of Saif Ali Khan in every one of his romantic films from Hum Tum to Cocktail—self-absorbed, vagabond, smooth-talking ladies man, except that Ranbir makes him slightly more endearing.

Their two sidekicks played by Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapur (same job profile as Aashiqui 2, namely, loser-alcoholic) are recruited chiefly to break the tedium of watching the ‘cool’ couple fall in love, move apart and come together again at the big fat wedding. Which, as it turns out, consumes the entire second half, complete with haldi, mehendi, sangeet, cocktail party and pheras. I was tempted to break a few seats myself, when Kunaal Roy Kapur (yes, he’s in it too) and unknown bimbette (and butt of a few corny laughs in the first half) start cavorting to “Ooh la la”.

This is the kind of film in which the hero helps the heroine board a moving train as they take off for a holiday in the hills––the shot is framed from a distance, as if the makers too know it’s a mere nod to tradition––and she spouts profundities like, “Yaadein mithaai ke dabbe ki tarah hoti hain…” But Forrest Gump’s mummy is long dead, so Bunny must wander the planet for several years before the Indian wedding brings him back to his senses––universal antidote to all bohemian tendencies. It’s only when Farooque Shaikh is on screen for a few minutes that the proceedings get a shot of real emotion, quite like Naseeruddin Shah’s turn in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

At 161 minutes, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is long even by Bollywood’s self-indulgent standards. Mukherji displayed a reasonable sense of character development in his debut film Wake Up Sid, an engaging coming-of-age narrative. Like most others, he’s stung by the curse of the second film. The clamour of a mega opening etc may see it through, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for his budding career, given that its success will only precipitate his slide into mediocrity.✑

Comments

[Harry]

It's not for nothing that I follow film impressions...only apt review in the whole of so called critic world...
Certain questions hound
How can the producer invest money in such senseless movie,,
How can a director who looked so promising in his maiden venture fail so abysmally,,,
How on earth this movie gets a big opening and thumbs up from critics..

Spoiler alert...
Standard of movie..takes u as a no brainer and for a ride...in pitch black darkness the leading pair can read a book..but why on earth will one carry a big bulky book on a secret late night trekking in the first place..phew..
While in first half hero says to our naina that she is not the girl to flirt with rather is the one to love ,,in the second half director forgets this initial rendezvous and the same naina becomes n object of flirtious behavior in eyes of our hero with no inhibitions..blah blah...