YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI ("YEH FILM HAI BAHUT LAMBI!")

May 31, 2013

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Kalkin Koechlin, Aditya Roy Kapoor.

Director: Ayan Mukherjee.

After Wake up Sid, Ayan Mukherjee comes up with Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani once again teaming up with Karan Johar and Ranbir Kapoor.

Bunny(Ranbir Kapoor), Avi (Aditya Roy Kapoor) and Aditi(Kalki Koechlin) are best friends from school days itself. Naina(Deepika Padukone), the nerdy loner used to be their classmate. After years Aditi bumps into Naina at a supermarket and all 4 of them end up going for a trek to Manali.

The obvious happens afterwards; the reticent reclusive Naina falls for the outgoing flirtatious Bunny and as a bonus for the audience a one sided romance is brought in by the director between Aditi and Avi.

The first half more or less goes on with all the usual masti and friendships and those tender moments and the audience will have some good popcorn munching time.

Come second half the director really tests the audience’ patience by dragging it out as far as possible. It would not be surprising if some of you might feel like leaving the theatre before the climax, but a word for those people; stick till the end and you will have a nice last fifteen minutes or so that will relieve of you of some of the boredom that you went through.

The breezy first half cannot really be credited to the script as you do not have something over the top as far as the content goes and this is corroborated by the shabby writing that is evident from the shallow second half. A lot of questions are left unanswered and the span of 8 years which has changed the main characters’ lives does not have any impact at all and empathising with them would be the last thing that would cross your mind. The characters never really evolve owing to the amateurish scripting and erratic screenplay and that is a real dampener.

Though the BGM is a real bonus in the film right from the Madhuri Dixit item number almost all the songs, some eight or ten of them, are unnecessary and irritating and this is one of the main reasons why the film feels so long.

Coming to the performances Ranbir and Kalki are very good, Deepika is excellent and Aditya Roy Kapoor, though good,is actually wasted with no role of substance whatsoever.

I am giving a 2.75/5 for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. It is nice timepass except for some dragging scenes in the second half.

Rating Scale (Out of 5)

Less than 2                   -           Unwatchable.

2    to 2.25                   -           Below average.

2.5 to 2.75                   -           Average.

                                 

3    to 3.25                   -           Good.

3.5 to 3.75                   -           Really Good.

4    to 4.25                   -           Great.

4.5 and above               -          Extraordinary.

                                                                    

THE HANGOVER 3 ("IT ENDS......IN SUCH A BAD WAY!")

May 31, 2013

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galfianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha.

Director: Todd Philips.

When The Hangover came out in 2009 it was a really fresh concept that catapulted both the cast and the crew into stardom. Come the carbon copy sequel The Hangover 2 in 2011 and the signs of deterioration started getting apparent. Now with The Hangover 3 it goes beyond correction.

Alan’s father dies not being able to cope up with his son’s condition. So Doug, Phil and Stu along with Alan’s family decides to take him to an intervention centre. Meanwhile Chow escapes from the Bangkok Prison. On the way to the intervention centre the Wolf pack is kidnapped by Marshall(John Goodman) who wants them to find Chow for the gold bars he stole from Marshall.

If you think that’s the perfect recipe for a Wolf pack adventure then you are in for a misfortune! After setting up the scene beautifully till then Tod Phillips forgets the fact that it’s best not to tamper with the original (something which he also forgot while making the second part).

The jokes are lame the situations have nothing new to them and after a point (and a few genuine laughs) you reach a saturation point just because of the repetitiveness, a sort of déjà vu sets in.

While the hardcore fans of the franchise might cheer for the film it would not be too much to say that this is nothing less than an insult to the original.

Finally one really baffling thing about this third part is the involvement of one of the greatest actors in Hollywood, John Goodman, the role has neither the scope for nor the requirement of a big actor.

The second part earned around 600 million dollars worldwide notwithstanding the fact that it was nowhere near the first. But it seems highly unlikely that this final part will do the same for the producers!

I am giving a 2/5 for The Hangover 3. You would not want to watch this if you want to cherish the memories of the original.

IMDB Rating

Rating Scale (Out of 5)

Less than 2                   -           Unwatchable.

2    to 2.25                   -           Below average.

2.5 to 2.75                   -           Average.

                                 

3    to 3.25                   -           Good.

3.5 to 3.75                   -           Really Good.

4    to 4.25                   -           Great.

4.5 and above               -          Extraordinary.