Hasna ae haseeno........ Review on Bachna Ae Haseeno

What could one expect from Siddharth Anand after a forgetful Salaam

Namaste(I refuse to believe that the jokes were genuine ones…they were

downright corny) and an even more forgetful Tara Rum Pum(emotional car

racing? hello?)?

The big question as it were is ‘Kya haseeno ko bachna chahiye?’ ya fir ‘Kya audience ko bachna chahiye?’… read on to find out…

Raj Sharma(Ranbir Kapoor), your usual cool, urban lad who is a game

developer with Microsoft. Three women is his life; Mahi(Minissha

Lamba), Radhika(Bipisha Basu) and Gayatri(Deepika) between 1996-2008.

Two of them whom he dumps and one who dumps him. The sudden realisation

mode….the guilt….the apologies….the climax. End of story. Or is it?

Ranbir plays the Yup(young urban professional), who

is a huge flirt, with elan. He’s cool, he’s stylish, he’s funny and

dances really well……did I miss ’sexy’? Must say Kapoor junior didn’t

get charm from his dad but does have sex appeal. Infact i’d say he’s in

Hritik and Shahid’s league, far as dancing is concerned. As far the

acting goes….ummm….needs a lot of improvement in the ‘emotional

scenes’. Can’t cry naturally and looks wooden. Minissha enacts her

‘innocent girl next door’ part with a lot of conviction….her handling

of the emotional scenes(both at the airport and at the wedding scene)

are marvellous. Would’ve liked more of her on screen. Bipisha plays the

sexy model role well. Suits her body language and being originally a

model she knows the temper tantrums that models have…….uses that to her

advantage. Deepika is strictly alright. She not got much to do or say.

Her scene at the intermission point is good but not because she

delivers it well……but because the screenplay is well written here.

Kunal Kapoor was effective in a small role. Hiten Paintal was a

revelation….he supports Ranbir with ease and holds his own.

Technicals and locations(in true Yashraj style) are worth multiple

claps. Pan shots, low angles, high angles, close ups, mid shots….all

have been liberally used to perfection. The usual Switzerland and

Bombay are there as always. The surprise package, Italy has possible

never looked so gorgeous on the Indian motion picture front till date.

If choosing Italy was Siddharth’s idea the kudos to him for the same.

Wonderful ‘mini tour’ of Italy if I may say so.

Wah kya baat hai!

1) Ranbir’s entry couldn’t have been better…….introduced right in

the titles with him dancing effortlessly to ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’…….slim

and sexy body and all with 3 hot girls and some cool SFX….way to go.

2) The first half of the movie is truly a good watch….its fast, its

funny and has some moments which leave you spellbound. All the

emotional scenes in the first half are brilliantly written, sadly not

executed that well except by Minissha. But Siddharth’s vision can be

felt rather than just seen. The airport sequence or the marriage day

sequence or even the proposal sequence are damn good climax material to

the individual tales.

3) Technicals and locales as mentioned earlier are wonderful. Mark

the single song picturised in the interiors of Italy with Ranbir and

Deepika…….wonderful eye therapy. Makes me want to pack my bags and go

there tomorrow!

4) Ranbir’s eyewear……the guy has 3 sunglasses and 4 spectacle frames

to show off in the film. And they’re so cool, that I wanted to get my

spectacle frames changed(even though I wear lenses) If there is something Ranbir showed more than his lean physique in the film, its super cool eyewear.

Kya bakwaas!

1) Ranbir has Minissha’s residence number after 12 years of meeting

her. And that too after him changing 2 homes(Bombay and Sydney). I

thought he never was serious about her….number kaise yaad raha 12 saal

baad?

2) How the hell does Ranbir find out Bipisha’s holiday home in Italy?

3) Deepika studies at a B-School, works at a grocery store and

drives a taxi in Sydney….when does she study, entertain herself or

simply breathe? Does Siddharth expect urban Indians(who are the target

audience for the film) to believe that doing an MBA is that easy?

4) Pathetic climax scene. So cheesy, so typical and so bollywood.

Kya yaar Sid….kamse kam ek decent climax scene direct karte….poor

climax in Salaam Namaste, poor climax in Tara Rum Pum and now

again….poor climax in Bachna Ae Haseeno.

5) Every problem mentioned above is in the second half of the film.

The first half was extremely likeable and the second is extremely

forgettable. Be it Ranbir trying to do his prayaschit or

Bipisha’s methodology to make him feel unimportant or even Deepika’s

sudden change of heart. Kuch bhi believable nahi hai. I know its a

film, lekin kuch toh ho jo real lage. The first half would have 85% of

the guys in the hall guilty in their minds because it looks real. The

second half is just as sore.

By and large Bachna Ae Haseeno had the potential to be a good film

but it sticks to being mediocre due to a poor second half, hopeless

characterisation for Deepika and multiple loopholes in the story. Can

be watched for Ranbir Kapoor’s eyewear, dance, acting(barring emotional

scenes) and a truly funny first half.