From people who watched it at TIFF.
CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
I loved it. Made me feel all fuzzy inside
I found the story reasonably developed, and whatever little holes there were, I glossed over.
The one major issue I had with the characters, was why claim that Rohan is from England and make him talk like an American frat-boy??? I mean, I thought the way he talked was fun, and I'm cool with it, but it's so not British it's not even funny... Why not say that he was from the States and then everything would fit?
I was amused by all the references to KiKo, JWM, Dhoom 2 (LOL at Soniya or whatever her name was talking about herself in third person - too funny!), loved Rakhi dancing to Kajra Re and Crazy Kiya Re, and all the other million ways in which other movies were referenced. And it's not done in an obnoxious way that would make it less fun for people that haven't seen these movies. I was laughing a lot, in fact an hour later, my giant grin has yet to be wiped off my face
And because I was one of the non-believers: I take back everything I ever said about Shahid not having chemistry with Rani - I would love to see this jodi again, thought they gelled together beautifully! And chemistry - oh yeah! Plenty!! Ishq Hi Hai Rab is particularly delicious in terms of chemistry.
One more thing that I liked, I can't really get off my cloud to do a proper review now, but the resolution was pretty well done too, IMO. I liked that there was no imploring for forgiveness, there were no lame speeches: they made up without words. That was a nice change to all the long drawn resolution scenes they usually come up with before one character forgives the other.
I will refrain from starting a review about Shahid's performance, because I can't do that without squeeing: suffice to say he carries the role beautifully, and I believed when he was happy, I believed when he was angry, I believed when he was hurt and there's this fierceness about his acting lately that I am hopelessly in love with... The scene in the men's washroom after he finds out about Veera and she comes to talk to him: gah! Whimper... Ok, I'll stop now before this review gets out of hand...
Review #2
Gladly!! Are you joking, I'm so itching to talk about this movie that I can't think of anything else If you have any questions that are not of general interest, you can PM me too, that way we don't go over the plot for everyone on the thread who has already seen it and knows it. And I think other Torontonians have seen it too, so you'll get more than one opinion
I'll start with the last question: no Pak bashing whatsoever. Yes, the captain of the P team is a bit obnoxious, but it didn't seem overdone to me. Of course he's cocky considering they had been winning for the past 8 years. Plus, by the end of the movie you don't mind his cockiness at all because in the last scenes he is totally yummy (or maybe that's just me... ). The set-up with the cricket game was done nicely, it's not some world cup thing, it's a friendly match that they play every year as a symbol of friendship between the two cities: Lahore and Amritsar, which is why I found it reasonably realistic. I would have hated for Rani to be part of the national cricket team or something crazy like that.
I really have no idea if the critics will like it. It is totally fluffy and apart from a very funny (also very self referential) script, there isn't much depth to it. It's not the type of movie that makes you reflect on the meaning of life, so from that point of view there's nothing much to praise. But if they look at it as a light romantic comedy, then I think it will be well liked. People going out were all commenting that they didn't have great expectations but that it was "excellent" and just what they needed on a Sunday afternoon.
And I hope you realize and take full responsibility for asking me about Shahid because I may launch into a rant about him and bore everyone to death. Ok, I'll try to be restrained. I think he's grown quite a bit since JWM and I loved him as much here as I did in JWM. Sure, it's no Kaminey for him, so his performance doesn't blow your mind, but that's because the character is not multi layered like the twins were. I really enjoyed him in this role, he did a good job with it. He hit all the right notes and there was none of the "trying to be someone else" that bugged me in KiKo. He got into the character, so you feel him every step of the way, whether he's happy, pissed off, sad, or whatever. I loved him as the badass coach.
Sherlyn Chopra is not much of a side plot, she's just there to make references to Dhoom 2 and to try to get Shahid's attention, without much success. I actually kind of liked that Rohan starts flirting with Veera from the beginning and doesn't get distracted by Sherlyn's short skirts. Though that's a bit too old fashioned maybe, the virtues of being a decent Hindustani, home cooking kind of girl were a little too much in your face, but then I already said it was preachy...
Rani definitely steals the show when it comes to performances, which was to be expected since she is playing a double role, and playing it wonderfully!
Their faces when they are annoyed/ driven nuts with each other are priceless every time! The audience was in stitches every time Shahid would make a desperate face or Rani would mock him behind his back. And the scene in the men's shower room when he finds Veera instead of Veer - watch out for that one, make sure you don't have water in your mouth because it's rib cracking. Everyone was laughing.
Did I mention Shahid is also smoking hot?
And Anupam Kher just makes me smile. I was holding on to my seat to not fall off laughing when he shows up on the giant wheel in Diskowale Kisko and I was remembering him saying that he was actually screaming for his life because he has vertigo, but it looks like he's singing the song. I think the people around me must have thought I was losing it because I was the only one laughing hysterically
PS: No previews. I don't think they show previews at the festival.
Sports
1.3k