Hasee Toh Phasee Review - Embrace the month of love. Feb 7, 201403.0/5
Verdict - One cannot imagine this movie without Parineeti Chopra. Bravo! Just rush to the nearest cinema hall, pronto!
The ingress of love and romance in February can be upheld as irrefragable & sacrosanct. The mind is occupied by tendency to romanticize relationships. Ergo, filmmakers too vie for the attention of movie buffs to make it big. Cashing in on the eventuality is Dharma Productions & Phantom Films' HASEE TOH PHASEE, directed by first-time director Vinil Mathew, best known for his commercials a la Nescafe and Vodafone. Parineeti Chopra takes a leap ahead by stepping outside Yash Raj Films banner.
Spread across Mumbai over a decade, the film is about the relationship between the quirky, rebellious & eccentric Meeta (Parineeti Chopra) and much sentimental Nikhil Bhardwaj (Sidharth Malhotra) struggling with their respective families to fit in. They bump into each other for the very first time at Nikhil's sister Diksha's wedding, while Meeta is on the run. Nikhil falls in love with Meeta's sister Karishma (Adah Sharma) in the meanwhile. Meeta is a science freak and a chemical engineer by profession who doesn't fit into her rich Gujarati family and so is on a run. Both Meeta & Nikhil don't get to meet each other for a prolonged time. Meeta returns to Mumbai and only Karishma is aware about this. Karishma asks Nikhil to find Meeta an accommodation, away from her family. But Nikhil, not happy with the arrangements that a contact has made for Meeta, puts her up in his own flat. During the course of Meeta's stay at Nikhil's house and in the midst of a twisted confusion, the truth of relationships is unfolded; the strength of unions is tested and love triumphs.
The story is fresh, synchronous, wacky and heartwarming, which provides the much-needed break from the uninspiring films churned out lately in the romcom genre. The dialogues (Harshavardhan Kulkarni, Anurag Kashyap, Purva Naresh and Vinil Mathew) are contemporaneously jocular or amusing, especially at inappropriate times and uplift the mood of the film at every single juncture. Parineeti gets to mouth most of the chemical dialogues. The film exhibits a detailed conversations, which reflect the mindset of the young couple. From the very inception, it is evident that Meeta & Nikhil are made for each other. But the director Mathew deserves a pat on his back for the real accomplishment that he manages to keep the viewers hooked right from the beginning to the culmination until the leads come together, predictably. Vinil dosn't hastily put forward unwanted scenes to make Sid & Pari fall for each other. Mathew brings out errorless chemistry that Siddharth and Parineeti share. He effectively narrates how to live life for oneself & not for the others and how to express the hidden emotions, through two different individuals in Pari & Sid. The direction is unassailable, consummately. Sidharth performing a computer heist, Sid's confessions following the interval, Nikhil getting Meeta a vada pao and she in turn fixing his car, Nikhil waking up his future father-in-law late at night so that Meeta in turn can have a look at her father and the emotional moments between Parineeti and her screen dad, Manoj Joshi are highlights of the enterprise. Sanu John Varughese' top-notch cinematography captures Karan Johar's trademark lavish sets (art director: Aditya Kanwar; set dresser: Tiya Tejpal) & trendy outfits [Divya Gambhir & Nidhi Gambhir and Niharika Jolly (costume supervisor for songs)] in an impressively beautiful manner. The music by Vishal Dadlani-Shekhar Ravjiani, already a rage, is befitting & peppy. The lyrics (Amitabh Bhattacharya & Kumaar) too, are enthralling. The soothing-and-heartfelt ["Zehnaseeb" (singers: Chinmayi Sripada & Shekhar Ravjiani), "Manchala" (singer: Shafqat Amanat Ali) and "Ishq Bulava" (singers: Sanam Puri & Shipra Goyal)] and foot-tapping ["Punjabi Wedding Song" (singers: Sunidhi Chauhan & Benny Dayal), "Shake It Like Shammi" (singer: Benny Dayal) and "Drama Queen" (singers: Shreya Ghoshal & Vishal Dadlani)] uplift the mood of the enterprise. The background score (Amar Mangrulkar) is competent. The choreography (Remo DSouza, Bosco Martis, Caesar Gonsalves and Ahmed Khan) is spanking and full of energy, excitement & cheerfulness.
On the flip side, the screenplay (Harshavardhan Kulkarni) seems far-fetched and not so convincing, specifically in back story of Meeta's addiction and mental state. The movie goes on the typical path of melodrama and hence, just doesn't give a fitting impression (editor: Shweta Venkat Mathew). The lingering pacing & excessive length (clocking in at precisely 141 minutes) are another deterrants.
The true winner of HASEE TOH PHASEE is its casting (Mukesh Chhabra). The two leads shoulder the weight of the love story adroitly. Sidharth Malhotra does excel in portraying the reserved-confused Nikhil. He aptly carries the naivety, earnestness and is a scene-stealer. He handles the delicate moments with utmost susceptibility/subtlety. At the same time, he is utterly charismatic, especially in the dance numbers. Long way to go man! But it's the livewire/firecracker Parineeti who brings out the most suited expressions in a given scene and bewitches the viewers with her act. The role is tailor-made for her. Kudos to her for pulling off the ticklish role of an addict and socially-awkward scientist and making outrageous faces with elan. She proves yet again why she is often indicated clearly as the most promising actress of her generation. Pari herself is more than enough to set the movie apart from any other romcoms. Bravo!
Adah Sharma is naturally splendid. Sharat Saxena, Manoj Joshi, Sameer Khakhar, Neena Kulkarni and Anil Mange exhibit virtuoso performances. Karan Johar & Tinnu Anand appear in cameos.
The zany, new-age date movie is the best bet at cinemas this valentine's week. Go for it, chop-chop!
http://www.desimartini.com/reviews/somesh-sinha-hasee-toh-phasee/rd24374md2798.htm#.UvSSDsLx-Ic.twitter
Edited by HawaaPot - 11 years ago
Web Series
Fan Fictions
10