Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)

Some films are confined to a particular set of audiences and sometimes even to some theatres. They may not entertain everyone even in such environments. One such film is “Dil Dhadakne Do”. Directed by Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara fame “Zoya Akhtar”, Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma and Farhan Akhtar acted in the major roles.

Plot :

A Delhi based bankrupt businessman Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) takes his family and friends on a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate his 30th marriage anniversary, with a plan of reviving credibility. This plot is all about his marital life with Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shah) and the lives of their children Ayesha Mehra (Priyanka Chopra) and Kabir Mehra (Ranveer Singh).

Screenplay :

The plot written by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar is a small one which doesn’t require a runtime of 170 minutes. But they’re able to portray minute emotions well in most of the scenes. To add more essence to their work, a character Pluto Mehra (dog) whose heart is spoken out by “Aamir Khan”, was involved in the screenplay. It’s Pluto who takes us into the story and tries to explain various shades of human beings.

A lot of time was wasted in just introducing the characters at the inception and there is more melodrama in every conversation among the lead characters. The director is successful in portraying the difference parents show among their son and daughter, with the “invitation card” point.

The screenplay maintains a constant pace. It tickles us seldom. The audience who went to watch this movie having “Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara” in mind waits until the cruise starts, because the former shifts into a different pace as soon as its JOURNEY begins. But this movie slaps such audience for his foolish comparison and goes in its own way. Yet there are some notable scenes. The first notable scene is, Kamal Mehra addressing his guests with a wine glass in the hand. The director conveyed the artificiality and show off in present day relationships well and the dual minded talks among the guests are written convincingly. The next notable scene is where Kabir and Farah (Anushka Sharma) goes on a bicycle ride in Turkey which goes in a classy Bollywood style. The portrayal of how marriage alliances are made among rich communities is also convincing.

Maintaining the constant pace, the intermission scene failed to create an impact on audience. The second half remains the same. Though Sunny Gill (Farhan Akhtar) enters the screenplay, there is nothing notable from this character. The most tickling scene in this half is where Kamal gets to know that Kabir and Nuri (Ridhima Sud) are not interested in getting married. More notable scenes in this half are the conversation between Ayesha and Sunny, Kabir talking to his family supporting his sister and the scene where Kamal and his family talks about divorce of Ayesha with her husband Manav’s (Rahul Bose) family. Here Ranveer’s act makes you laugh but there lies an internal point that he tries to eradicate the hypocrisy of Manav’s mother (Zarina Wahab).

That’s it, no scene is mentionable hereafter. In fact, audience’s patience was highly tested and at an instance, Pluto’s narration became monotonous and boring. The climax was not so touching.

So, if you feel “Dil Dhadakne Do” is only the Zoya’s film after Luck By Chance then you can enjoy it. If you’re an ardent fan of her “Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara” then surely you’re going to get disappointed. Moreover, this movie is confined to only ‘A’ class multiplex audiences.

Eminences :

1) Carlos Catalan’s cinematography. He once again came up with a decent and beautiful photography after Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobaara. The chopper shots of the Cruise and the scenes shot in Turkey are so beautiful and captured well.

2) Production Values. This is one more eminence for this movie. The movie is richly shot.