19 Sep 09

9

Review - Dil Bole Hadippa: actually it yells, get outta here!

The poster says it loud and clear, Rani Mukherjee is going to dress as a man to play cricket.

Cricket is after all a gentleman's game. Watching this film made me think a lot about the phrase "had its heart in the right place." And then I wonder if crores of Rupees and the writing muscle that Yash Raj is capable of mustering cannot have the art in the right place, what good is the heart doing? And by the way, such hypocricy! Rani Mukherjee definitely has a bigger role than Shahid Kapoor, but Shahid gets first billing.

The audience has outgrown Punjab, its lush green, mustard fields, the "chak de phatte"s, and the "Ik Omkar"s. It's sad that the maker's heart is still trying to juice the last drop out of them. Don't they want a change of scenery? It's been what? At least over 10 years already. Oh, and if that weren't enough, there's a bhangra beat in the background music - CONSTANTLY! Except in the songs, where it doesn't stay in the background.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the jingoistic flavor added to most characters - who are half-dimensional in the first place. "England" - bad, "Indian" - super good. No texture, no flavor to that line of thought at all.

Actually, you can't blame them for not experimenting though. It takes a fair amount of creativity to conjure a couple with Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukerjee in it. While there was dismay guided towards this aspect of the film in dining room conversations, I was very curious to see how it worked out. And the verdict here is Shahid Kapoor looks awesome, has a cakewalk of a role for himself here where he has to alternate between romance and serious, almost play Shah Rukh of Chak De! India. Rani Mukherjee looks good too with that brilliant smile of hers, does well with her role without shrieking too much considering she's a Punjaban and all that. Oh and for those of you who were disgusted with the thought of her in a bikini, worry not, there isn't much to that negative-marketing gimmick. Together - they create zilch. You don't feel for them as a couple, you don't care if they are going to get together or not.

A huge portion of the lack of "chemistry" is of course, the story and screenplays fault. There's no flow, no scenes with impact, no nothing. It like, "a woman who aspires to be on the Indian cricket team. Hmmm…nice interesting. Let's make it into a film." How she gets there is of no consequence. You need comedy, you need romance like you need salt and pepper. Add, mix and have the audience eat it. No matter if they are gag on it.

This one from the house of Yash Raj Fairy Tales is just unacceptable. In the name of women empowerment, women are still mere props. Sure, having Rakhi Sawant and Sherlyn Chopra in the script as objects of lust, might've been a comment on the irony of women's status in Indian society, but it's in bad taste. And thus the film is not better than others which use the same premise. Oh boys, no need to rush to the theaters for this display of skin, the amount of cry-shy and drama-shama, I can guarantee won't be worth it.

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