Hasee Toh Phasee: Slowly tries to build on you, but...

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File:Haseetohphasee poster.jpg
I am back after a gap of more than one and half months. The last one being a review of Dhoom 3, and I had promised to myself that I shall do a review of 2013 as the year comes to an end. But as usual one gets caught in the stupid things of life. Let me take a short detour and quickly in a few words summarise 2013. Well, it was the year of Ranjhaana, Kai Po Che, Lootera, Jolly LLB, Fukrey, Ghanchakkar and briefly, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. I have not seen three movies, which I am told are gems as well, BA Pass, Lunchbox and Ship of Thesues. I promise to see them this year. But these 6 films made up for all the trash that got made in Bollywood in 2013. What a gem was Lootera! A rusty and angry Kai Po Che and the sublime Ranjhaana. Fukrey had it's moments barring Richa Chadha (grouse), Jolly LLB for the effortless Saurabh Shukla and Ghanchakkar for the great plot it had (the movie was somehow misunderstood and misinterpreted). I hope to see some better films in 2014 for now.

Managed to squeeze in Captain Philip, Inside Llewyn Davis, 12 years a slave and American Hustle. However, shall save the review of them for a later date. Yes! they all are great and definitely of different genres.

But for now it is Hasee Toh Phasee (HTP). Why did I go for the movie? I liked the promos and they sounded different.Also there was the potent combination of Dharma and Phantom! Sigh! HTP fails to deliver. Like a true Dharma and Phantom productions of the past, it has it's moments, but fails to deliver as a whole. The film is slow paced and seems to be building on, but for the moments...Parineeti makes a valiant attempt, carrying the burden of the entire film on her broad shoulders, but in the end she needs support too. Sidharth Malhotra is wooden and does not bring out the character well. This was a great launching pad for him, but get back to Roshan Taneja , probably. The support casts does it's bit, but they hardly have footage and space. Wish these guys could have had their moments. The one character which tried it's best was this brother of Nikhil (Sidharth's character name in the movie), who comes from Kanpur (pity! searched for him, could not get his name anywhere).

Let me perhaps talk of the moments where the film had it's bit. The scene where, Nikhil locks up Meeta (Parineeti's character) and she wets her clothes, the introduction scene of the two characters (Nikhil and Meeta) and the scenes where Meeta seems to be switching between her anti depressant pills and where the pill effects seems to be wearing off. Infact, Meeta's character is well written and finely delivered by the oh so effortless Parineeti. However, Nikhil's character is also finely sketched but with a bad delivery by Sidharth Malhotra. I feel sad for him, since this was almost his launch pad (do not count SOTY, as that was a multi cast).

Go watch it for Zehnaseeb the song, superbly sung by Chinmayee Sripada, but that you could do that anytime on Youtube and wait for the TV re-run of the film, so better still watch any of the Oscar nominees instead...running in a few limited edition format. 

Comments

Mrinal Mathur said…
Parineeti steals the limelight with excellent comic timin.

And she pulls off her complex and screwed up character with élan.

It’s not easy for an actress to play a ‘misfit’.

Parineeti carries it off so well to prove she is one of the finest upcoming actresses in Bollywood.
February 24, 2014 at 4:51 AM
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