J for - Jawani Deewani

One advantage of suttufying scenes from already superhit movies is that, if done in the right mixture, they rarely fail. For those scenes would've been the very reason the other movies would've become hits.

This weekend, went for Yeh Jawani hai Deewani movie. Deepika, Ranbir, Kalki, Aditya roy kapur, Faroq sheikh and it was a glittering star cast to say the least. The movie had positive reviews from almost all the papers and critics and being Karan johar's production it was hardly surprising. Even the crappiest of movies from Dharma productions gets rave reviews always. What pulled me to the movie was undoubtedly Deeps. She looks so refreshing on each movie and is always a treat to watch. In this movie, she has tried to pull a "Priety" ala Kal ho na ho carrying the same name "Neyna" and even the "chasmish" tag name. Like the zingy Zinta from the movie, she too doesn't smile till almost halfway into the first half. With apparently no reason, other than falling in love with Ranbir, a timid, reserved Deeps, turns into an extrovert in the space of 2 songs and one senti scene. For that matter oru characterkum depthay kedayathu padathula. They are shallow at best. Deepa doesn't do justice to the serious half of her role and is almost always carrying an amused look wondering how to look serious. With those killer dimples its impossible to be so :) She is a hoot in Balam Pichkari song and the chase sequence. And as always, she dances like a dream and once she is back to her torn jean shorts and loose tees and shirts, its back to normal sleepwalking role of a modern girl gone wild and rocks big time. But no clue for her change of heart in second half when she accepts Ranbir's love proposal with hardly any question. And the only condition that she lays down, drags the movie for another half hour which I felt was totally unnecessary. Just to tie the loose end involving Ranbir - step mom equation, the movie loses big time on a decent ending. The romantic proposal in the end hardly has any romance and is more staright forward. Still it works big time due to the sizzling chemistry between the lead pair. Had it been for any other lead pair, wonder if the movie would've worked out this big, already having grossed a billion rupees within week one.

Kalki Koechlin looks as ragged as a rag picker in first half and blossoms into typical karan johar heroine on sec half and looks a million bucks. She is madly in love with Aditya roy kapur in the initial few scenes and seeing his Casanova nature dumps him. Adi kapur does a Faran Akthar and almost looks like him from some angles. Whether he is a gambler lost on his luck or some really bad alcoholic loser...kadaisi varaikum puriala. Faroq sheikh does a neat role as a doting father. Music is awesome. The intro song featuring Madhuri and Ranbir is rocking and Balam pichkari grows on you and the video is a sure plus. But the chartbuster which takes the top honors is Battameez dil. Choreographer deserves a special mention. Dance movements are awesome and amazingly fast. Now to the hero..Ranbir kapoor.

True to his lineage, he is the next big thing from the Kapoor clan. He oozes charm like his dad and his dance moves have a crazy energy like shammi kapoor. In senti scenes as well as comic, he imitates raj kapoor a lot and pulls it off too. To top it all he dances like a dream and carries himself with ease amidst all girls. No wonder all the girls were drooling to their dupattas. Of the current crop, he has definitely established himself as the next superstar and with each movie his stardom is surely growing leaps and bounds. His chemistry with Deeps is pretty neat and their comfort translates easily on screen. His clever choice of movies also helps big time.

There are some witty one liners in the movie. But the person who stole the show was not present on the movie but rather was on the audience. There was a kid who set the floor rolling with laughter with its innocent queries. The timing was such that, even sentiment scenes turned into howlers.

Gils verdict - Though the movie was a mix of so many favourite movies of mine, two dialogues stood out for the movie. In the second half of the movie, Kalki wonders, how fast have they grown up and wishes they were still young. And Deepika advises Ranbir that, how much ever we chase our dreams, we need to realise that, in the end, not all dreams can be achieved and we should take a call on to leave some of them. It was a pretty simple one liner, but was pretty neat and deep I felt. I often rush around wanting to check mark everything I've on my list and more often than not, it turns out to be a mere tick and I loose out on the experience in the rush. May be, its not worth just to've your name etched on the finishers list, without having really gone through the details. For sure it might mean spending more time but, if the experience is worth it, then why not? Interesting thought to wind up the week :) catch you soon on another mokkai :)