Why Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani is just good not great!..

You may identify with this: the cricket team you supported needed 36 runs to win in the last over. A very capable batsman was on strike. The first 5 balls went for sixes and on the last ball he hits a desperate shot and loses the wicket. There is not as much disappointment as there is sheer sympathy that a team tried so hard, was so close to victory, and yet somehow just missed the mark! You will remember it as a great match which they sadly didn't manage to win.

Well that's how I feel after watching Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani. A film that is almost flawless and yet missing there is something missing and it falls short of being a great modern love story.. 

No. There is nothing unacceptable about a predictable end. Rarely does a love story end in a tragedy - at least in mainstream Bollywood. Be it DDLJ, Jab We Met or the more recent Cocktail, were we really surprised the movies ended the way they did?  It was always the process that made it a good watch. Ditto yeh jawani..

What works! J

Refreshing plot - the conflicts in this film are drama-free and yet enough dramatic. There's no babuji or caste divide that keeps the couple. It's just them. Their mutual respect of each others’ lifestyle and an understanding that sometimes despite the irresistible sparks that fly, it is better to not start something that may never have a future. 

For me the winning moment in the film was when the characters confess they love each other but simply agree it’s not going to work out. (what a movie it would have been, if they ended the movie there). 

More than harping on love or lust, the movie harps on connections, crushes and camaraderie. My personal favorite is the edgy friendship between the two male leads - who resist confrontations for they both know they're not perfect. Or right. 

  

Music song n dance  - First ABCD, then aashiqui 2 and not this. If we needed any proof that well used song and dance are at the root of a blockbuster in Bollywood, 2013 has doled out three glaring examples. And with a lead pair like this one, which can top perfect beats with crackling chemistry, all you need it some foot tapping music. The music rocks and the dances are well choreographed n performed. 

Cameos- Without going away from the previous comment, it needn't be said that the original dancing diva of Bollywood simply stuns in her item number. Madhuri Dixit doesn't get the best track of the album to dance on, but when did she need more than a smile to disarm the audience? She lifts the song (and the movie) by her sheer presence. 

There are other cameos too that lift the movie. Farooq Sheikh as a father desparate to understand (and be understood by)  his son or a Kunal Roy kapoor in his signature buffoon template, work like magic on celluloid. 

Performances - Superlative. Each one of them. Ranbir Kapoor is effortless. Aditya Roy Kapur and Kalki are top class. But to me the revelation is Deepika Padukone who handles the tricky scenes in climax with depth that I frankly didn't expect of her. She is now clearly a more complete leading actor who delivers beyond glamour and charisma to celluloid. This is her best work so far! That reminds me, that Ranbir needs to find something more challenging to surprise us. After Rocket Singh, Rockstar and Barfi, this is too easy a role for him to essay and not very different from what we have already seen of him in Wake Up Sid or Bachna Ae Haseeno! Doesn't mean he isn't good, but so what? 

What doesn't work L (Spoiler alert)

The need to create moments - Somehow (and I wonder if it is an inheritance from the Karan Johar banner/brand of film making) the film maker seems too involved in creating "cinematic" moments. Some work. Some seem forcibly interjected. 

The train boarding scene for example: So when Shah Rukh Khan held out a hand to a very late Kajol in DDLJ it evoked cheers, but here our lady Padukone is well in time on the station. There’s enough time for banter, to introduce herself to the hero, to the other characters and yet she must "have a moment" and board a running train while Ranbir hold out his hand. Duh babe! She's a doctor trying to act blonde. 

There are other such attempts that dont seem to connect well enough and range between silly and pointless. 

Easy escapes - As much as I loved that the conflicts in the movie were intrinsic to the characters, it's almost a damp squib that their resolution is more convenient than convincing. The lopsided narrative only cares for us to see Ranbir’s perspective, while the film actually starts with Deepika’s point-of-view? 

Surprising how someone as hot as Deepika remained (uncomplicatedly) single in those 8 years of separation.  Especially after she had those moments of discovering her own fun side, of love, life and longing. She's just conveniently available. The director teases you with another cameo, but quickly shoves it under the carpet at the risk of “complicating” the story towards the end.

There is no baggage or barometer of her life - except that she and Ranbir have different points of view. That's it - otherwise we know nothing of her new self, 8 years later. On the one hand, she comes across happily single and on the other she jumps at Ranbir’s offer to marry.

And so we are expected to understand that "suddenly" ranbir, who doesn't give (more than) a f*** , has fallen for Deepika. That he's possessive of her. And that she'll take it when he'll say he's changed. Too easy, eh? 

***

Perhaps a more credible end would've made this movie a great movie. Brings me back to my favourite question pertinent of today's Bollywood - how much is too much? How much reality reduces the commercial viability of the movie? Why must near flawless characterizations must fall pray to twists in the plot trying to please everybody. 

Like missing the winning six on the last ball of the innings, the film falls just short of being great. I laud the effort but feel sorry for the team that tried really hard and fell short of being brilliant. Kudos. 

But battameez dil needed a little more.