Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
Year: 2014
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Siddharth Shukla, Ashutosh Rana, Sahil Vaid, Gaurav Pandey

In their short careers so far, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan, both have given enough evidence of their star potential. In Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania they are returning to their mentor banner (Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions) and TV-star Sidhharth Shukla is making his debut. The title and the promos also seem interesting. So how is the real deal?

What’s the plot?

A feisty girl from Ambala (Alia Bhatt) comes to Delhi for her wedding shopping and bumps into a carefree happy-go-lucky guy (Varun Dhawan). Despite knowing that she is engaged to be married within next month, the boy falls for the girl and goes all out to fulfill her crazy wish-list. As their romance starts blooming, the couple realizes that their main challenge is to convince the girl’s hot-headed father, who is adamant on marrying her off to an NRI, a proverbial Mr. Perfect (Siddharth Shukla). How will the lovers succeed in their mission?

What’s hot?

·        Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt are adorable as the lead pair. These two young actors are amazingly confident and their perfect romantic chemistry is the highlight of the movie.

·        As the actors playing the hero’s bosom buddies, Sahil Vaid and Gaurav Pandey leave their mark.

·        Director Shashank Khaitan largely refrains from melodrama and keeps the rom-com interesting with light-hearted banter as the main theme.

·        The first half moves at a good pace and is enjoyable.

·        The Delhi-Punjab atmosphere is captured well.

·        The music is catchy.

What’s not?

·        The plot (which trumpets its Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge roots at every possible moment!) is full of holes and loose ends. Don’t expect any logic and realism in most of the on-screen happenings!

·        The second half is slow and the climax hastily wound up.

·        Sidhharth Shukla’s role is ill-defined and seems to be chopped midway.

Verdict

The reverential references to Bollywood classics, the feisty leading lady, the mandatory hero-heroine drinking spree, the must-have ‘gay’ comic angle….By now we are all too familiar with the K-Jo dharma formula. Don’t expect anything different this time, too. ‘Don’t fix what is not broken’-  that seems to be the mantra. There is nothing new here; in fact everything is borrowed and yet the film works because it entertains!

Rating

3 stars