BEWAKOOFIYAAN

Yash Raj Films’ Bewakoofiyaan (UA) is the love story of Mohit Chaddha (Ayushmann Khurrana) and Mayera Sehgal (Sonam Kapoor). Both have well-paying jobs but Mayera earns more than Mohit. Anyway, as the two are madly in love with each other, issues like who earns more than whom, don’t matter to them. Mayera’s father, V.K. Sehgal (Rishi Kapoor), a retired and principled IAS officer, is strict and very particular about the guy who will marry her. Since he had not been able to fulfil her dreams with his limited salary in the government job, he is keen that his beautiful daughter should marry a very rich businessman.

V.K. Sehgal is not at all happy when Mayera informs him that she loves Mohit. Hunting for a reason not to grant his consent to the marriage, Sehgal launches a virtual enquiry to assess Mohit’s character.

Here, Mohit, who had just been promoted, loses his job, owing to recession. Mayera asks him to keep the facade of being fruitfully employed going in front of her father who could simply ask her to snap ties with him if he learnt of Mohit having lost his job. While pretending to be still working in the marketing department of a leading airline company, Mohit also starts job-hunting for V.K. Sehgal to win brownie points with him. Of course, he is also struggling to find a job for himself. Meanwhile, Mayera supports him financially by paying the EMIs for the car he had bought on getting a promotion, and his other bills. Even Mohit’s roommate and ex-colleague, Immy (Pratap Hada), pitches in by paying the entire monthly rent for their accommodation.

However, there comes a stage when Mohit’s frustration gets the better of him. Mohit and Mayera break up, even as Mayera’s dad realises that he may be the right husband for her. He is shocked when Mayera tells him of their breakup. Why, Mayera even accepts a posting to Dubai, something that she had turned down when in love with Mohit. It’s now time for Mayera and her father to move to Dubai.

What happens thereafter? Do Mohit and Mayera patch up? Or do they go their separate ways? Do they meet again? What is the stance of V.K. Sehgal now? And does Sehgal land a job? Is Mohit still unemployed?

Habib Faisal has scripted a slice-of-life drama about a working boy and a working girl, leading fast and comfortable lives in a city. He smartly brings out the contrast between today’s easy-going generation, represented by Mohit and Mayera, and the traditional older generation, represented by V.K. Sehgal. The angle of Mayera hoping that her father and her lover should love each other is cute and interesting. But the drama loses steam at regular intervals and starts going in circles, every once in a while.

The audience enjoys the realistic scenes, the fun dialogues and the interactions between Mohit and Mayera, between Mayera and her dad, and between Mohit and Mayera’s dad but only upto a point. The most convenient part of Habib Faisal’s screenplay is how V.K. Sehgal starts off as a strict and no-nonsense father when it comes to Mayera’s choice of a life partner but becomes child-like whenever the need to add humour in the drama arises. It is in such scenes that the viewers feel the frivolity of the drama and see the writer’s conviction losing its hold on them. Also, Mohit is shown to be so adamant that he refuses to accept a job which is not up to his standard; this quality of his prevents the audience from sympathising with him at the time of breakup. This is because the audience feels, his frustration – which is the cause of the breakup – could have been avoided if only he had come down from his high horse of obstinacy and accepted a lesser job rather than staying unemployed.

The portions after Mohit and Mayera’s breakup are hurried and, if one may say so, look somewhat contrived at times and predictable at other times. The climax has a heart-warming quality about it but does not have the desired impact, again because it seems unbelievable. That is to say, it should have been very easy for Mohit in the coffee shop scene to see through V.K. Sehgal and where he was headed.

In short, while the philosophy adopted by V.K. Sehgal in the climax is appealing, it comes too suddenly in the drama to look like it is a part of the larger drama and not an add-on. Dialogues, penned by Habib Faisal, are very real and entertaining.

Rishi Kapoor lives the role of V.K. Sehgal and delivers yet another wonderful performance. The audience will fall in love with Sehgal, largely because Rishi Kapoor is so extraordinary in the role and gives the character so much with his realistic acting. Ayushmann Khurrana is endearing and acts with effortless ease, remaining true to the character of Mohit Chaddha from the start to the end. If he is cool as the promoted officer in his company, he is suitably down-and-out-but-trying-to-keep-a-brave- front jobless youngster, after he is fired from the company. Sonam Kapoor plays Mayera with the right amount of chutzpah required for the role. She looks sexy and complements that with a promising performance. Her bikini scene will excite the audience. Gurpal Singh is lovely as Gursharan, evoking smiles for his matter-of-fact style of acting. Pratap Hada is okay in the role of Mohit’s roommate, Immy. T.S. Siddhu (as Nawab Master) and Swedha Singh (as Radha) provide good support. Simran Singh (as Jas), Alankrita Sahai (as Devna), Deepika Amin (as Mohit’s boss), Rahul Rajkhowa (as Negi) and Divya Phadnis (as Manju) lend good support. Others are alright.

Nupur Asthana’s direction is reasonably good but she has not been able to impart consistency to the drama in general and to the important character of V.K. Sehgal in particular. Also, her narrative style is such that the film does not consistently keep the audience engrossed. Raghu Dixit’s music is good but the need of the youthful film was nothing short of hit songs. The ‘Gulchharre’ and the title songs are the better of the lot. Anvita Dutt’s lyrics are appropriate. Song picturisations (Adil Shaikh) are ordinary. Hitesh Sonik’s background music is nice. Neha Parti Matiyani’s cinematography is of a good standard. Mukund Gupta’s sets are alright. Editing (by Antara Lahiri) is reasonably sharp.

On the whole, Bewakoofiyaan entertains in parts only. The overall impact, however, is not upto the mark. Given the poor start of the film on the one hand and the absence of hit music or great content to boost its chances on the other, it will do average business in the cinemas. The Holi holiday on Monday will help boost collections. Considering that the producers will recover a handsome amount from sale of satellite rights, recovery of the total investment of Rs. 22 crore should not be a problem.