Zoya Akhtar has always made films for and about the ‘Elite Class’ of the society showcasing their own kind of business talks, humour and relationships mostly planned around the money factor alone. And refusing to play the gamble with a different genre, the director’s third (full length) film again walks on the same path but with a big surprising difference that in fact degrades her favourite ‘Elite Class’ only in an unexpectedly shocking manner.
However with no intentions of snatching away her credit of extracting some fine performances from the exceptional cast ensemble, DIL DHADAKNE DO can easily be rated as an eye-catching, glossy, well performed film that sadly fails to offer the quality content expected from the talented writer-director keeping in mind her two bright films made in the past. But for a change let me start mentioning the visible merits of the film with a fresh narrative.
Does DIL DHADAKNE DO have that richness, grandeur and elegant look – Yes it does!
Does it have a great cinematography capturing some foreign locations – Yes it does!
Is the film having that young feel targeting the new-age generation – Yes!
Does it feature a great cast ensemble with some pretty people – Yes!
Do they perform exceptionally well in their given roles – Yes they do!
Is the film having some enjoyable one liners or a few engaging moments – Yes a few!
Then what exactly goes wrong and where, that doesn’t convert it into a great enjoyable venture in totality?
Actually the answer to this crucial question remains in the mostly predictable, clichéd and impractical writing that doesn’t give you any fresh angle in the entire script talking about relationships being both formed and broken fast like any casual thing. Plus the characterization is so funny and questionable that one starts thinking that are these people really from that ‘highly educated elite class’ having those great thinking minds, running such big business houses like some visionary professionals?
(Spoilers Ahead)
For instance, here we have many middle aged rich couples who are all just managing (compromising) with each other for some reason or the other but don’t have the courage to cut the crap and say it despite being among the most influential people of the society (with no insecurity as such). Plus every couple has a dominating male operating from the front too having a (so called liberated) wife just going along with him for some undisclosed reasons not revealed.
We have marriages being planned, finalized and broken in the same 7-10 days cruise trip celebrating a wedding anniversary, as if everyone is in too hurry to get in or out of the sacred ritual before they get off the cruise.
A millionaire’s supposed to be intelligent young son falls in love with a dancer working at the cruise just in 4-5 days (post a one night stand) and then even decides to marry her with conviction. Now this would have been fine if it was a fantasy love story taking you into a different world of love, songs and romance following the typical Bollywood format. But in a film like DDD trying to portray each character of the script with a slice of life, this seems to be completely out of sync and illogical.
Here we also have a family, where the young boy knows all dark (sex-life) secrets of his father, but never asks him a question or informs his mother about the same taking a firm stand for her. And this same person, out of the blue comes out to support his sister quite loudly, disrespecting his mother’s character with such extremely shameful words (even when she had done nothing), claiming some kind of sick value-system flowing in his veins!!!!!
There’s a self-made girl who is running a successful business house as a strong confident new-age woman, but at the same time cannot talk to her husband clearly about either their child or their ‘not so working’ relationship since long. And then, the moment she meets her ex-lover accidentally on the ship, she suddenly finds all the courage in the world to ask for a divorce from her otherwise manageable husband just on the following day!!!!!
Sample a dialogue where Anil asks his daughter Priyanka Chopra saying,
“Tum Dono Young Ho, Successful Ho, Punjabi Ho, Squash Khelte Ho…Fir Problem Kya Hai?
That really made me wonder that, Is being a Punjabi a guarantee to be free from all problems of life???
In a particular sequence, the father (Anil) had just gone through a heart problem last night but his wife, son and daughter (all together) decide to sort out their big differences right there in the hospital room itself (after only a few hours of the illness), as if they had no concern about their father’s health or his medical state, whatsoever.
On the lighter side, the entire film is being narrated by a dog named Pluto (with the voice-over of Aamir Khan) comparing the life of humans and animals in his own thoughts repeatedly. But the dog otherwise has nothing to do in the complete film right till the end (added deliberately), whereas the interesting insertion could have been utilised in a much better manner in some comic sequences.
Above all, here we also have a highly silly and badly written climax, where it begins with Ranveer diving into the sea to get back or meet his girl (left at the last stoppage). But no one cares to talk about ‘her’ once the whole drama of a malfunctioning motor-boat and the officials trying to chase them gets over quite dramatically. Moreover the film also ends right there with no conclusive culmination all of a sudden with the cruise trip still not over.
Talking about the movie-watching experience, DDD gives you nothing much to either cheer or ridicule in its first hour when the characters and their relationships are being introduced with a slow progression and few songs. So till interval you neither enjoy the film nor reject it completely due to few of its engaging moments like Ranveer-Anushka romance and the solo acts of Anil Kapoor. But post intermission it simply fails to keep you engrossed with Ranveer vanishing for a good 10 minutes and Anushka for even more, only to return back in just a few scenes. No doubt, within this less entertaining hour, we do get two well performed sequences led by Anil Kapoor (when he grabs Rahul) and Farhan Akhtar (when he confronts Rahul on woman liberation issue). But overall, nothing really works even after 100 minutes of film is over, moving into the extra length heading towards the foolish climax.
Performances being the only saving grace of the film, its Ranveer that delivers a thoroughly enjoyable act in a much bigger role in comparison to everyone else. He truly makes a mark along with the evergreen Anil Kapoor playing it with power and style together as a self-obsessed businessman. Shefali Shah is the pleasant surprise among all performing it superbly, whereas Priyanka shines bright in her awfully written role of a double minded, suppressed business woman. Anushka Sharma once again reveals her perfect on-screen chemistry with Ranveer, but also gets an uneven role that has been written without any justifying details. Farhan Akhtar is just ok in his cameo whereas both Rahul Bose and Zarina Wahab try hard to make an impression as the mother-son duo. In the supporting acts, Parmeet Sethi & Vikrant Messey make their presence felt along with Ridhima Sud who plays it quite cool in a likable mode.
Musically too DDH is not able to score any higher marks with an apt background score but not a great soundtrack from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. In fact the trio can easily be called as the most inconsistent composers with a few pleasant surprises coming only after long intervals. For example here in DDD too, where only ‘Pehli Baar’ can be rated as a better track with a fine base line (inspired from a MJ beat), the rest are not able to leave any impact on the listeners due to the missing melody.
Summing up, this is yet another film from Zoya Akhtar based on a life-transforming journey of few people post ZINDAGE NA MILEGI DOBARA. Once again a film that more depends upon situations and sequences beautifully incorporated in a screenplay, not having any great storyline as such. But unfortunately, not the one that provides any similar kind of entertainment we last enjoyed in her ZNMD and to a large extent in LUCK BY CHANCE too.
Yes, it’s a film offering a few amusing moments (coming at intervals) in a supposedly enjoyable journey that sadly turns out to be highly unrealistic, less engaging, predictable and full of confused characters in the end, not expected from the writer-director of the ZNMD and LBC.
Moreover, where every single character in Zoya’s last two films looked like highly intelligent with a great sense of humour and understanding of life, DDD is full of so called ‘well educated high society people’ who are dumb enough to solve their personal problems in such a childish, immature manner. In other words, this time there is not even a single character in the script that I would like to take back home staying there with me for days. Luckily all the excellent performers in the film don’t let you think about such realistic reasoning in details through their impressive acts and that’s sure going to help the film a lot in its overall box office performance as it seems.
Having said that, Zoya never made a film keeping in mind the viewers out of the multiplex culture before and this isn’t an exception to her set followed (secure) path either. However for me, Ranveer and Anil were the only two life-boats in this big sinking ship full of great performers, which can also be rated as the weakest movie till date from director Zoya Akhtar.
Rating : 2 / 5
[Note : While watching the film talking about changing relationship in a long party, I was more remembering the much enjoyable and enlightening Govind Nihalani’s PARTY released in 1984]
