~~~~Hasee toh Phasee Reviews~~~~ - Page 5

The channel, Romedy Now, broadcasts romantic comedies - a very American phenomenon - all day long, seven days a week, through the year. There must be a market surely, even if it's among a niche English-speaking audience, for a network to invest a great deal in only one genre of film. It must help to have a library too - from Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally to No Strings Attached and The Proposal, and everything between Julie Andrews and Katherine Heigl is covered.

The Hindi film industry's romantic comedy history, on the other hand, can be traced to only a few years ago, without it being easy to identify the films that fall under the category. May be it was Hum Tum, a When Harry Met Sallyrip-off, that started it. Or maybe it was Dil Chahta Hai, a coming-of-age tale mostly, but also about the differing love lives of three friends. But very few Hindi films have been able to tell stories about a man-woman relationship without falling for the usual "Bollywood" trappings - needless songs, unwanted complications, and bloated screenplays.

Hasee Toh Phasee, written by first-time screenwriter Harshvardhan Kulkarni and directed by debutant Vinil Matthew, gets a lot of what makes a romantic comedy work right. In Meeta (Parineeti Chopra) and Nikhil (Siddharth Malhotra), they have two lovable protagonists, both well-etched and performed with diligence by the young actors playing them. The writing is witty and consistently funny (so funny at times, it surprises you), and the film's emotional quotient doesn't get overbearing.

In many ways, Hasee Toh Phasee has elements we associate with most fluffy Hindi films - there are lip-sync songs, a large part of the story is set against a wedding, and there are humongous families, on both sides. But what really makes the film work is that its tone is entirely original - a part of which comes from the writing, and the other from the way it's executed - and which remains consistent through the film.

The story peels at two levels - the main plot is about a boy and girl who meet under strange circumstances and find themselves drawn to each other. The other story is the one between the girl, a rebel in a house full of traditional Gujaratis, and her indulgent father. Parenting is integral to the story - one that probably gets overshadowed by the romantic angle - but which lends the movie emotional heft.

The girl, Meeta, ran away from home when she was 17 so she could live life on her terms, but returns for the wedding of one of her four sisters, Karishma (Adah Sharma). The family disowned her after she left, and she's been left to work through life on her own. She carries her scars with her, it seems, but camouflages them with pills she pops in order to remain upbeat and alert.

Karishma's fiance is Nikhil, struggling to set up a profitable business, while having to deal with an ever-disappointed father (Sharat Saxena) and a to-be-father-in-law (Manoj Joshi) who considers him inferior to his daughter. Nikhil is entrusted with the task of keeping Meeta away from her family by Karishma till the wedding day. Meeta seems weird and erratic to Nikhil (and to the audience) but as time passes by, the two seem to find normalcy with each other.

It's a fascinating plot, about two extremely unreliable (one more than the other) and un-evolved individuals, but their jaggedness gives the story a sharp edge. Chopra proves she's the most exciting young talent in the industry currently, digging into her meaty role with flourish and making a feast of it. The story, in many ways, revolves around Meeta, and the character is anything but one-dimensional. For Chopra to have pulled off something complex with what seems like absolute ease in only her fourth film must require special talent.

Siddharth Malhotra has the lesser role, in a way, but his sincerity and honesty shines through eventually. At interval point, it seems like the writers - Kulkarni and dialogue co-writers Anurag Kashyap, Purva Naresh and Mathew - are unable to do justice to Nikhil. However, that changes in the second half, with Nikhil endearing himself and finding redemption.

The supporting cast is among the best seen in a Hindi film recently, and casting director Mukesh Chhabra (fresh off the disastrous Jai Ho, featuring some of the worst actors available) gets new faces in some really important roles. A guy obsessed with Anu Malik, twin septuagenarian aunts, a friend straddled with taking Nikhil's pregnant sister-in-law across town - all the actors in bit roles are fantastic. The one towering among all is Manoj Joshi. The veteran theatre and film actor plays Meeta and Karishma's father and is stellar in a subtle, effective performance.

Both Kulkarni and Matthew make great first impressions, the former with his fresh approach to writing a boy-girl romance and wit, and the latter making a mark with a wholly original, understated approach to telling the story. Kunal Sharma's sound design is impeccable and refreshingly sparse - a scene in the film has Nikhil and Meeta getting intimate with only the sound of a clock ticking in the background - and cinematographer Sanu John Varughese gives the film a fresh, understated look.

What doesn't work for the film are the things it tries so hard to side-step to begin with - a completely unwanted Punjabi wedding song acts as a party spoiler at a crucial point in the film (it isn't even hummable), and an aggressive uncle of Meeta's (Sameer Khakhar, who played Iqbal in Parindaand Khopdi in Nukkad, in a resurgence of sorts after Jai Ho) strikes a false note. Also underwhelming is the character of Karishma, who conveniently disappears for a large part of the drama.

The best romantic comedy made in Bollywood continues to be Shakun Batra's Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, which relentlessly stayed away from Hindi film clichs right till the end. Hasee Toh Phasee panders to mainstream constraints occasionally, but comes a close second to that film. It's heart-warming, funny and enjoyable. And it touches a chord.