India Masala

Luv Ka The End: Bumpy ride

“Luv Ka The End” is Yashraj Film’s first foray into a genre they call “youth films”, or films they think are tailor-made for the under-25 audience. But as all teenagers will know, there’s a thin line between being cool and trying too hard. This film is trying too hard, and there’s no two ways about it.

Unfunny gags, over-smart dialogues and one-dimensional characters do not a cool film make. Nor do obvious product placements, for that matter.

Shraddha Kapoor plays Rhea Dialdas, a spunky teenager, in love with her boyfriend, who happens to be rich and the most popular boy in school. On the eve of her 18th birthday, while she is making plans to take their relationship to the “next level”, she discovers that the man of her dreams is actually part of a secret rich boys club which scores each member on how many girls they can sleep with. What’s more he puts up the evidence on the net for the whole world to see.

Seething with rage, Rhea, with the help of her two best friends, decides to get even with Luv Nanda. The trio then proceed to do a whole lot of blatantly illegal stuff, including pretty much stealing his car, smashing it with baseball bats and stealing his credit cards. Is this really what it takes to get over someone?

Then they drug him, dress him up in drag and also steal his date’s car. Throughout, the gags are uniformly unfunny and the acting doesn’t elevate them to any higher level. Shraddha Kapoor needs to polish up her acting skills – she can’t even pull off a genuinely surprised look convincingly. Tahaa Shah, who plays Luv is wooden and should join Kapoor in acting lessons.

Pushtie, who plays Rhea’s overweight, feisty best friend, is the only bright spot in the juvenile film. I wish director Bumpy and the film’s crew, most of which is made up of ex-MTV alumni, hadn’t tried so hard to be cool – it’s so uncool.

If you want to save yourself some heartache, stay away from this one. If you are a teenager though, you might want to give it a go. And as we know, there is no accounting for teenagers and their tastes – the Twilight franchise is ample proof of that. Who am I to judge?

Band Baaja Baarat: This match works!

Anyone who has lived in New Delhi or been to a wedding in the city will immediately identify with the characters and milieu in Maneesh Sharma’s “Band Baaja Baarat”.

The chaos, the confusion and excitement that forms a part of every wedding in India is all part of this film, and if you revel in that atmosphere, then the film will suck you in from the beginning.

First-time director Maneesh Sharma shows a sure hand and confidence in his craft, as his camera winds through the lanes of West Delhi and into the lives of Shruti and Bittu, two college students who set up a fledgling wedding planning business in the marriage capital of the country.

Shruti (Anuskha Sharma), the more practical of the two, makes it clear to Bittu (debutante Ranveer Singh) that she just wants a business partnership and isn’t interested in love.

Bittu, who at first tries to flirt with her, soon gives up and they both negotiate the rather high-pressure world of Delhi’s weddings, graduating from Janakpuri (a middle-class suburb) to Sainik Farms (one of Delhi’s most sought-after wedding venues).

All this is taken care of in the first half, but in the second half, good old love pops up in the story.

Shruti, for all her practicality, falls hard for Bittu, and when he doesn’t seem interested in her, decides she can’t work with him any more, breaking up their “biness” as Bittu calls it.

New York: A film that will grow on you

Coming as it does nearly three months after a big-ticket Bollywood release — Kabir Khan’s “New York” is a relief.

The story of three friends whose lives change in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York, the film manages to hold your attention for the most part, mainly because of some astute direction and its performances.

Sam (John Abraham), Maya (Katrina Kaif) and Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) are three friends who lead a carefree life on the grounds of New York State University. 

Omar harbours a secret crush for Maya and is devastated to learn she loves Sam. He moves away from their lives, only to re-enter it seven years later, in totally different circumstances.

Why he does so and the circumstances emerging from that incident form the gist of the story. The film is a story of three people and their relationship over the years but it is also a comment on the aftermath of terrorism and the practices we use to curb this dreaded menace.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi: Average, disappointing fare

He’s a face in the crowd — an ordinary government clerk. She’s a young, bubbly girl. They get married because of a twist of fate. The girl says she can never love him. But, he’s madly in love with her and sets out on a mission to woo her. That, in a nutshell, is the story of Aditya Chopra’s “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”.

The problem is he takes all of three hours to tell you this, when the end is blatantly obvious in the first ten minutes. Along the way, the audience is subjected to meaningless songs, fight sequences with sumo wrestlers, lots of corny dialogue and references to past Yash Raj films.