A hug can speak volumes. Especially when a well-guided camera
slowly moves in to two people going through a mixture of emotions ranging from
uncertainty to overwhelming love to the need to hold on forever. More so when
Ranbir Kapoor almost rocks himself like a baby in a warm embrace.
Writer/director, Ayan Mukherjee knows how to orchestrate
this wonderful moment in ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’. This simple scene makes up
for an otherwise overcrowded plot full of some good, some contrived dialogues
including the once famous Rooh Afza.
When Karan Johar, Ayan Mukherjee and Ranbir Kapoor first got
together, they gave us a wonderful coming of age film, ”Wake up Sid”. Besides
the warm and simple story, there were several interesting factors that
reflected Ayan all the way. Like the unlikely pairing of Ranbir and Konkona in
a fresh and endearingly simple, honest story.
With “Yeh Jawani hai Deewani, Ayan has has taken almost the
same elements of love, friendship and growing up and now added several layers
to each character with a double dose of Joheresque production values.
Konkona from ‘Wake Up
Sid’ is now Naina (Deepika Padukone); the simple, good, levelheaded girl .She
discovers how to have fun with Bunny aka Kabir (Ranbir) who is a wanderer at
heart. Ranbir and his friend in ‘Wake up Sid’ had a lovely, bonding moment when
the two have a scrap and later come together, laughing their heads off over an
engagement ring.
In Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani, the bonding is so good that it
touches you more than the romance. The credit goes partly to Aditya Roy Kapur
for a fabulous performance and partly to a very well written scene in which the
two friends come to blows and later hug.
The two friends, Abhi (ARK) and Bunny along with their third
friend, Aditi (Kalki Koechlin) leave for a trek in Manali. Naina, who has grown
up with her nose buried deep in books, joins them. In the midst of rollicking
fun in the snow capped beauty and colorful gulal filled romance, she falls in
love. Eight years later, it is Aditi’s wedding and the four meet again. The
rest of the screenplay, surprisingly, moves into some serious territory. The
conflict is relevant but comes across as somewhat forced.
Since the narrative is focused on Deepika’s point of view
and keeps moving to the other two friends, Ranbir gets centrestage only in the
song and dance scenes. One of them, is by now famous dance to “Ghagra’ with
Madhuri Dixit who looks more alluring than ever. The sizzling chemistry between
the two calls for another film altogether. Pritam’s ”Badtameez’ and ‘Balam
Pichkari’ are typically top of the chart numbers, all written by the versatile
Amitabh Bhattacharya.
It is no surprise that Ranbir excels in every emotional
scene and plays his vagabond character with ease (a tattoo of ‘awara’ on his
wrist shows off his great genes). However it is Deepika Padukone who continues
to surprise and delight after her noticeable performance in Cocktail. Her
dimpled charm is beautifully highlighted in several close ups. These incidentally
gave rise to several gasps of admiration in the packed theatre.
Aditya Roy Kapur is on par with Ranbir, both in screen
presence and acting. Kalki as a mad cap who hides her true feelings, is just
perfect for the role. She charms, emotes and entertains effortlessly.
In one scene, that shows their essential conflict, Deepika
and Ranbir debate over Mumbai and exotic international locales. Deepika says,
“DDLJ and popcorn at Maratha Mandir.”
That’s going a bit overboard. So does Yeh Jawani hai Deewani.
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