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Hindi Film review
Johnson Thomas
Film review Hasee toh Phasee- Just short of a laugh-riot!
Film: Hasee Toh Phasee
Cast: Pareeniti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra,
Director: Vinil Mathew
Rating: * * *
Debut making Director Vinil Mathew manages to generate quite a few laughs in this rom-com that hopes to turn rigid stereotypes on it’s head. Both the lead characters Nikhil(Sidharth Malhotra) and Meeta(Parineeti Chopra) are flawed. They are not the typically goody-two-shoes personality types we’ve been fed on by mainstream Bollywood. He is an ideas man trying to strike it rich and has no qualms asking his fiancee’s father for the much needed fuel while she is a neurotic who shores-up on anti-deps to keep her functional in this insane world. Not quite the hero-heroine Jodi you were looking for ?
Well, don’t be disheartened. Their entertaining interactions with each other more than make-up for that lack. Scripter Harshvardhan Kulkarni’s set-ups while surrounded by wedding party glitz, make for super entertaining variations that re-define courtship. Nikhil is engaged and is soon to be married to Karishma(Adah Sharma). Then he is forced to keep her prodigal sister Meeta, away from the celebrities for flimsy reasons. While Meeta’s pre-programmed tics and antics begin to appear wild, whacky, lovable and forgivable, Karishma’s shrill, controlling , dog-eared attitude towards her fiancé begins to grate. So the expected happens and Nikhil draws closer to the lesser-evil sister, Meeta and that accounts for some major unconvincing drama towards the climax.
Despite the out-of-box match-up, the script still manages to indulge in traditional stereotypes. The courtship and wedding ceremonies stretch for over 7 years, the groom at the end of it all decides to runaway and is met en-route by a priyatama who times her I-am-gonna-stick-it-out return, right-to-the-barbed-wire. Nikhil first meets Meeta when she is short-haired and boyish. Needless to say he rejects her offer to runaway and it’s only when she starts emulating the desi heroine stereotype (designer cholis and dutifully remorseful) that he allows himself to fall in love with her.
The script is outlandish, terribly flawed and so are the characterizations but the individual nuggets of interaction that Vinil gets out of his two main leads, keep you interested. So despite the obvious fault lines, you are drawn in and even begin to feel some empathy towards the two. And that is mainly because Parineeti and Siddharth, manage to keep it jovial, funny and interesting. Their expressiveness is the key to the enjoyment here. The songs and score are also quite energetic, so that adds chemistry to the inter-play between the two. Not a bad choice for a light-hearted date movie this valentine!
