If you sense frustration after reading the review title, it delivered the desired effect. Yes, frustration was exactly what I felt after 2.5 hours of a pedestrian storyline that simply can't make up its mind on which characters should be together, why they deserve to be so and what the characters want to do or be in the first place.
With Anurag Kashyap at the helm I was hoping that the age old love triangle would be given a fresh or unfamiliar twist. Forget unfamiliar, what I got was suspiciously close to old wine in a new, sex-fueled bottle from an early Bhansali movie. In comparison to this one, that made more sense (and that's saying something, coming from some one who is decidedly not a Sanjay Leela Bhansali fan).
The movie starts off fresh and unabashed about its pyar as well as fyar (if you do end up watching, you'll know what this means). Vicky Kaushal is barely recognizable in a very unlikely avatar whereas Taapsee tries her best to pull off the brash and loud-mouthed rebel. There is no background to why these folks are the way they are, what are their motivations and aspirations. There are a few trace instances here and there but mostly you are left to piece together things yourself about them.
A lot of the chuckles in the movie (not unlike previous Anurag Kashyap offerings) are to be found in the background chatter - the complaining siblings, the relatives' remarks and the parents frustration and confusion regarding their offsprings. However, unlike his other offerings, which had a solid mainstream flow as well, Manmarziyan has the characters pretty much doing the same dance over and over again.
The storyline is predictable to a fault and while you look for some interesting twists to put things in a new light - they never actually come. When they do, they make little sense and just look like an attempt to find some way to head things off, all the while showcasing the new indecisive generation at their confused best, or rather, worst.
A lot in this movie depended on its main cast of characters. Of those, it is Vicky Kaushal who shines the most in a very different avatar - barely recognizable in his new look. Not only does he look badass but despite a flashy yet shallow character, he makes Vicky (also the name of his character) a little more fleshed out than what the script would have provided. Taapsee Pannu has the strongest role of the lot and her delivery is a bit of a mixed bag. She clearly struggles at first in terms of the Punjabi accent, high strung dialogue delivery, but soon becomes more comfortable with her character. There are some moments where she is brilliant though and overall she just about pulls off a tough act. Abhishek Bacchan (in his comeback film) has the least role of the 3. In fact, he is barely visible in the first half. His needs to be more of a restrained performance and he sticks to the part.
From a director's perspective, there are some subtle messages - a critical view on the established traditions and their place in modern day society - if you really pause to reflect, you might catch them but there isn't any overt commentary on them. There are umpteen number of songs (more parallels to Bhansali than I would've hoped) and while some are melodious, the movie feels more like a bad musical with songs popping up every now and then, many of which do nothing to move the painfully slow narrative forward.
To my mind, I don't think this one's worth a visit to the theaters - baaki your marzi.
