Band Baaja Baaraat: Knotty Planners Peaking!
By MovieTalkies.com, 10 December 2010
3 / 5
Actually, one goes into this movie without any expectations whatsoever. All of that was reserved for this week's other release, 'No Problem'. So Yash Raj's 'Band Baaja Baaraat' actually catches one by surprise as it is like a breath of fresh air. It is has a certain honest and clumsy charm about it which is quite endearing. First time director Maneesh Sharma manages to strike bull's eye with his first venture. The film also introduces Ranveer Singh, the male protagonist, and both first timers impress.
In brief, the story is about two wedding planners, Shruti Kakkar (Anushka Sharma) and Ranveer, who plays the role of Bittoo Sharma. They are partners in a business of planning weddings and could not be any more different than they are. While Shruti is a city bred modern girl, Bittu seems to have come straight from the sugarcane fields of Sahranpur.
So a small towner and a cosmopolitan girl, set up a wedding business in Delhi and, in time, during the course of which they plan and execute so many weddings, the duo also falls in love. But the course of true love never runs smooth and neither does the course of first time ventures, and so the first half of the movie looks at the manner in which the duo sets up its business and the various obstacles that they manage to overcome.
This is the fun part of the movie with the city of Delhi coming alive under the hands of Maneesh, a Delhiite. In fact, that's what bowls one over about the movie. And that is its authentic Delhi touches. In recent times, there have been quite a few filmmakers like Dibakar Banerjee, for instance, who has very successfully captured the essence of Delhi, its manners, its languages and its people through his films like 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye' and 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'.
Maneesh too manages to do the same with the city in this movie. Of course, he is helped to a great extend in this endeavour by his screenplay and dialogue writer Habib Faisal, who recently made a film, 'Do Dooni Chaar' starring Rishi Kapoor, also set in Delhi. This seems to be a season of Delhi centric love.
Of course, the director is not able to maintain the momentum in the second half, which seems to lose quite a bit of the freshness of the first half. In fact, this half seems to be a tad over stretched and that's a strain on one's attention span.
Of the lead actors, Anushka, actually springs quite a surprise. The actress who makes an appearance in her third film for the banner, is actually quite spontaneous in this movie and makes a very good impression as the ambitious Shruti Kakkar. She is brilliantly supported by Ranveer, who seems to be a natural. The actor seems to slip into the role of the street smart, small towner effortlessly and gives a near flawless performance as Bittoo.
The film's music composed by Salim Sulaiman is quite pleasant. But that's about it. Delhi and its characteristic flavour has been captured on camera quite effectively by Aseem Mishra, the cinematographer. Faisal's screenplay and dialogues are punchy in most parts, except for the second half of the movie which runs into very clichéd areas.
But the redeeming feature of the film remains its spontaneous and honest quality, which sees the movie sail through with minor hiccups. The debutant director is indeed to be congratulated for making such a vibrant debut.
The other plus about the movie remains the chemistry between the lead actors. For once, Anushka seems to come alive on screen; it seems that the vibrancy of her co star seems to infect her as well, which is good news for the movie..
In short, 'Baand Baaja Baaraat' takes one by surprise and makes it's way into one's heart with its honesty and youthful energy, all of which override the minor glitches.