A star is born!!... that's the first feeling you get after coming out of the theatre after watching BAH. For a long time, nearly close to 2 decades, the Hindi film industry has been rules by the Khan trio. The start of the new millennium saw the addition of Hrithik Roshan to that list. Well, 2008 sees a new addition to that list : Ranbir Kapoor. More on his performance , later.
Coming to the movie, Bachna Ae Haseeno is Sidhharth Raj Anand's third venture, after Salaam Namaste and Tara Rum Pum. SRA is known to tackle themes with which the Gen X can relate to. If Salaam Namaste dealt with the theme of live-in relationships and Tara Rum Pum with that of the carefree youth splurging money, leading ostentatious lifestyles, without any future planning, BAH deals with yet another young theme: lack of commitment.
The films tells the story of Raj Sharma (Ranbir Kapoor), who is a self-proclaimed "killer": a no-holds-barred casanova, who loves falling in love but hates a long term relationship ("Yeh hamesha wala 'HAMESHA' nahin, sirf 3-4 hafte wala 'HAMESHA tha"). The story tracks 3 separate times of his life, when he has flings with 3 girls: Mahi (Minnishha Lamba), Radhika (Bipasha Basu) and Gayatri (Deepika Padukone). The first two are unceremoniously dumped our "killer", but he falls hard for the last one, who dumps him. This makes him realize what a cad he had been to the previous 2, and as atonement, he sets off to plead forgiveness from them. What happens when the loverboy meets them and how they forgive him forms the rest of the plot.
BAH is a true Yashraj film: from the pristine Swiss locales to the fields of Punjab, everything which Yash Choprafilms are associated with, they are all there.A few romantic scenes here, a few romantic songs there and polishing it down with some light emotional scenes with a happy ending for dessert, the popular Yashraj thaali is served for the viewers to relish.
Even though SRA has dealt with young themes, his style of storytelling has been very simple to comprehend for an average movie-goer. He packs in enough commercial masala in the movie to keep the front-benchers happy, but side-by-side, is able to tell his story effectively. BAH is no different. The movie starts off with a rocking number (Bachna Ae Haseeno remixed), with Ranbir setting the dance floor on fire, with 3 "WOW" dolls ensuring that the temperature is maintained at oven temperature. After that, the narrative moves in an episodic manner, giving full attention to one fling at a time. The first half flows like a breeze. However, things start to shake a bit in the second half. The sheer effortlessness with which he gains Mahi's forgiveness is a bit hard to digest. Again, how quickly scorned-for-being-wronged Radhika forgives Raj is also unpalatable. But you still try and gulp it down.But the last 10 minutes of the movie are a shocker. SRA has this habit of trying to emulate Priyadarshan style climaxes, in which something drastic happens, events take place so quickly that you can't help but laugh. But this has been his biggest weakness... so much so that the graph of the film just nose-dives to such an extent that it may change the whole audience opinion of the movie. He did it in Salaam Namaste, he does it again with BAH. Cut it out of the movie, and the movie does look much better.
Cinematography and art-direction deserve brownie points here. Sharmishtha Roy, who has been responsible for giving that rich ambience in all of Yashraj movies post Chandni, is at work again. You become nostalgic when you see Switzerland and the references to DDLJ, and the beauty of Mumbai, Sydney and Capri is captured quite amazingly by the camera. Dialogues by Anvita Dutt Guptan deserve a special mention: they are very fresh, very today's lingo, and minimal on the conventional hindi film stuff.
Musically, Vishal and Shekhar have done a decent job, though being a Yashraj film, a chartbuster of an album was the need of the hour. The absence of that one song which sends the audience into raptures is very strongly felt.
Now to the performances:
Ranbir Kapoor shows that he has arrived. He promised a lot in Saawariya, and he fulfills them in BAH with a near perfect performance in a dynamic role. The sheer effortlessness with which he plays an 18 year old, a 25 year old and a 30 year old, all in the span of 2.5 hours displays the range he possesses as an actor. A special mention is when he has that naughty glint in his eyes during the Bipasha Basu episode in the first half--- he truly lives the average GenXer's ultimate male fantasy. Add to that, the sheer charisma and the powerful screen presence he has. He just blazes on the screen: he is graceful dancer, his comic timing is near perfect and he also shows his depth in romantic and emotional sequences, he fulfills all requirements of the typical Yashraj loverboy. A very judicious and intelligent choice of films will most definitely catapult him into super-stardom. A STAR's PERFORMANCE is all I can say!!
Bipasha Basu delivers a knockout performance. If she sizzles as the sexy neighbour in the first half (May God bless all us bachelors with neighbours like that!!), she perfectly justifies the saying "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"in the second.
Minnissha Lamba gives a very sweet, adorable, and endearing performance as Mahi, who searches for her "Raj"(of DDLJ). The sincerity that she brings to her role as Mahi, forces the viewer to empathize with her when Raj breaks her heart.
Deepika Padukone suffers because of a badly written character. There was nothing there in the role to justify her presence in this film. Add to that, a badly scripted climax. She should forget this film in a hurry.
Overall, a good family entertainer; a film where you can leave all the stress of your life and enjoy a good 2 and a half hours, and go out of the hall with a smile.
My Ratiing: ***
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