Dil Bechara – movie review

With blockbuster creativity, Hot star gave away the movie for free to everyone who cared to download the app. What a way to cash in on the current sentiment over the deceased hero!! Wonder why no one bothered to raise a finger, whichever one it is, to this unabashed attempt at free publicity. But they are not alone in this. Ever since Sushant committed suicide, entire Bollywood is up in arms against its ow self. Any one who has vendetta against anyone else, takes to air to vent out, stating all they want to say and tagging they suffered just like Sushant. His death has become a public vehicle for movie fraternity to wash its dirty linen in public. If not for covid, we would’ve have supplementary editions of every single paper on print, having cover to cover interviews of every so called celebrity. Nevertheless, the movie did make it to the public and people lapped it up like anything to say the least. Whether it was because of the ongoing euphoria around Sushant or for the fact that it was given away free, Dil Bechara indeed became the talked about movie over this weekend.

The story has a runtime of little over 100 minutes, many thanks to the English version “Fault in our stars”, which they’ve dutifully recreated, including the scenes and length. As many knows, the story has both the male and female leads diagnosed with cancer, each awaiting their turn to breath last. While the story begins with the lady character narrating her life, starting from a funeral scene of some unknown people, she somehow has this idea that people in grief gets comfort with strangers who gate crashes funerals. She lugs around an oxygen cylinder, cutely named pushpendra, for that much is the level of her illness’ severity. The hero dance walks into her life, literally, on a college function, by performing the title track of the movie. Interestingly seems neither belong to the current batch of students and somehow they get inside and one of them get to perform as well. Guess they come with perks of being a known person on death row? Soon she falls for him and there are lot of meet cute moments. They have a common cancer patients club as well, where the heroes friend who has cancer of the eye, wants to make a movie before he goes totally blind. The hero ropes in the heroine to play the lead. Like the people in his real life, the director tries to milk in on Rajini’s name all throughout by making the hero a rajini fan. The antics that they shoot in the name of Rajini style for the movie would only enrage the fans of the superstar. Bollywood again shows middle finger to Rajinism by mocking it in its own sugar candied way. Different topic for a different post. Finally the hero wins the race of death and breathes his last before the heroine dies. In between, they get to travel to Paris to meet the lyricist, whose half composed song happens to be lady dearest, nearest to death, favorite. Saif ali Khan has a cameo as the musician, whose character has less minutes than the characters of his name. There is a scene where the hero makes his blind director friend and cancer stricken heroine to say eulogy for him. Had he not been dead(!) and the scene not been a real life imitation of present day scenario with all his friends(?) pouring their heart out to anyone pointing a mike, it might’ve not been so emotionally touching.  

Of all the characters in that otherwise ordinary story, to me the standout one is the heroines dad character. Be it his silent munching of his Bengali wife’s awful cooking, smilingly watching his daughter trying to live her life like any love stuck teenager, admonishing his wife when she poses a stupid virginity question to her daughter and stamping his authority as a dad when the daughter disrespectfully answers her mom, siding with the hero and permitting the foreign trip after understanding how love smitten he was, that guy who has played the dad character stands heads and shoulders above everyone with his performance. Probably the only grounded character in the otherwise saccharine sweet movie. He must be Ambani’s cousin or at least his benami for sure, looking at the ease with which he gets visa for Paris at blink of an eye and for spending a bomb in private hospital (Tata, by the way) on cancer treatment, but still his daughter and wife roam around on a hand pulled rickshaw!! May be privately owned along with the guy who is pulling it? The mom character is confusing, for one moment she is like every other mom, questioning her daughter’s moral for roaming around with a guy in midnight and next moment, having breakfast conversation with an embarrassed daughter and her boyfriend about how they spent the previous night!!! Overacting character to the core if ever there were one.

And after a long time a heroine who can actually act shy in front of camera. Someone who looks girl next door and cute at same time. The scene where she blogs her thoughts after meeting sushant for first time starts with her close up shot. Antha glasses and smile with shyness.. Awesome. Quite surely she may get a dabba movie next.. Move to tollywood when they launch the next kin of Chriu nag or allu. Be part of either the blockbuster or superhit movies of telugu, for they are the only possibilities. Come down to Chennai to shake a leg with vijay. Comment abt southern professionals, idly sambar in same. Order. And move back to dharma, yrf banner. Way to go lady. Neat performance in the movie I should say. She looks. Like healthy version of kalki kochelin

Finally the man of the moment, or should I say the deceased?? Ever since he died, every platform has been trying to cash in on his death. I saw “Shuddh desi romance”, “Rabta”, “Byomkesh bakshi” and “Drive” before settling for this movie of the “M.S Dhoni” actor. He tries really hard on screen to be the beefed up Sharukh was what I felt. Mixing it up with the serial kisser Emraan hasmi’s USP. He has this nervous energy that is more nervous as much as energetic on all his roles that require him to turn on his charm. Charming that he is, it comes out as forced on screen than natural. Probably the stress of being judged and the pressure to sign the next big movie reflected on his acting as well and considering that his movies had all been quite decent and varied, he could easily have become the next big star on his own, in a couple of years, had his stream of movies continued. Unless he comes back and tells the reason why he committed suicide or was it really self-inflicted, no one will know. For someone who had been all india topper on his engineering exams and quite studious kid as projected by media, his knack of picking good scripts would’ve surely helped in carve a place on Bollywood of his own. He surely have one know, at least till the next weekend comes when another big release happens.  

Last but not the least – ARR rocks. The songs are very nice and quite an album after a really long time.

Gils verdict – To misquote the title track, “Dil Bechara….over hype se maara”. Had he not died, wonder if this movie would’ve even made the news. Oh!! I have answered the nepotism question!!!