Movie Review: Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya..DDLJ deserved better

 
First things first, this movie is not a tribute to DDLJ. Those who are calling it that, the film cast and crew included, need to look up the dictionary meaning of a tribute. This is pretty much a parody. Simply put, the script writer, director et al, looked at DDLJ and thought – where all can we make a change – no matter how nonsensical, illogical or downright silly it all gets. (Think Amazing Spiderman from Sam Raimi’s original creation). And thus, that script and some bad songs with hilariously bad lyrics later Humpty Sharma came to the theaters

The fact that it clocks a lesser 2 hours 15 minutes is a welcome relief, considering this is Bollywood and the agony could easily have been prolonged to 3 hours instead. One should be grateful. Another aspect to be grateful for is that the 2 leads make a valiant effort to lift a lifeless script and their sidekicks (or rather Varun’s sidekicks) have been blessed with some smart one-liners that make for a few fun moments. For everything else – especially the songs, you can curse Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania

This is the fourth film with Alia playing her fiesty avatar and while she fits the bill, she could certainly do with some variety in her characters. Speaking of characters, this movie hardly invests in them and while Raj and his Senorita Simran made efforts to find a place in your heart where you willed till the last moment that their story had a happy ending, you couldn’t care less whether Humpty and his lady love end up together or not. As for the other performances, much has been said of the performance of Ashutosh Rana, playing the Amrish Puri babuji counterpart. Personally, I just found his performance unnecessarily intense.

There are sparks here and there, where the story could’ve taken a fresh approach which made some sense. However, the proceedings thereon extinguish any such hope. Moreover, while some of the gags and one-liners may bring some laughs, you can’t help but shake the uneasy feeling that its all been done too many times before

While its not a tribute to the masterpiece of its time that DDLJ was, Humpty Sharma certainly makes you want to consider a re-viewing of that eternal love story (for the umpteenth time). In its own paradoxical way, that qualifies to be the best reason you would consider watching this revised Dulhaniya. If you have any other expectations – best to stay at home and watch Raj and Simran instead.