| Bachna Ae
Haseeno Movie
Review |
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Music :
Vishal
Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani |
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Lyrics :
Anvita Dutt Guptan |
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Direction :
Siddharth Raj Anand |
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Producer :
Aditya
Chopra |
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Leading Cast :
Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Deepika
Padukone, |
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Minissha Lamba |
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Now, here’s at last a Yashraj film you cannot say
Bachna to.
Friends, it’s Independence for Yashraj Films from
its jinxed series of sub-standard films that has by
now dented the reputation of the elite production
house known for telling its stories against the
backdrop of nothing less than Swiss Alps or Sydney
Harbour or even sarson ke khet in saada Punjab. |
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Not that Bachna Ae Haseeno doesn’t have all this.
But before all this it has a sound, well-written
script and superb performances by its cast. If only
the film wasn’t that long. If only a song or two
were chopped off from this 16-reeler. If only the
second half was less predictable. If only the final
reunion of the protagonist with his ladylove wasn’t
that unromantic. Aaaah! All these damn ifs. They
always come between the movie and the great
entertaining experience it could have |
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been.
‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ comes pretty close to being an engaging
rom-com with a generous smattering of YRF’s in-house Dilwale
Dulhaniya Le Jayenge in the first romantic episode of its
protagonist Raj, the (lady)-‘killer’ (as dubbed by his
friends).
The Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) here is not Malhotra but Sharma and
the girl is Mahi ( Minissha Lamba ), not Simran. The two
meet on a train ride in Switzerland. Later she misses the
train (obviously, yaar) and he accompanies her to Zurich on
a…scootie (not a red convertible). Love blooms. And as it
often happens in life, the guy screws it up. The girl flies
back to Amritsar (where else) and he moves on with his life.
Year 2000. Raj works late nights in Mumbai and sleeps the
mornings away on his stretchable sofa. That is until a
barely clad bombshell Radhika (Bipasha Basu) moves next to
his apartment and practices her dances to blaring music,
robbing Raj of his sleep more because of her hot bod than
the loud music. Raj’s charm works on her. She falls in love
and soon marriage is on the cards. But Raj, being Raj,
screws up again and flees to Sydney.
Time passes and Raj falls for Gayatri ( Deepika Padukone ) a
cabbie in Sydney who’s clear about what she wants from life.
And what she certainly doesn’t want is marriage. The trouble
is – this time Raj falls in love and proposes her, only to
get the taste of his own medicine. |
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Thereafter, our jilted but reformed hero goes on a
repentance trip to mend his past mistakes
by…well…much more than just apologies.
‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ works very well in the first
half when the three romantic episodes unfold. My
favourite was the one featuring Ranbir and Minissha.
It’s a clever rehash of the situations from DDLJ
incorporated into a different plot. Here too the guy
eventually goes to |
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Amritsar and makes himself a welcomed guest at a
Punjabi wedding. But his intention is different. It’s not to
win love, but to help Mahi rediscover love. This episode is
my favourite also because of Minissha, whose performance is
the best among the ladies in the film.
Bipasha Basu looks hot but her chemistry with Ranbir is
thanda thanda…cool cool. Deepika Padukone is surprisingly
confident and at ease in her performance. Kunal Kapoor is
delightful in a guest appearance.
And lastly – coming to the ‘killer’ – Ranbir lives up to the
Kapoor blood flowing in his veins. The guy has good looks
and screen presence to carry the whole movie on his
shoulders. Here’s truly a bundle of natural talent waiting
to be explored.
Coming to director Siddharth Anand , it must be said that he
shows a remarkable improvement since his last outing in the
flop Tara Rum Pum . For starters, he rids ‘Bachna’ of any
mawkish sentimentality that often peeves even the most
flippant viewer no end. Secondly, he laces ‘Bachna’ with a
liberal sprinkling of good humour – like the tearing down of
the wall between Ranbir and Bipasha’s apartment to signify
that they are entering a live-in relationship. The director
does lose his grip on the film in the second half when the
sub-plots (particularly the one with Bipasha) become taxing
for a viewer.
All said, ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ is an eminently watchable film
with its own share of glitches. The movie’s isn’t
exceptional. But it’s definitely, definitely worth a watch. |
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Rating: 2.5/5 |
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