Happy New Year - Reviews & BO Thread - Page 108

On the 22^nd of October, I booked my tickets for the first day first show of Happy New Year and trust me, the 48 hours till the show actually started, have been the longest 48 hours of my life. I ended up at the multiplex about 50 minutes beforehand and I will never regret that. People were discussing the trailer, the songs, the promos, the promotion, and the fantastic booking stats. There were positive vibes all around. There were 6 long trailers before the movie, and each and every trailer was booed by the 500 odd people sitting in the hall. People were dying for the movie to start.

Most people seemed worried looking at the 179:59 minutes long length of the film, but the auditorium was disappointed just two times" once at the interval (for they didn't even realize and half the film had finished) and then when the movie ended. There isn't a single dull moment in the movie. The writers have done an excellent job. Masala movies are often referred to as no-brainers,' and the critics advice people to keep their brains at home in order to enjoy the movie. Happy New Year is an exception. It has a great story that is intriguing enough to entertain the audiences without getting them bored. Characters who invoke laughter thanks to their poor English skills aren't new, but Mayur Puri's dialogues are phenomenal. His dialogues play a key role in the entertainment quotient of the film.

I have never experienced a theatre sing a song together until Happy New Year. Vishal and Shekhar have delivered an ace. I could see every single person doing the lip sync. There wasn't a single song that wasn't welcomed with screams. Experiencing a melody as soothing as Manwa Laage getting welcomed with screams and applauds is breath-taking. Neeti Mohan's Manwa Laage is fabulous too. The instrumental that plays while the heist is captivating. Watching Indiawaale is a treat. But trust me, the world dance medley leaves a mark. Maybe because it's the climax, but it stays on your mind hours after the movie has ended.

Farah Khan deserves an applause. Happy New Year is Farah's masterstroke. She knows what the people want, she knows the vein of the audiences, and she nowhere falls short of all the hefty expectations. In fact, she surpasses all the expectations. She takes command at the very first scene, and never lets it go away. The introduction scenes of all the characters, the dance and heist rehearsals that take place in chorus, the World Dance Championship, the reaction bits of the supporters as they watch Team India on television sets, or the subtitles for the team North Korea" she has given her best. She has made sure that even that section of the audience who isn't a fan of anyone in the movie, will want to watch it again, and that's an accomplishment. Be it Kiku Sharda as the dance-guru or the look-alike of the prime minister of India, she's got everything bang on target. Happy New Year has A Farah Khan Film' written all over it.

The casting of the film couldn't have been better. They have had an incredible off-screen chemistry which shows on-screen. They bonded, they were like a family, and the audiences relate to it. I read in a review that Vivaan Shah as Rohan looks lost, and I never found that to be true. He has delivered what he was expected to. Boman Irani as Tammy is hilarious. He invokes humour both through his dialogues and expressions. His stud avatar is humorous. Sonu Sood as Jag is top-notch. He shines in fight scenes and delivers great emotional scenes too. Deepika Padukone as Mohini is gorgeous. She is lovely in the dance sequences and dazzles with her English. The highlight of her character is that she binds them all together. Her character is the back-bone of the family and she carries it off impressively. The climax would've been incomplete without her. It's remarkable how she has improved phenomenally since Om Shanti Om. But the pick of the cast would certainly be Abhishek Bachchan. He has probably delivered the performance of his career till now. He shines with his presence in every single frame. His comic timing is splendid and expressions are uproarious. Abhishek's Nandu literally makes you roll on the floor laughing. He truly deserves an applause.

The film is grand. The locations are exquisite. The sets are opulent and rich. The VFX of the film are excellent and take the film to a whole new level. Every scene, every single frame is decorated with grandeur and your eyes are in for a treat. The heist is simple yet cool. I loved the simplicity of the film. The director doesn't complicate things and all you experience is sheer entertainment. The climax of the film is the platinum lining on the golden cloud. It's grand, it's majestic and yet it connects with the audiences. The goosebumps you get when Shah Rukh Khan says his lines about Indiawaale' in the finale of the WDC are beyond words. The Indiawaale make you laugh with them, cry with them and live with them. They teach you some great lessons in the funniest of ways and leave you all teary-eyed at the end" tears of happiness and pure joy. Of course the movie isn't perfect, but then, no movie is. But the film makes you let go of all the drawbacks" that's the beauty of the film.

At the end, it's a Shah Rukh Khan movie. He sparkles throughout the movie. His Charlie is the perfect blend of emotions. Charlie is exhilaratingly perfect with the heist and beautifully imperfect with the emotions and the entire movie is a journey wherein he realizes who the real winner is" not the one who actually wins, but the one who never gives up, the one who never lets down, and the one who stands for what is right. Only Shah Rukh Khan can make a multiplex audience (also called classes') scream and whistle at every single entry of his; be it the street fighting one, the one in lovely, the one in the finale of WDC, or the one in the end credit song. The audiences even screamed and applauded when he saves the rival kid in the semi-finals which shows how incredibly the audience had connected with him. Shah Rukh Khan underlines the fact that it is an ensemble film and makes you believe it through every single frame by pushing everyone ahead and giving them their deserved screen space, and that's a proud feeling for every fan. As a fan, Happy New Year is the most beautiful experience I've ever had. It is not possible to put in words that feeling when a grandfather sitting behind you asks his grandson about the movie and the grandson gives a thumbsup, or a group of friends sitting beside you discuss the on-screen presence of even spot boys in the end-credit song with respect for the makers of the film, or a teenage couple discusses about coming back for one more show, or a 5 year old cries because he does not want the movie to end, or the girls sitting a few rows ahead of you melt into the world's most melodious aww' when Shah Rukh Khan and AbRam appear on the screen.

Pseudo-intellectuals will never admit liking the film and no one expects them to. But they surely worship Christopher Nolan, and according to him, films are not to be analysed, but are to be felt.' This piece isn't an analysis; for you never analyse a Shah Rukh Khan movie" you feel it. And there's no better example to prove it than Happy New Year. The movie will definitely mint treasures at the box office, but it also makes the people leave the theatres with smiles and laughter and joy, and that's what matters. Happy New Year spreads happiness, and it is quite rare for a film to do it. It takes you on a ride full of laughter, of dance, of melody, of emotions, and in the end, you depart with a special experience. It leaves you with happiness that isn't ephemeral but stays for quite a long time with you. With all the idiosyncrasies, it makes you feel proud as Indiawaale' and that feeling is what it's all about. So here's wishing you a very happy new year. And mind you,

"This is just a review, Picture abhi baaki hai meri dost!"