Feb 26, 2014 08:08 PM
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When I heard about this story, my immediate reaction was: how mismatched is the lead pair of the rugged and rough-looking Randeep Hooda and the extremely chui-mui si Alia Bhatt. However, the plot required the actor to be a ruffian, and the heroine to be sauve, so, in fact, the casting of the lead pair was quite appropriate!
From the start to the end, the movie was very well-scripted, and the scenes were cinematographed very beautifully. Imtiaz Ali's direction was non-pareil, and he brought out the best from all the actors, whether they were the lead pair, or one of the side-actors in the movie. Randeep Hooda as the bad villian-hero was very convincing, but the way he transformed from being a rough-and-tough villian into an emotional wreck under the spell of Alia was done very well indeed. What I did not understand, however, was how Alia, a product of a sauve, high-fi family with Western culture and education falls for such a ruffian character. Perhaps the nuances of a blooming love between such mis-matched people was beyond my ken, but it seemed to me that what softened her was not the villian's character, but her love for the outdoors and her escape from the stifling home that she had been brought out of. The man to whom she was to be married was not etched properly at all, and one came away from the theater feeling very sympathetic for him, as he was portrayed as a nice-looking, humble and loving person, albeit with a little cowardice. On the other hand, Randeep's character had no redeeming qualities. I was surprised when Alia fell in love with him, for his character showed neither decency, nor chivalry nor generosity!
The music score by A. R. Rehman was nice, but nothing extra-ordinary, and we have come to expect an extra-ordinary level of performance by him. The songs were just about hummable. The costumes and the milieu of the story were super. The folk song sung by three performers outside a dhaba in Punjab was unusual and beautiful.
All in all, I liked the movie, but mainly because of excellent direction and the acting by the two main actors. I cannot but feel bad for the story as it seemed a little implausible.
