~~Befikre Review & Boxoffice Thread~~ - DT N P 92

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#141

By Martin D'Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | December 09, 2016

Rating: 2 / 5

The essence: Befikre could have been a bolder film. It had three spunky actors but was let down by a poor script.

Aditya Chopra returns for his fourth film as a director: the plot still revolves around love. In 2008, he gave us the successful Anushka Sharma debut film, Rab Ne Bana De Jodi which also had Shah Rukh Khan in it. Eight years later, Chopra comes up with another love story, this time based in Paris and he goes on and on about that particular relationship even though we know where the film is headed.

The end was really surprising, uncalled for, like the senseless 80s ending. There could have been more dignity shown in a relationship that is about to be sanctified. If this was a slapstick comedy, the ending could have been justified!

Dharam (Ranveer Singh), a Delhi boy, lands up in Paris to help out his friend who is running a night club. On the first day itself, he runs into Shyra (Vaani Kapoor) and Indian, born and brought up in Paris. She is a free-spirited girl, who has had many break-ups. She falls for Dharam's charm and then decides that one night' was more than enough for her. But Dharam pursues her and she moves out of her parents' home to live-in' with him. After a year of a live-in' relationship she storms out. However, they still remain friends.

With Shyra out of his life, Dharam continues his garam ways, behaving like the typical male in his 20s, high on testosterone. Chopra, on his part leaves, no stone unturned to ensure that the movie is smothered with French kisses. At the start of the film, as the credits roll, I counted almost 15, then gave up. Then, Dharam and Shyra have a competition of sorts, or so it seems, on screen. That, I guess, was to show the free-spirited part of the film.

And the free spirit is there in plenty as Ranveer's character is fleshed out in the beginning along with Vaani's. But once that is done, Chopra continues in the same vein bringing no maturity or novelty to the story.

This film, at best, is a good show-reel for Vaani, Ranveer and the guy who comes in later to propose to Vaani. He almost steals the show from these two, but for the silly end scene.

Befikre is light in between, affording some good laughs. Ranveer is in his elements making the best of whatever the script has to offer, stripping, dancing, smooching, singing. You name it, he does it with aplomb. Vaani (almost unrecognizable from her Shudh Desi Romance days), on her part, gets to show her lean and mean body time and again. At times she is stiff, at times fluid but at all times she emotes well, giving her character a Hollywoodish feel.

Befikre could have been a bolder film. It had three spunky actors but was let down by a poor script.

https://openingdoorz.com/2016/12/09/befikre-movie-review-french-kissing-in-france/

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#142

3 RATING:

Befikre Review : Fun But Frivolous

By Jaidev Hemmady, MovieTalkies.com

Aditya Chopra, who had made his directorial debut with the cult classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge, is known for making intense love stories which touch your heart and so, when we heard that his next film Befikre starring Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor is a light-hearted fun film, we were certainly curious as Adi has never explored a love story in such a manner. So, does Befikre live up to the hype? Let's find out...

Dharam (Ranveer Singh), a stand-up comic from Delhi, lands in Paris to seek his fortune and runs into Shyra (Vaani), a fiercely independent girl. The two hit off well in the first meeting itself and end up becoming casual lovers. However, when they decide to move in, their frequent arguments and failure to see eye to eye on many issues causes a break-up.

Nevertheless, the duo meet again and decide to be platonic friends, an arrangement that seems to suit both parties till Vaani meets Aney, a gentlemanly banker and a fresh romance springs between the two. How this complicates Dharam and Shyra's lives further, forms the rest of the plot.

Ranveer, with his infinite energy and boyish charm, not to mention a roguish demeanor, is a delight to watch in the film. Though his character is homophobic, hypocritical and insensitive, Ranveer manages to make Dharam adorable with effortless ease. Dharam is the kind of character you would love to let your hair down with over drinks at a noisy karaoke bar. Vaani Kapoor's high wide mouth and cheekbones distract you away from her performance and though Dharam and Shyra have a good chemistry, you may be tempted to feel that the makers should have cast some other actress opposite Ranveer.

As for the film, Befikre is quite fun and frolicky, with gorgeous locations, snazzy dance numbers, good songs and a youthful boisterousness. However, having said that, the film also lacks depth and despite being a fun fare, tends to come across as quite frivolous. Dharam and Shyra seem hell-bent on complicating their own lives in the absence of any significant issues. Chopra also slyly inserts DDLJ references in a few scenes (there is also a mother-daughter sequence, which will remind you of the scene from DDLJ featuring Farida Jalal and Kajol).

If you were expecting an intense romance, Befikre may disappoint you as the film lacks intensity and depth. However, if a fun-filled fare is something that you crave this weekend, then this film will surely work for you.

http://www.movietalkies.com/movies/reviews/22199/befikre

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TheDarkRock

@TheDarkRock

Voyager

Posted: 8 years ago

#143

Looks like reviews are pondering between 2-3 stars

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#144

BEFIKRE MOVIE REVIEW: RANVEER SINGH IS THE ONLY SAVING GRACE OF THIS DISAPPOINTING FILM

By Kunal Guha, Mumbai Mirror | Dec 9, 2016, 02.29 PM IST

Critic's Rating: 2.5/5
Avg Readers' Rating: 2.5/5
The film opens to flashes of couples of all shapes, ages and hair colours locking lips. Symbolic of the very feeling that markets most Indian films, this one is set in the French capital. But while aspiring to present an evolved relationship " one that can't be bothered by the pitfalls of commitment " it culminates with the message delivered in Sooraj Barjatya's 1989 classic: a boy and a girl cannot be just friends.

Boy meets girl at a party by the Siene. Dharam (Ranveer Singh) is a standup, fresh off the boat from Karol Bagh; Shyra (Vaani Kapoor) is a Parisian of Indian origin, who offers walking tours. She's charmed by his honesty (he admits to her about his elementary French and failed pickup lines) and they jump into the sack following an elaborately choreographed song. The two get off on daring each other " slap, kiss, poke a stranger, nick a pair of knickers " because how else can you have fun? This frivolity forges a friendship that supersedes their failed attempts at being a couple. Things take a turn for the obvious when Shyra meets Anay (a sociable investment banker), who spends little time in going down on his knees. A stab in the dark is sufficient to predict how this one folds up, but the proceedings offer a fairly breezy, even if a tad flaky passage of time.

In a romcom, characters can afford to be smudgy. But the fact that the successful standup here can't come up with a single gag worthy of a smirk is worrying. This can be blamed on Sharat Katariya who is billed for the dialogues. This film urges you to break free, extinguish your inhibitions and what-not. But the frequent energetic dance sequences only wear you down and even while the choreography is on the ball, there's only as much.

If there is one reason to watch this one, it has to be Ranveer Singh's 1000-watt performance. Even when his lines let him down, he finds a way to ditch the dull and slip in the silly. It may not be his best, but it's a great addition to his filmography as it showcases the actor's range. Conforming to popular opinion and social media memes, Vaani Kapoor is as handsome as she is pretty. Sadly, the European sun does little to conceal her head's substantial ratio to the rest of her body. As an actor, she's unobjectionable, but that is if you can look beyond her bobblehead. The supporting cast is too peripheral to the story and their performance, consequently, does little to change its fate.

For an Aditya Chopra film, this one is disappointing. The director, credited for epic romances, seems to be too consumed by his exploration of contemporary relationships, to be bothered to construct a story worth telling. The outcome of his befikre-ness: detailed sequences that represent various phases of a relationship, which when stitched together, don't add up.

The songs by Vishal-Shekhar are situational but barely memorable when consumed without the visuals. Apart from Nashe Si Chadh Gayi, none of them are even hummable.

If demonetisation has destroyed your vacation plans but you and your other still want to take in the sights and sounds of the capital of love, this one will help you do just that for the price of a multiplex ticket.

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#145

Navjot Gulati @Navjotalive

Befikre. First half. Not bad. Ranveer Singh slaying it.

Navjot Gulati @Navjotalive

Curse of 2nd half stirkes. One more time.

Navjot Gulati @Navjotalive

The biggest Producer in the city can't get a half decent script written for him to direct because writing sir karegey :p

Navjot Gulati @Navjotalive

And the writing will be done based on other movies because life kaha jeete hai sir. Castle kay bahaar zindagi hai.

Edited by xroshnix - 8 years ago

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#146

Raja Sen Review

I wonder what films Aditya Chopra watches. I wonder who the reclusive filmmaker meets and speaks to in real life, and what on earth he imagines lovers and romantics to be doing. Perhaps he, who obviously watches his own iconic success Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge a million times over, believes (and hopes) they do the same. Yet if he intends to connect with his audience and make films speaking the with-it' language of the youth today, perhaps it is finally time he put an end to his Willy Wonka lifestyle, strolled out of his production house and took a look at the world.

This is because his Befikre is a colossally stupid film, a bad comedy with some skin and spit-swapping thrown onto it in a desperate attempt to attract attention. Despite the montage where lovers " old, blond, bewigged " smooch over the opening credits, what follows is not a youthful or fresh or interesting film. Like a big budget wolf dressed like a particularly skimpy sheep, this film recycles ideas we've seen done to death by Chopra's own production house: the underdressed carefree tourism of Neal And Nikki melts into the inevitability of Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, itself built upon the second half of Chopra's DDLJ, with the Dance Of Envy from Dil Toh Pagal Hai thrown in for good measure.

Befikre goes through all these hackneyed bits while trying, in foolhardy fashion, to make a combination of the over-imitated talkie Before Sunrise and the wildly sexy Love Me If You Dare. Love Me If You Dare, a twisted French romance about a pair of lovers egging each other on from fun and games to callous and destructive madness, is a film that fetishises recklessness and the idea of committing to something impossible: a dare. It is a heady film that captures, vividly and sexily, the volatility of a relationship built on wildcards.

Befikre doesn't dare.

A mediocre advertisement for Paris Tourism, the film is an inane mess where characters contradict themselves merely in order to outdo their own stupidity. Even the stolen idea of daring each other into anything isn't adhered to as we see a couple of fools fall in love " the only upside to this being that they cancel each other's imbecility by taking themselves off the market. Ranveer Singh is a Delhi boy who titters at lesbians and uses "that's so gay" as an insult, while Vaani Kapoor is a French girl of Indian origin who has a prolific sex-life, and " conveniently for the production incentives " shows tourists around Paris. There are no emotional or romantic stakes anywhere in sight, and it's hard to give a flying fikar what happens to these idiots.

He falls for her, she falls for him, and then after a year of separation " though we hardly see them apart " they decide to be friends. How very French, says the film, which also believes that a young man being polite to his mother is not French. Ah. I wonder where Aditya Chopra stands on fries. That said, we do find out where he stands on desi potato eating, this film's big romantic question being a mother asking her daughter if her potential soulmate is aalu paratha enough for her.

Kapoor's character is confident but unbearable in the film, yet at least she occasionally makes sense when talking of life and love and marriage. Singh, who plays a lame stand-up comic, knows absolutely nothing. There are other people on the scene, lovers for these lovers, and while he scores a pretty French girl who tries on headphones and enjoys stripping, she finds herself a smooth, un-boring banker. I must here admit that given the romantic cinema we've seen this year, it feels refreshing that this banker is played by some regular guy and is not a cameo by some beautiful Pakistani man.

There is, as the trailer promises, a whole lot of kissing in this film, and if you are in the mood to watch much mushing-together of mouths and to see Singh and Kapoor go at it with far too much aggression " her pre-kiss look is that of a rugby player readying for a scrimmage " then this film may, by all means, be your thing.

I must however warn you that none of this is remotely sexy. Despite Kaname Onoyama's cinematography being one of this film's few pluses " there are some fine tracking shots pulling out from the two of them into the lovely world around them " it is bewildering how unflatteringly Kapoor has been photographed, and Singh cancels out his own charm by frequently displaying the energy of an electrocuted monkey.

Singh is a fine actor but struggles with the inanity of this material, material that requires him not merely to be always-on, but to be always obnoxious. The only moment he manages to salvage is one early on where he locks eyes passionately with a statue; it's the actor's way of flexing his leading man muscles and saying he could romance anything. He manages his character by wearing his cluelessness on his sleeve, and making his Delhi boy loud and vaguely effete, and resultantly renders this weak film nearly watchable. (As an aside I must hereby request some filmmaker to cast Singh in a completely effeminate and clueless role, even that of a valley girl. The Alicia Silverstone role from Clueless, even. He'd kill.)

At a point when our mainstream cinema is beginning to grow up, Befikre is painfully childish drivel that proves to be a maddening waste of time. It starts out shrill, turns predictable, and ends up chaotic. To use the language of the youth Aditya Chopra is attempting to speak, let's call it Befi-cray-cray.

Rating: 1.5 stars

https://rajasen.com/2016/12/09/review-aditya-chopras-befikre/

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Her-mion-e

@Her-mion-e

Sparkler

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#147

Originally posted by: rockrahul

Looks like mostly Deepu fans on forum rather than Veeru...replace Vaani with Deepu and see the magic 😆

Mujhe only Deepu fan bolke limit maat karo..mera bohot sare favourites hain including Ranveer

I guess the movie has been bashed for long in the forum hence bashers and lovers dono hi shant hain😆

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#148

Originally posted by: rockrahul
Looks like reviews are pondering between 2-3 stars

WOM is not positive but youth will like it because of fun element and people who liked it calling it a one-time watch. Film will miss repeat viewings from target audience. Positive factor for the film is Adi's smart budgeting and leaking the budget to media. The film opened very well so no chance of a flop. If the film crosses 80 it will be termed as a success.

But all depend on weekdays' coll, WOM pickup and some positive reviews. All hopes on Chopra, Masand. Guha, Raja, Rangan and Saibal did not like it.

Edited by xroshnix - 8 years ago

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roshni

@xroshnix

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 8 years ago

#149

Befikre movie review: Old champagne with no fizz

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | ROHIT BHATNAGAR

Rating: 2 stars

Director: Aditya Chopra

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Vaani Kapoor

If the idea of one night stands, partying till dawn and traveling to exotic locations excites you, then Befikre is definitely for you! Director Aditya Chopra, who is back after eight long years, will take you on a free holiday to snow-laden exotic locales at the cost of just a movie ticket price. A tale of clich romance, Befikre has everything that will leave you scratching your head.

Shyra (Vaani Kapoor), an Indian girl who is born and brought up in Paris is a tour guide by profession. Unlike every other character we come across, Shrya, a vivacious girl, is not looking for true love. However, she incidentally meets Dharam (Ranveer Singh), who moved from Delhi to perform stand up at his friend's club. The two, who feel a strong attraction towards each other, get into friends with benefits scenario but as we have seen in every movie, Shyra and Dharma eventually fall in love. The two move in together but after spending a year, the part ways and decide to remain friends.

Shyra's friend hook her up with her boss Anay and the two develop feelings for each other but Dharam continues to be Shyra's closest pal. Dharam accidentally meets Christina and decides to marry her. And what happens next is the most expected thing you will experience in Befikre.

Yashraj's discovery Vaani Kapoor is so stunning that she lights up the screen whenever she comes in front of the camera. She is quite impressive than her subtle debut in Shuddh Desi Romance. Her French accent and appearance suits her. Ranveer Singh is flawless as chirpy, natural and comical. The only good part of the film is the feisty chemistry between the two. The highlights of the film are surely Ranveer's butt naked act and Vaani's bold attempt to smooch effortlessly in her lingerie's. With so much boldness, the reviewer wonders what censor board was actually doing?

The story penned by Aditya Chopra has turned out be an amalgam of all his previous romantic films. His last directorial Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was a damp squib and now the director is back with yet another film which will leave you with a dismal face. Few sequences of the film will remind you of Salaam Namastey, Neel And Nikki, Mohabbatien and the magnum opus Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. The narrative of the film is even similar to Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan starrer Hum Tum. The song where Ranveer and Vaani realize their love for each other is shot exactly like Ho Gaya Hai Tujhko To Pyaar Sajna from DDLJ. Even the climax is a replica of Namastey London's scene which was shot in a church. Barring the beautiful Paris and hot smooches, Befikre is a big let down. In a desperate attempt to save the script, the writer has included unnecessary gay humour that will make your head spin.

The music by Vishal-Shekhar is a savoir. Title track 'Ude Dil Befikra', Nashe Si Chadh Gayi', You And Me' and Labon Ka Karobar' are fresh and nicely shot. The cinematography by Kaname Onoyama is breathtaking. Paris has never looked this pretty before. But the film is too dragged out in the second half.

When a film doesn't have a plot, even good performances can't save it from sinking. Befikre' is like any other love story and seems more like a holiday trip for the film's team. The only good thing about it is its melodious music, good-looking actors and their fair performances. If you are expecting a unique plot then trust me, you will come out disappointed. We advise you to watch Befikre with a strap of a disprin.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/091216/befikre-movie-review-old-champagne-with-no-fizz.html