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Friday, March 6, 2015

Dum Laga Ke Haisha

I was getting quite bored and wanted to watch any movie. Happened to read some reviews and found that this movie had some good feedback.
I went with not much expectation about this two hour Yash-Raj movie set in a very small town (Haridwar) with Ayushmann Khurana and Bhumi Pednekar (debut) as leads. Bhumi acts well with no apparent display of reticence.
The backdrop of a dusty amber tinge is persistent throughout the movie set in a very small town. The narrow alleys reminded me of Jaisalmer  where every home was once upon a time a palace/ part of a palace or the soldier/common man/servant quarters. Set in the 90s, Ayushmann  runs his father's cassette shop and is a big Kumar Sanu fan. He has the ear phones plugged in at all times.
The movie starts with Ayushmann going to see a girl and when he finds out that the girl is obese, he refuses to marry her. The movies speaks about a middle class household, where beating up a 25 year old to coerce him into a marriage he is against, is ok.
Of course, Ayushmann gets married to the girl in a mass marriage ceremony but rebels by refusing to consummate the marriage. At one point of time he insults her by speaking about her to his friends. Aghast at what he thinks of her, she leave his home and files for a divorce. How, they as a couple, overcome all these hurdles and come together forms the rest of the story. The climax which shows the hero winning in a competition is a big heart-warming moment in the movie.
Watching the movie was like watching a Sanjeev Kumar-Jaya Bhaduri pairing of old times. A nice narration of two human beings who are basically good people but some trivial misunderstandings separate the two.
Many matters incidental to middle class living are dealt with. That they do not have big villainous characters in their midst; that issues aren't really very complicated; that it is ok to lie to get your child married; that some sort of hypocrisy is common in our lives. It also speaks of how unprepared are the bride and the groom in middle class homes  about marriage and its responsibilities. All these small things make up the movie.
No where does one find melodrama or any over-the-top acting. Superbly sharp dialogs are the main strength of the movie. There are moments of comedy, very subtle and sweet.
Ayushmann (and his costumes) does great justice to his character by adapting his body language to exactly suit the demeanor of a middle class family guy.
The message is that marriage is a responsibility that works when two people make an honest effort to want to keep it together. The 'bua' or the aunt's character is also used to portray that sometimes it is too late to make up...especially after all is lost.
The movie ends with a firm tongue-in-the-cheek group song of the 90s with the hero and heroine changing clothes every ten seconds with a tune suspiciously close to 'dekha hain pehli baar' song. Kumar Sanu does have a blink and miss cameo.
The movie transports you to Amol Palekar's times and will find you slip into that placatory mood, as though there is nothing to hurry back to.
Smile and peace is what you leave the theater with.
I rate it a 3.5/5.


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