A refreshing take on DDLJ and Alia-Varun’s individual rendering to their characters. Though the chemistry attempts to be palpable, the desired spark was clearly missing between them!
The film’s screenplay is too coherent. Though the time transition from DDLJ till now was infused brilliantly, the film post interval remained loopy and weak with a convoluted ending.
Rehashing DDLJ is venturing into the cult holy space and when the same doesn’t fructify even into half-good cinema, it’s a heart break. Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania puts on no airs about giving novelty a miss but that isn’t the prime concern here. It’s a familiar film that makes you queasy because of a bad second half. Blame my expectations but the film’s second half was a tirade that even gave me a headache. It wasn’t DDLJ butchered! I quite enjoyed the viridity of the first half but the second half went so miserably wrong. Even if the end didn’t make any sense with ‘Jaa Jee Le Apni Zindagi’ coming back to haunt you, I am glad it was over and I could go home and take an aspirin.
Varun Dhawan is impeccable as Humpty. He delivers his dialogues effortlessly and somehow there couldn’t have been a better cast for the role. If the same character was played by another actor, probably he wouldn’t be half as endearing or adorable. The script ditches him but the actor scores!
Alia Bhatt is charming in the fiesty role of Kavya. Somehow with each film, Alia is getting a better command over her acting skills. In another five years time, this young lady will be a reigning Bollywood superstar! From her first film till now, she has become more zesty with her roles, her acting has matured a lot with experience and in a mediocre script Lady Bhatt shines.
If there is anyone in the film who had DDLJ’s intensity, it was Ashutosh Rana. In a caricaturish role, he brings vigor.
It is the supporting actors Gaurav Pandey and Sahil Vaid who are brilliant in their roles as Shonty and Poplu and you can’t help but love them and their wicked one liners.
Siddharth Shukla lamentably has very little to do in the film besides flaunting perfect abs. Donning the role of super-dulha Angad, he is great at what he does but his role was needlessly left undefined.
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania is low on froth, zero soul and an absolute bore of a film! My review might seem like a polemic but the reason for it is: don’t tamper with classics and take pride in butchering them. This lehengeywala love simply didn’t work for me. Only Alia and Varun save this film with their energetic rendering and the dialogue writers get a pat on from me for trying their best to keep it zesty but this film doesn’t rise above a 2.5/5 for me. I expected too much and too little was meted out to me – #storyofeveryfilmcritic’slife!
