REVIEW 531: JUDWAA 2

Release date:	September 29, 2017
Director:	David Dhawan
Cast: Language:	Varun Dhawan, Taapsee Pannu, Jacqueline Fernandez, Rajpal Yadav, Vivan Bhathena, Pavan Raj Malhotra, Vikas Verma, Ali Asgar, Manoj Joshi, Anupam Kher, Johnny Lever, Manoj Pahwa, Cameo: Salman Khan Hindi

                                                                                                                   

Since Judwaa was an unapologetically slapstick comedy of errors, and the goal of this new release is to cash in on the recall value of that brand, it could have been safely assumed without visiting a theatre today that director David Dhawan would not go all cerebral on us with Judwaa 2. A new generation will perhaps watch this film as a standalone venture, but two questions are inevitable for those who have seen the original. One, which is better? Two, more important: who is better, Varun or the earlier hero, the then successful and now phenomenal Salman Khan? 

Dhawan has positioned Judwaa 2 as a contemporary reboot of his 1997 film featuring Khan in a double role with Karisma Kapoor and Rambha as the female romantic leads. It is the closest to a carbon copy that a remake can get, with his son Varun Dhawan reprising the characters played by the superstar back then. So what we get is Dhawan Junior as Raja and Prem Malhotra, conjoined twins whose surgical separation at birth results in a unique biological phenomenon seen in one in eight million cases according to the Bollywood Book of Judwaa Bachchas – when they are in geographically nearby locations, each experiences the sensations the other is going through and unwittingly clones the other’s actions.

Before you can digest that educational moment, the villain of the story kidnaps one, and through a series of circumstances you would be familiar with if you have watched the earlier Judwaa, Prem is brought up in London by wealthy parents and Raja by a poor woman in Mumbai.

Of course the brothers end up in the same city at some point (London, nicely shot by cinematographer Ayananka Bose). Prem falls for Samara (Taapsee Pannu), while Raja is smitten by Alyshka Bakshi (Jacqueline Fernandez). The confusion caused by their respective lovers and respective enemies being in the same area leads to a chain of mix-ups and mess-ups that Shakespeare might have approved of.

Given that this is the premise, obviously Judwaa 2, like Judwaa, is not an intellectual enterprise. Fair enough. We all need to occasionally let our hair down with a dose of old-fashioned stupidity, and large parts of Judwaa 2 offer silly, mindless laughs.

Even silliness must evolve though, and this would have been a better film if the screenplay by Yunus Sajawal (with dialogues by Farhad-Sajid) had, while retaining the same concept, moved beyond some of the stereotypes and insensitivity that once dominated Bollywood and occasionally lingers in projects such as this. For instance, the main antagonist Charles (Zakir Hussain) conforms to the irritating Bollywood stereotype of the Christian who cannot speak Hindi without saying “God” in place of “Bhagwan”, while a Hindu who visits a church says “God” in the middle of Hindi dialogues, as though “God” is not a common noun but the name of a specific Christian being seated somewhere upstairs in the clouds. This kind of stuff is bearable though – idiotic but not offensive. Far less tolerable is the re-use of a once-popular cliché: a “totla” character as a butt of jokes.

I am not getting all hoity-toity here and saying a speech defect may not lead to amusing situations, but that this team lacks the finesse that, say, Vishal Bhardwaj & Co employed while writing their “main ‘ph’ ko ‘ph’ bolta hoon” protagonist in Kaminey, marvelously balancing humour with sensitivity.

There is a fine line between portraying a person with a disability and turning that person into a caricature. Nandu, played by Rajpal Yadav, crosses that line. To be fair though, Yadav’s Nandu is a toned-down version of Judwaa’s over-the-top Rangeela delivered to us in yet another cringe-worthy performance by Shakti Kapoor. Thankfully too, Nandu gets limited screen time.

The rest of the film is harmless fun for the most part, except when it ventures occasionally again into crude clichés revolving around Dhawan’s assumption that the mere sight of black people should be a cause of laughter, and the abominable terms in which a middle-aged woman – Samara’s mother – is repeatedly described. In one scene, Raja calls her a “khataara gaadi” (dilapidated car) and consoles her because “tu murjha gayee hai” (you have withered).

Sigh. Is there any point in explaining ageism and sexism to David Dhawan? Does he care? Well, never mind him. We should.

With the recent Mubarakan, director Anees Bazmee showed us how it is possible to hark back to the comedies of an era gone by, even dip into stereotypes and trite comedic devices – boisterous Punjabis, twins separated at birth – without resorting to those that should have been retired in the Stone Age. Judwaa skates on thin ice on occasion, but for the most part passes muster without being earth-shatteringly good anywhere.

There are conversations that are genuinely funny, some because they are so hare-brained, and some because the actors make it work with their comic timing. Except for one-off blandness in the form of “Iski jack lag gayee aur main handle nahin kar paa raha hoon” (a line bestowed on Varun) and “Rustom ke Akshay Kumar ki tarah tum chhupe rustom nikle” (which Fernandez is forced to pull off), Judwaa 2 is a fair enough visit to the slapstick genre.

Still, the question arises: why was this film made at all, when David Dhawan could as well have re-released Judwaa on DVD, Blu-Ray etc with added features? (I mean, c’mon, Judwaa 2 even borrows two songs from the earlier film, Oonchi hai building and Chalti hai kya nau se baarah. They are the most attractive part of an ordinary soundtrack.)

The answer lies in two words: Varun Dhawan. This format gives Junior the opportunity to showcase his acting talent by playing two characters with vastly different backgrounds and demeanours in the same film and sometimes in the same frame, display his action skills in a bunch of fight scenes, and dance. Smart move, Daddy. ’Cos your son does all three well.

I’ve enjoyed watching Varun from his first film: he is attractive, has a nice body that goes well with his sweet face (the currently fashionable body-builder look would not suit him), and dances with passion. Though he still does not manage to erase his own personality for his roles (the London-based Prem in Judwaa, for instance, speaks English with an out-and-out Varun Dhawan-style Mumbaiyya accent and diction right down to pronouncing “miracle” as “miricle” and “violent” as “viylent”), he seems like the kind of actor who has what it takes to get there and the desire to work towards it.

The women of Judwaa are of course secondary to Varun. Still, within the limited space they get, they make a mark. Pannu, whose calling card in Hindi cinema right now is her brilliant performance in last year’s Pink, shows here that she is suited to the singing-dancing-swimsuit-wearing-glamour-doll routine too. She is outshone though by Fernandez who has spent most of her short career doing precisely that, but reminds us in Judwaa 2 that she is not the frozen-faced non-actor that too many people take her for. As we saw in 2016’s Dishoom, it is clear here too that this gorgeous young woman deserves a shot at larger roles in comedy.

The fabulous Pavan Raj Malhotra is wasted in a film where the gifted supporting cast is marginal and the focus is entirely on Varun.

Which brings me back to my earlier comment about Varun being the reason why this film was made. The point is underlined by Salman Khan’s cameo in Judwaa 2. It is a separate matter that that scene must rank as the most poorly conceived, amateurishly executed guest appearance by a major star ever, with jarringly bad sound quality to boot. What Dhawan Senior seems to be hinting at through the weird conversation there is that he sees Varun as a future Salman Khan.

Well, I am sticking my neck out and saying the father is shortselling his son with the comparison. Whether or not Varun becomes as big a star as Khan is not something anyone can predict, but he clearly does have the potential. More to the point, he is a better actor and a more flexible dancer than the Khan. Now Daddy, give him a more imaginative film to work in. Those of us who have enjoyed you at your best, know that you are capable of so much more than just “not bad” which is what Judwaa 2 is.

Footnote: The Censor Board asked Dhawan to remove a shot of Lord Krishna dancing and playing the saxophone in the song Suno Ganpati Bappa Morya. It is clear from their directive that they have not understood the ABC of the playful down-to-earthness that is the hallmark of Hindu mythology.

Rating (out of five stars): **

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	149 minutes 46 seconds

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

http://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/judwaa-2-movie-review-varun-dhawans-team-up-with-his-dad-trumps-salman-david-dhawan-combo-4094681.html

Poster 1 courtesy: IMDB

Poster 2 courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judwaa_2

REVIEW 253: MAIN TERA HERO

Release date:	April 4, 2014
Director:	David Dhawan
Cast: Language:	Varun Dhawan, Ileana D’Cruz, Arunoday Singh, Nargis Fakhri, Anupam Kher, Evelyn Sharma Hindi

Main Tera Hero is a film designed by a sensible father as a platform for his not-undeserving actor son. Director David Dhawan’s boy Varun Dhawan made his debut in late 2012 with Karan Johar’s Student of the Year. Dhawan Junior is charming, sweet-faced, dances with gusto and has a nice body that is, thankfully, less bulked up in Main Tera Hero than it was in his first film – this suits your boyish looks better, young man! That he can act was evident even through the fluff in SOTY, and we now know he has a penchant for comedy too. The only time Dad slips up on this front in Main Tera Hero (MTH) is when he gets Varun to dance to an indifferently choreographed, spoofy remix of Badtameez dil. Ranbir Kapoor’s swivelling hips from that song in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani are still fresh in our memories, and Varun comes off looking ordinary in comparison. That hitch apart, MTH has got me saying precisely what I suspect Daddy Dhawan wants us to say: Okay, here’s a cute kid I want to see more of.

MTH is fun without being a work of comedic genius. Of course it’s slapstick humour, but hey, it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It’s also the film’s good fortune that the post-interval portion is way better than pre-, leaving us with happy memories and a mood to forgive the decidedly slower first half.

This is a story of an innocuous-looking student called Seenu (Varun) who falls for college heartthrob Sunaina (Ileana D’Cruz) who in turn is the magnificent obsession of a corrupt, vile-tempered goonda policeman called Angad Negi (Arunoday Singh). Turning MTH into a comedy of errors at one point is the entry – I won’t tell you why and how – of millionairess Ayesha (Nargis Fakhri) and her gangster dad (Anupam Kher). 

This is not a film that merits serious analysis. Suffice it to say that it is both light-hearted and happy to be silly. While the focus is primarily on Varun, veteran Kher gets enough footage to justify his presence – and I have to say this is the most I’ve enjoyed watching him in a comedy in a while. Ditto Rajpal Yadav in a considerably smaller role. Arunoday Singh is not bad at all as beefcake on a short fuse – not as good as he was in Aisha and Yeh Saali Zindagi, but he certainly redeems himself here after his embarrassingly stodgy turn in Jism 2.

Having given Bollywood audiences a sensitive portrayal of a woman in a loveless marriage in Barfi! and effectively goofed around in Phata Poster Nikhla Hero, Tollywood star Ileana has settled for a film that gives her little scope for acting. She’s fair enough when the camera is on her, but although she’s the main female lead, the cinematographer inexplicably focuses more on Nargis once she enters the picture – yes, even in a song and dance number where they’re in the same frame – which is strange considering that Ileana is such a beautiful woman. That being said, Nargis is hot and in this film her laboured dialogue delivery has been used to comical effect by the director. Dhawan has also been wise to give her minimal dialogues.

It’s worth mentioning that while all three leads have been very well dressed, I unexpectedly found myself noticing Varun’s wardrobe even more than the girls’ pretty clothes. I mean, “pretty” is easy to achieve, “interesting” is tougher; and I really really want to borrow those thigh-high boots that he’s wearing with fitted white trousers in the song-and-dance number Besharmi ki height or that white shirt and that other blue shirt he wears for Galat baat hai. A double thumbs up to designer Kunal Rawal for his work. Incidentally, those songs by Sajid-Wajid are peppy but unmemorable, nice while they lasted but haven’t lasted in the memoryscape for too many hours after I watched the film.

MTH delights in equitably objectifying its hero and heroines, and all of them seem to be having a good time looking good for us, which is a reminder that all objectification is not objectionable, only demeaning objectification should be. It’s also equitable in other departments: I mean, when “puraani haveli ke paas chikni chameli” is used to describe an old paunchy man and his sexy young girlfriend, exactly what can you object to? The ageism directed at the man or the sexism directed at the woman? Suggestion: neither. I laughed.

Seenu’s pursuit of Sunaina should rightfully be considered borderline stalking but firstly, that element in the film barely lasts a few minutes, and second, there’s another far weirder thing that happens later on in MTH: a woman (who I shall not name, to avoid spoilers) relentlessly pursues a guy (who too shall remain unnamed), he is not interested in her at all, but the two end up together in the climax all the same, though we’re never told what he actually feels about her. If the stalking of men by women was routine in the real world and as dangerous as male stalking of women, I’d be worried. As things stand, it’s not. Equally to the point, it’s not as though the film maker thinks this male character’s views are irrelevant; it’s as though the plot needed to tie up loose ends so it got the two of them to hook up, and the writer was too lazy to pen an additional scene explaining the man’s change of feelings.

In another film, a loophole of this nature would be inexcusable. It’s hard to be angry with this goofball comedy though. In one of his finest works till date, David Dhawan had Govinda dancing to a song and mouthing these lyrics: “Main tera main tera main tera main tera main tera hero no.1”. Main Tera Hero gets its name from there. It’s nowhere close to Dhawan’s best, but it’s got enough paisa vasool elements to remind us of how ridiculously brilliant the man was when he peaked with Govinda in the 1990s. Who knows? Some day soon, he might hit another peak. Until then, there’s this nutty, harmless little entertainer called Main Tera Hero.

Rating (out of five): **3/4 (stars out of 5)

CBFC Rating (India):	U/A
Running time:	128 minutes

Photograph courtesy: 
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/MTH_Poster.jpg