Half Girlfriend Movie Review: Half Baked

Fun fact: Two films release this week and both the films feature a protagonist, who cannot converse in English fluently. However, while Hindi Medium starring Irrfan Khan was a fun watch, Half Girlfriend, which is based on Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name, is the exact opposite.

Madhav Jha (Arjun Kapoor), a Hindi-medium student from Simrao in rural Bihar, lands up at a elite college in Delhi on a sports quota and promptly falls for student Riya Somani (Shraddha Kapoor) after watching her on the basketball court. The two become pals and bond over the sport, till Madhav expresses his love for Riya and is told that she can only be his 'half girlfriend' (though she doesn't explain to him what is that supposed to mean). A misunderstanding between the two makes them drift apart, but the two meet after years and hope rears its head once again. However, will the two finally be together? Watch the film to find out...

Arjun Kapoor, who had made an impressive debut with Ishaqzaade, looks too overweight and hirsute to pass off as a student and his perpetually slack-jawed, dumbfounded expression doesn't really do any credit to his character. Also, it is tough to believe that Madhav Jha is a resident of rural Bihar with his perfectly spiked hair, a designer stubble and wears cool threads.

On her part, Shraddha Kapoor is equally unimpressive as the posh Riya Somani. During the promotions of the film, the makers had made a big deal out of how Shraddha studied basketball for the film, but it is obvious after watching her move on the basketball court than nothing could be further from the truth. Shraddha's body language lacks the easy grace of an athlete and the way she plays comes across as unintentionally funny. A love story works only if there is solid chemistry between the lead pair and the film miserably fails here. The chemistry between the two is almost nonexistent, which may prove to be the film's undoing. Seema Biswas and Vikrant Massey are decent in their roles.

Director Mohit Suri, known for films like Ek Villain and Aashiqui 2, fumbles the ball big time with this film. The screenplay is not gripping at all and the dialogues are quite unmemorable. As mentioned above, because the chemistry between the lead pair is ineffective, the whole film falls flat on its face. Ohh and before I forget, the filmmakers have created Bill Gates through VFX for a sequence and the results are atrocious, to say the least.

What works against the film is that it lacks a soul and thus, fails to make viewers relate to anything that is happening on the screen. Riya roams Delhi with Madhav, sings songs with him, holds hands with him and even kisses him, but then insists on being only a half-girlfriend. What does that mean exactly? No explanation. Madhav insists on being with the girl who would rather feign death than hang out with him, which says a lot... but then, love is blind and what not, eh?

Anyway, to sum it up, Half Girlfriend is not worth the watch...