
Actress: Deepika Padukone, Kalki Koechlin
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Genre: Romance
Release Date: 31st May, 2013
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Aditya Roy Kapur, Kalki Koechlin, Omar Khan, Nupur Joshi, Poorna Jagannathan
Writer/Director: Ayan Mukerji
Producer/s: Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar
Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty
Singer/s: Benny Dayal, Shefali Alvares
Plot: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a story of the exhilarating and terrifying journey of four characters – Bunny, Naina, Aditi and Avi, as they navigate through their youth; from their carefree laughter as they set off on a holiday together in their colleges days, until their bittersweet tears as they watch the first of their bunch get married.
Bunny: Ranbir Kapoor
Bunny is charming and fun loving, full of spirit and an indomitable spirit of adventure. He rejects mediocrity and longs to leave his life at home behind to travel, see the world and embrace the freedom of being unattached. Passionate and resourceful, we see Bunny grow from a young student full of unconventional ambitions to a hard working videographer on a travel show, chasing and concretizing his dreams. He embraces a modern value system and wants to be answerable to no one but himself.
Naina: Deepika Padukone
Naina is a simple, good-natured and extremely focused girl. Frustrated by the restrictions she needs to put on herself to achieve her dreams of being a doctor; she impulsively decides to go on a trekking trip to Manali to give herself a break. Through the film, Naina transforms from the restricted claustrophobic person she thought she was to a free spirited woman with a newfound love for herself and comfort within her choices. She is strong and dependable and stands firmly for rooted family values.
Aditi: Kalki Koechlin
Brazen, loud and boisterous, Aditi finds herself constantly pushed into being “one of the boys”. She is deeply protective to the point of being aggressive towards her two best friends, Avi and Bunny. Aditi doesn’t care much for appearances or money, but extends her own brand of warmth to those she respects or likes. She is fiercely loyal and fiery, almost too ready to fight for what she believes in. Aditi rarely reveals her softer side but her freely swearing, belligerent persona mellows out over time.
Avi: Aditya Roy Kapur
Avi is a carefree, happy-go-lucky boy and Bunny’s best friend. He loves alcohol, cricket and his student life. He enjoys living in the present moment and doesn’t spend much thought or effort into planning his future. He is very attached, almost dependent on his best friend, Bunny who he loves deeply. His lack of a mature worldview stilts him in some ways and he remains largely stuck in his teenaged universe.
Kalank Movie Review Rating: 1/5 Stars (One star! & I’m being ‘too’ generous here)
Star Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sonakshi Sinha, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Kunal Kemmu, Kiara Advani & still there’s not a single frame without cringe!
Director: Abhishek Varman
What’s Good: If you’re opting to watch this, you have a good 166 minutes to decide what you’re doing with your life!
What’s Bad: Some people will buy the grandness and rush to the theatres, but alas, the days of watching a YRF movie just to drool over Switzerland are long gone!
Loo Break: Challenge yourself by controlling the tsunami of frustrated emotions for 166 minutes! Don’t think of a break this time. If you’re in, you deserve it
Watch or Not?: Don’t even if the visuals attract you! Just skip it and save yourself of some hard-hitting dramatic torture
User Rating:
Set in 1946 in Husnabad which is apparently close to Lahore in the Dharma-world (but in reality, it’s in Telangana), and we can see snow-clad mountains as Zafar (Varun Dhawan) plays the sport of Bullfighting in Spanish-style. Roop (Alia Bhatt) while running after a falling kite starts dancing with the villagers and complains about how hard it was to catch the kite. Satya (Sonakshi Sinha) is dying because of a fatal disease and wants Roop to marry her husband Dev (Aditya Roy Kapur), because why not?
Roop agrees because she has two ‘unmarried’ sisters and her father will not be able to ‘take care’ of them alone. Don’t underestimate Roop! She also has some demands to stay in Dev’s castle after getting married to him and being his second wife – she wants to learn singing from a brothel owner Bahar Begum (Madhuri Dixit). Balraj Chaudhry (Sanjay Dutt) is head of the house and does nothing apart from doing nothing. All of these ingredients mix together to make that thing which our mothers warned not to take from strangers on the road.
Kalank Movie Review: Script Analysis
The script was conceptualised by late Mr Yash Johar 15 years ago and even for that time, all of this is very naive and boring. You’re asking a girl to marry a husband of another dying lady and then get the girl to complain that “Aapke pati toh sirf aapse pyaar karte hai” (Of course girl!). Lousy screenplay can’t make up to stunning visuals! It doesn’t matter how good you look if you are saying shit. I know the movie is set in 1946, but still you can’t use dialogues such as “Kala azeem hai, keemat nahi lagayi jaa sakti” OR “Hum iss guftugu se thak gaye hai” – hum bhi aisi movies se thak gaye hai! (You hear me?).
No matter how much I try to talk about the amazing cinematography (by the master Vinod Pradhan), the ghosts of appalling narration are still haunting me. The editing is so bad because the editor (Shweta Venkat Mathew) forgot to delete the entire movie. I very much enjoyed the “Sab kuch acha tha, lekin tambaaku ne sab barbaad kar diya” (Tobacco) ad in the interval. Alia’s character asks towards the end – “Aapne is kahaani mein kya dekha?” (What did you see in this story?) – I saw a few rich brats coming together and burning millions on screen.
Kalank Movie Review: Star Performance
Varun Dhawan, the man with the 100% of track record at the box office, sleepwalks as Zafar. Why you do this Varun? He slurs his dialogues because they’re way too weird to speak for a normal millennial. Though he tries to carry the film solo on his shoulders, he gets some help from Alia Bhatt. She is the best actress of the current slot and I’ve no two thoughts about the same. But, Kalank is not something you do to portray your talent! (Remember Suits? One for me, one for the organisation) This is not something Alia will do for herself, for sure.
Aditya Roy Kapur gets a very easy role of being on the sets, wear some clothes that royals would wear and deliver some comparatively easy dialogues. Yes, he gets a scene in which he gets to do his favourite thing – drinking alcohol but still he can’t match his talent. Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjay Dutt are ignored throughout as they get minimal screentime (which is a kind of a relief too! We couldn’t afford more than 166 minutes for this film).
Madhuri Dixit’s character is very artificial! She tries to cover the flaws with her grace but nothing works. Kunal Kemmu and Kiara Advani are good in their extended cameos. Kunal gets more screentime than Sanjay Dutt & Sonakshi Sinha.
Rating: 4/5 stars (Four Stars)
Star cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapur.
Director: Ayan Mukerji
What’s Good: The film is appetizingly mushy in keeping a lavish doze of realism in it.
What’s Bad: The film is built on a jaded idea that could have gone bad, but luckily doesn’t.
Loo break: None at all.
Watch or Not?: Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a delicious entertainer. Though the story is packed with its generous share of clichés, it still works endearingly! Deepika and Ranbir render on screen an irresistible chemistry. It is half way through the year and finally here is 2013’s first true to the word blockbuster film.
User Rating:
The story that shifts between past and present is essentially the tale of a trek trip four friends take. Naina, a medical student and Bunny, a photographer along with their friends Avi and Aditi take a daunting expedition to Manali. While Naina comes to terms with her real self and falls in love, Bunny weaves in his mind a larger picture. Aspiring to embark on an endlessly journey to explore the world, the four friends come together next for Aditi’s wedding. The story has changed with the characters having remained constant and the film captures how each has grown in their individual journey of life.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Review: Script Analysis
Despite singing praises of the film, I have to agree the story is imaginatively challenged. Friendship, romance and exotic trips, is a premise Farhan Akhtar had introduced in his classic 2000 film Dil Chahta Hai, a decade back! The script travels through the lives of four individuals but it is essentially the story of Bunny. We are misinformed when we think it’s he trying to find himself! The character knows himself perfectly. It is his difficulty in coming to terms with prioritizing things that matter to him, which forms the story’s most exhilarating part! The satiating smile that Illahi leaves on your faces embodies the fulfillment of dreams and visions, while the heart break from Kabira is haunting. Despite the narrative following many previously seen clichés, the film has upped the genre by manifolds. To dish out something this scrumptious from stereotypes requires caliber!
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Review: Star Performances
Ranbir Kapoor delivers an outstanding performance. He will indeed make you believe that he is Bunny! Effortlessly slipping into the skin of the character, the film belongs to him! With a show that he puts up magnificently, the man has already ascribed himself to a few top awards this year. It is time to retire off our old superstars; the new one is right here!
Deepika Padukone gives a heart melting performance. Transcending drastically from a nerd to a beauty, her wonderful smile and compelling performance aides the story! She impeccably brings on screen the insecurities of her character, carefully nurturing every detailed shade of what Naina entails.
Kalki Koechlin is impulsive and Aditya Roy Kapur is charming. However, Mukherji’s screenplay doesn’t reserve much for them. Restricting from elaborating their characters, you will want to look for more of them! But for the scenes they are there, they aren’t short of anything but delightful.
When it comes to performances it is difficult to not point out that Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone share a delectable on screen chemistry. After Kajol and SRK, there is finally another pair who brings some magic in their screen compatibility.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Review: Direction, Music & Technical Aspects
Ayan has extreme conviction on his story and that is what makes Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani so immensely captivating. The man who debuted with Wake Up Sid has managed to sustain his honesty in times when scripts reek of shallowness. Ranbir’s intoxicating quest and hunger to travel and explore grips the audiences, bringing alive a part from each of their souls through the film. Wonderful frames and decadent music, along with some breathtaking performances makes the film worthwhile. Despite venturing beyond the two and half hour mark, it doesn’t give a single slow moment and hence its terrible editing is barely bothersome! The cinematography is perfectly done for most part. The lush greens to the snow capped hills of Manali, the classic architectural beauty of Udaipur, every slice of work seems picturesque.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Review: The Last Word
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani despite its bearable flaw of working on clichés, is a remarkably well executed film. Ayan Mukherji makes his story both believable and honest! Entertaining from the word go, this film is a must watch. One of Bollywood’s most memorable romantic comedies, the stellar performances of Ranbir and Deepika along with their glistening chemistry set the celluloid on fire this time. A bravura show! The film earns its 4/5 from me. It is films like these that makes my job feel worthwhile.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Trailer
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani released on 31st May, 2013.
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