HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI
What happens when you have a great recipe of 'Shahi Paneer' by a Master Chef of in your hand but as you start making it you are tempted to add just a little more of salt to get the better out of it and by mistake you end up adding much more than required without realizing you even serve it to your guests and once in their plates, nothing can be done. The result is that the taste of paneer, cream or any masala will not be able to save the dish, if salt goes wrong and after its served!

The only reason i am comparing this to a recipe is because it was like that for Mohit Suri. I am sure the story that came from the Masterchef ; Mahesh Bhatt was different from what we see in the movie. Mahesh Bhatt is the man who made 'Zakhm' . It showed the love,strength, sacrifices of a woman left by her husband(leading a second life), Everyone loved it! And the protagonist of Suri is a woman who is in love with a rich man but her' Mangal Sutra' stops her from going to him, even when her husband is a psychotic bastard, who left her and has been away for 5 years ! Here is a billionaire who is head over heels in love, wants to marry her, give her and her son a name and a life that they can only dream of but not even thinking about her son she stays stuck to the same old guy and her 'mangal sutra' !

The Dialogues are cliché and pathetic, so much so that in a few emotional scenes you just don't connect, all because of dialogues. The scene where the billionaire enters his presidential suite and finds the florist decorating his room and that conversation, could have been made a little less dramatic. So much of philosophy was not required in each and every scene.

Having said all of that i would like to add that all the actors have tried their level best to drag the movie on their shoulders.

Emraan Hashmi is a treat to watch, he suits the character of a rags to riches boy who has had a disturbed childhood. Vidya Balan was the perfect choice and her tears look convincing too but the dialogues.....Rajkumar Rao did not get much of screen presence but whatever little he did, he tried his best to fit the shoes of a obsessed husband, and he did look one. It felt good to see Namit Das back in a movie with Emraan after 'Ghanchakkar' , for a little role but the actor that he is did justice to whatever scenes he got.

Music is brilliant! When the songs play it acts like a soothing balm. Songs stay in the minds even after the movie finishes. Not one but the entire album has that quality.

Great acting, brilliant music but bad screenplay or rough editing, one of them became a hindrance in the way of what this movie could have been.

It does try to touch the areas or raise questions about women equality, the institution of marriage, Love outside marriage etc, but just brushing on such issues.
In a time when we have had movies about solid female characters like NH-10, MARY KOM, QUEEN...to see a woman crying in every scene was not pleasant for me.

All in all if you are a fan of the actors do watch but without expectations.

* Strictly my opinion!

Dil Dhadkney Do.......

“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side”…. Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti try to make this point in their own style or rather Zoya’s way but in ‘Doggystyle’.
A story that looks into the life of the PAGE 3 socialites of the Metros and reveals the basic fact that money is not the reason for happiness. Inside they are like most of the families or may be even in a worse state. One squabbling couple, whose son wants to be a pilot and not run family business, daughter is not married to a guy whom she was in love but to a rich prospect and now she needs a divorce, a self made young and ambitious girl who walks in like a breath of fresh air for the boy, business rival uncles and their good for nothing gossip loving, match making wives… the story revolves around them and a few more and opens its layers to reveal the ‘Dil’ of the movie. 

The Mehras as a family are energetic, loving, caring, loud and funloving but only from the outside… 

• All the energy to pay bills comes from taking pills ( Anil Kapoor )
• All the love is about choking yourself eating pastries to avoid howling/crying/shouting so that no one else knows (Shefali Shah)
• All the care is about how soon a girl will become a mother post wedding (Priyanka Chopra) 

• The only time the son of the family can be loud against family is when he loses his head and blasts out his father’s history of infidelity and mother’s silence ( Ranveer Singh)
• And the Dancer on board has all the fun as her character itself is independent, vivacious and fun loving ( Anushka Sharma)
• All of this is narrated by their pet Bull Mastiff (Voiceover: Aamir Khan) and hence you will be narrated the story in…..”DOGGY STYLE”

The movie before interval is only about setting up of characters, funny one liners, average songs,after a while it gets boring and just as you think DDD is a loss, the film picks up.

Post interval the story and character both start reacting in a fast and impressive way. Scenes between Shefali Shah and Anil Kapoor show the rift in relations and are too good to watch. Both the actors are seasoned and have performed exceptionally well as the high class husband and wife. All the families on that cruise are like those families which INDRAVADAN SARABHAI used to talk about in Sarabhai vs Sarabhai Show
The bitchy, gossip monger aunties who sit all day doing nothing but match making, you will find some fine actors there as well.

Rahul Bose plays the husband of Priyanka and also Mama’s boy to the neurotic Zarina Wahab. Rahul Bose though wasn’t the right fit yet he played his role pretty well of an obnoxious and narcissist husband. The scene where he plays tennis with Priyanka is fun to watch and the one where Anil Kapoor finally ‘TALKS’ to him is worth watching. Zarina Wahab has always been great as an actor and in this one she was brilliant as a high society mother-in- law who is always complaining about her health issues, something or the other. The scene where she starts the melodrama and Ranveer singh’s reaction and reply to her will leave you in splits.

Farhan akhtar as the ex flame of Priyanka , friend of Ranveer and the reason for the ‘Doggy’ was as usual stylish and though there was not much to do for him he sure left his mark in whatever little he did. Story of Anushka Sharma is almost the same. She looks beautiful and suits the role of a dancer on cruise. But what didn’t fit was her accent. A London girl with such Hindi and our

Priyanka’s American accent were a few things that could have been checked. Otherwise they did her role well. Priyanka and Ranveer as siblings shared great bonding on screen.

Acting wise I simply loved the trio; Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and RANVEER SINGH….
He is crazy, energetic, charming, confused and vulnerable all exactly what was needed for KABIR, Just apt for his role. And a few scenes and the way he reacts in them is something one can relate to. The one near the end is a masterpiece and shows reality in the life and time of most kids, the day when children gather courage to sit in front of their parents to confess and confront them is done really well. 

'Amritsari chudiyaan' and 'Pehli Baar' are two songs that one will enjoy for their madness.

This Zoya Akhtar film for me loses in the end…the climax could have been better is what I feel,also the Doggystyle preachy narration and the importance of explaining every thing could have been avoided, it wasn’t a sitcom! Not all characters reach to the destination of their journey, the strands were left untied, a very filmy climax.
But a sure one time watch for the Punjabi TRIO...