Director Ayan Mukherjee played it safe in his first venture WAKE UP SID with a youthful routine plot wrapped in a glossy package. The film had Ranbir in it to pull that off, along with some good songs and an execution appealing to the young. So, after establishing himself as a director, I was expecting something great and novel in his second venture YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI which unfortunately has been made exactly on the same formula like his first. The film has a big star-cast lead by Ranbir-Deepika along with the current heartthrob Aditya Roy Kapur post his AASHIQUI 2 success story. Plus it also has a big production house and a hit musical score by Pritam to add to its credits. But strangely despite having such great support from both the actors and the producers, Ayan again opts for the same old wine in a new bottle kind of storyline, with nothing fresh in the name of content in his second film. Hence the result remains the same i.e. just average.
But more importantly, it was really strange to accept it as a Ranbir Kapoor film, as after ROCKSTAR and BARFI, the talented boy was reportedly reading only innovative and fresh scripts for his next films quite intelligently. Now what did he see in the script of YJHD as novel or fresh, remains out of my understanding and the actor must have done it just for the sake of his relations with the director and the production house, as it seems. Because in reality, if anyone else (with not a known name) would have gone to him with such a routine script, hugely dependent upon its youthful gags and sequences only, then he would have rejected it right away, without giving it any second thoughts. So that should say it all as per the plotline of the film is concerned.
YJHD begins on a good note and then offers you nothing in terms of story-progression in its first half. Further, post intermission it continues delivering everything predictable and never comes up with something exceptionally different or unique till the ineffective climax. The at your face promotions of brands like “Make My Trip”, “Appy” and more turn it into a sub-standard product and the additional ‘Madhuri’s item number’ too fails to serve any desired purpose. It slows down repeatedly at many places in the second half and also remains a bit lengthy film for such kind of known plot where the viewer already knows what’s going to happen next.
The technical merits of YJHD include its witty one liners, catchy cinematography and enjoyable soundtrack from Pritam. Though the background score is strictly ok but it’s the songs which infuse new energy into the film, every 10-15 minutes as its big saving grace. Particularly the choreography in ‘Balam Pitchkari’ & ‘Badtameez Dil’ is hugely enjoyable, featuring some nonsense lyrics too which actually go un-noticed due to the catchy melody.
In the performance department, as expected, it’s a Ranbir Kapoor show all the way. To say the truth, minus Ranbir’s honest & visible efforts, the film falls flat since it has neither anything new nor any major unpredictable twists to keep you glued. Putting it more brutally, both WAKE UP SID as well as YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI couldn’t have made it to anywhere without Ranbir Kapoor. Deepika looks gorgeous in all her revealing dresses & acts well too, but her badly written role doesn’t let her make any huge impact right till the end. For example, after 8 years of college life (studying medicine), the girl must have reached a status (as a doctor), whereas the film makes no mention of it in any scene post intermission. Aditya Roy Kapoor impresses once again even when he doesn’t have a full length role here as Ranbir’s only friend. Kalki is just the same like in all her previous films and I didn’t find any change in her portrayal of the fourth friend. Both Kunal Roy Kapoor & Tanvi Azmi are good but Dolly Ahluwalia remains underutilized in her 2-3 scenes only. Similarly Evelyn Sharma looks sexy & appealing in her small role but Rana Daggubati just comes and goes without making his presence felt.
However, apart from everyone else in the film, the scenes I enjoyed the most were the ones between Ranbir Kapoor and Farooq Sheikh who is simply adorable as the loving father of his passionate son, eager to follow his dreams. Particularly their sequence towards the climax is truly moving, redefining the father-son relationship on the screen, in just few minutes.
Summing up, YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI is a perfectly packaged film for the youth, which is purely made to succeed in the first three days of its release and nothing more. Beyond that neither the makers are interested in re-creating any cinematic history, nor has the film got anything substantial to prove itself in the long run. In short, its just another big budget Bollywood film which relies majorly on its Star value, music and marketing gimmicks, more than the content.
So, if you just want to have a marginally good time in the theater, laughing occasionally and enjoying a few good songs thrown in at regular intervals to keep it going, then probably you may like it as an average entertainer. But in case you are expecting something great, inventive or unique from the actor of ROCKSTAR and BARFI then you are sure going to be disappointed a lot.
Rating : 2.5 / 5 (Including an additional 1 just for its music and Ranbir Kapoor alone.)
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