Bhai Jo!!
One would just not like to do anything but smirk on this so aweful looking n so symantically disfigured phrase of expression. But when one hears it over n over again from none other than the sweet, affable charmer (n Goyal Saab next door) Rishi Kapoor as he gets peeved one doesn't need to sit through a discourse on profanities in Wasseypur to comprehend which slang this gentleman wishes to cloak in its civilized avatar to render it more universal acceptability!!
Today being just the second day since its release it would be audacious on my part to pronounce that SDR for sure is going to rake in moolah at the unpredictable n thankless (err! sometimes overzealous n undemanding as well, ask Rohit Shetty n SRK) box office. Its makers must (in all likelihood) have consulted those management research folks who seemingly have perfected the art of predicting the fate of a script on silver screen at the conceptualization stage itself (with 78% confidence level of course)!!
So, the very opening shot of this rom-com (as it opens its canvas to a houseful audience on a festive Sunday morning) is good enough to reassure you that it's gonna be a full paisa vasool entertainer. And your confidence doesn't get even an iota of beating through the next couple of hours as all the four protagonists present their confused state of mind & emotional potpourri on a variety of Rajasthani Shaadi (wedding)Thaalis (plates) depicting myriad hues of the hinterland which gives rise to the cross-gender unease in modern times.
I wasn't surprised that the crowd didn't have any representation from my parents' generation. There couldn't actually be if the pre-release publicity posters were any indication of what to expect from this "adult survey" exhibition. It made for some serious stamping of this notion when i saw a group of 4 septuagenarians walking past us (& cris-crossing the entire theatre) few times while wondering where there alloted seats got lost! Even as we were wondering what these respected gentlemen n ladies were doing in this show did we realize that they indeed had booked Satyagraha & somehow unwittingly ended up entering a wrong screen. What a contextual irony it was!! While the young generations would be able to closely relate with this story the Old conservatives won't definitely condone it even if they show generocity by not outrightly deriding it for its explicit endorsement of sexual liberation while making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage!
It's heartening to see Rishi ji sailing through his career's second innings as smoothly & with the same conssummate ease with which he used to steal young hearts in the eighties. What a true gem of an understated exhibitionist he has been all through these years!!
For all my nervous system's reluctance to accept Sushant as anything other than an accomplished dancer i have to admit that he has essayed the role of a perennially confused (read conveniently non-committal) vagabond with subtle comfort. He is all at ease with portrayal of his casanova role as much as it was easy for the Jodhpur docs to prove the virility of a self proclaimed BAPU (after he innocently claimed that he was not even capable of brutalizing a 15 year old girl)! His over half a dozen lip locks with his two love interests in the film would definitely give few sleepless nights to the virtuoso of this art Imran Hashmi.
Parineeti has once again been able to effortlessly pull off the role of a carefree modern city girl who doesn't give two hoots to her neighbours while getting into live-in relationships. In her much anticipated battle with her illustrious elder cousin Priyanka she decisively has a winner in her kitty as the latter made a wrong career choice with Zanjeer which is just a bothched up tribute to the original King maker.
A special word of praise for the debutante Vani Kapoor. Despite getting a role half in length of the other lady in her groom-to-be's life she doesn't get intimidated & boldly announces that she is here to stay for a while.
Stinky toilets play a special role in the scheme of things as they keep registering their comical presence every now n then to help these guys soothe their nerves before taking their next big leap of faith (or the lack of it actually).
In the end it was only fitting that the wedding planner Goyal Saab asks two young kids if they would ever get married when they are grown up. Some serious food for thought that is.
For its wholesome masala content this bold narrative gets 8 on REndex. If it could somehow take the senior citizens along & not rub them the wrong way i wouldn't have got the guts to cut its remainder 2.
Cheers
(C) Rits Original
