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Release date:
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June 10, 2016
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Director:
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Deepak Tijori
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Cast:
Language:
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Randeep Hooda,
Kajal Aggarwal, Dhiraj Shetty, Mamik, Anil George, Yuri Suri
Hindi
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And once again, Hottie Hooda
shines in a film that proves he deserves better.
Do Lafzon
Ki Kahani (A Story
In Two Words, a title derived from the old Hindi film song) can be summarised
in one lafz: dated.
This Randeep Hooda-Kajal
Aggarwal-starrer strings together many trite situations from many romantic
dramas of the past. Even the two leads are clichés. He the strong, silent type.
She whose chirpiness is designed to charm him, because wide-eyed, bholi-bhaali women who chatter endlessly
are cho chweet and cute, na? Except that humans who chirrup and tweet sound
like twits, and it is really not that cute when a seemingly intelligent adult
derives life lessons from a formulaic saas-bahu
Hindi soap that the film seems to be mocking in the first place.
After an ominous-looking,
intriguing opening scene involving a shootout and a disfigured Hooda in a Kuala
Lumpur dockyard (later repeated with a shocking revelation), the film descends
into syrupy, saccharine territory, giving us a hero with a dark secret and a
bubbly blind woman who he falls for at first sight, enough to sacrifice his
life, limbs and future to restore her vision.
Suraj (no surname) was once a
boxer, but now earns his living doing multiple odd jobs. Jenny Mathias appears
to be a full-time art teacher and part-time physiotherapist – I am not entirely
sure how that is possible, but the poorly-thought-out physio angle is thrown in
for a reason.
They meet when he takes the job
of a parking attendant and she lands
up to watch a soppy soap on the TV in his booth. Considering the generous size
of her home, it is clear she can afford a TV. Since she was in the habit of
watching that show with Suraj’s elderly predecessor, one assumes the old man
was her friend, except that her supposed buddy did not bother to inform her
when he retired. Why then? Perhaps because the writer could not think of a convincing
way to introduce his reclusive hero to his bright, sociable – yet inexplicably
friendless – heroine while simultaneously introducing us to her love for intellectually
challenged teleserials?
Whatever.
There is a bit of a twist in the
tale involving how their paths first crossed, but the potential of that plot
point is frittered away when it too is used to further raise the film’s
schmaltzy quotient.
(Spoiler alert for this paragraph) If you are a boxer and a sad-looking
stranger asks you to throw a fight because your opponent, who is her husband, desperately
needs the winnings for their daughter’s cancer treatment, here’s a suggestion:
don’t throw the fight, offer to pay the kid’s hospital bills instead. There’s too
much of this stuff and nonsense in the film. Seriously! Are we not past the era
of silly, easily solvable confusions, misunderstandings and qurbani?
Little time and zero imagination
appear to have been expended on the film’s writing (the kahani of Do Lafzon Ki Kahani
is credited to Girish Dhamija though it is inspired by the 2011 South Korean
film Always). However, money has
clearly been spent on the technical departments, especially the design,
choreography and shooting of the impressively done, bone-crunching boxing
scenes. But even this element and the catchy song
Mujhe jeena
sikha diya are not striking enough to make DLKK a film worth recommending.
In this ocean of
unimaginativeness swim Randeep Hooda and Kajal Aggarwal, playing the lead
couple. Aggarwal has worked across Indian film industries for several years.
Her calling card in Hindi cinema (if at all it can be considered one) is a
project that treated its heroine as the hero’s mandatory arm candy: Singham in 2011. Given a meatier role
here, formulaic – and potentially irritating – though it is, she shows us that
she is capable of much more than that. It does not hurt, of course, that she looks
really pretty in minimal makeup and simple, attractive frocks. A hat tip here to
Ashley Rebello and Terrence Lobo who are credited
with the costume design & styling.
As for Hooda, 2016 has been a
good showcase for his underrated talent, with Laal Rang, Sarbjit and Do Lafzon Ki Kahani releasing in quick
succession. There is a moment in this film when a sightless girl asks Suraj what he
looks like and he, the shyness and quiet pride flitting across his face, tells
her that people consider him “rough and tough”. Contrast this turn as the
reticent Suraj with his performance as a feisty villager who is reduced to a
skeletal mess in a Pakistani prison in Sarbjit
or the plucky, sexy criminal he plays in Laal Rang and you might weep with despair at mainstream Bollywood’s failure to
give him substantial roles more often in better films. PS: Hooda takes off
his shirt to train in Do Lafzon and, err, let’s just say that makes me very happy.
Interesting actors pop up in
supporting roles in this film: Mamik, who played Aamir Khan’s brother in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), plays
Suraj’s coach Omi; and theatre actor Anil George, earlier seen in Miss Lovely, plays the owner of the club
that Suraj once represented.
But even talented actors cannot
save this treacle-drenched, outmoded, unoriginal affair. The lafz “love
never hurts...love heals” flash on screen right in the end. It takes a really
well-made film to pull off that kind of mush. Do Lafzon Ki Kahani ain’t that film.
Rating
(out of five): *
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CBFC Rating (India):
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UA
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Running time:
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127 minutes 49 seconds
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