Romance, Rejection, Redemption

Siddarth Anand is the talented director who gave us the modern classic Salaam Namaste and the ultimate feel-good movie Ta Ra Rum Pum. He returns with Bachna Ae Haseeno, a rare Bollywood film that knows when to laugh at itself and when to take itself seriously. BAH is a story of a man and the three loves in his life. I thought this would be an exercise in macho pride where the hero balances three girlfriends at once (a version of Garam Masala with actual actresses). In reality, this picture is about the lessons a boy-turned-man learns upon reflecting on the mistakes he made in the past.

Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Minissha Lamba, Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone and Kunal Kapoor, BAH has hit-and-miss music by Vishal and Shekhar and lyrics by Anvita Dutt Guptan.

1996: Raj Sharma (Ranbir Kapoor) is a happy-go-lucky teenager vacationing with his three buddies in Europe. He meets Mahi (Lamba), a naive girl who is obsessed with falling in love DDLJ-style (which had released the year before). Raj lies to his friends about what he did with Mahi, breaking her heart...

2002: Raj is living with his girlfriend Radhika (Basu). He thinks he's living a committment-free world where marriage is a non-issue. When he's offered a job in Sydney, Radhika decideds to sacrifice her acting goals, marry him and join him in Sydney. Afraid to man up and break up with her himself, he first tries to force her to break up with him. When that fails, he boards a plane to Sydney on the day of his court-wedding...

2007: Raj is living in Sydney, living a very glamorous life of one-night-stands with gorgeous girls and a well-paying job to support it. He meets Gayatri (Padukone), a taxi driver/grocer who is independent and the only girl not to dream of husband and home. She challenges him and they fall in love. When he proposes marriage, she rejects him...

Having realized that Gayatri treated him the way he treated Mahi and Radhika, he decides to ask their forgiveness...

Bachna Ae Haseeno is actually a misleading title. The title would fit the movie I thought this would have been. But when I thought about it, what other title would have fit? And, with a different title, they wouldn't have been able to use that famed trumpet melody as a leitmotif for the immature Raj. Speaking of leitmotifs, I liked how they used "Khudha Jaane" for the mature Raj since Gayatri led him there and that is her song.

The film is episodic in nature and yet it is not irritating because life, if you think about it, is episodic. As you move from one stage to another, you leave certain people behind. The maturation of Raj Sharma is full of humor, tragedy, romance and insight. It's urbane and goofy but it's not short of warmth and sophistication.

There's something very appealing about Mr. Ranbir Kapoor. He's not hot enough to be a sex symbol but he's not silly enough to be goofball. He's very...ordinary yet that's part of his appeal. He's relatable and that's good because not all of us are blessed with the looks and charisma of a Cullen. Ranbir Kapoor is the soul of this film, it seems to have been written for him. He's hilarious, he has excellent chemistry with his heroines and supporting characters. This is a star-making performance.

Minissha Lamba is the only one who is given good material in both halves. The first half of her story plays as a tribute to DDLJ with clever parodies of those classic scenes. For instance, instead of stealing a red dress, Raj and Mahi taste a bunch of chocolate at a candy shop and then leave, "dissatisfied." Very good. Ms. Lamba plays the innocent Mahi extremely naturally but her transformation in the second half deserves the most praise.

Bipasha Basu is underused in the first half, but she shines in the second half. In the first half, she just provides the lines to which Ranbir can react funnily. In the second half, however, as the bratty superstar Shreya (she changes her name from Radhika to Shreya), Bipasha is very funny and believable. A good part!

Someone should put Deepika Padukone in jail...for scene-stealing, that is! Deepika takes a very well-written character and runs away with it. She is very funny especially in the "what?" sequence and the climax in the cab. She's in the picture for all of 45 minutes, maybe 50, but she leaves an impact. After all, she is the most important character! I'd say the only flaw of her performance is that she says her lines too fast but that can be perfected easily. Ms. Padukone delievers a great sophomore performance.

I didn't even know Kunal Kapoor was in this movie but I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he is the new Yash Raj poster boy (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Aaja Nachle). He is extremely good but I won't reveal his character. Seeing him on screen is always a delight because he's so charming and relatable and can deliever a good monlogue.

Musically, "Khuda Jaane" and "Aahista, Aahista" are the pick of the lot. They both have good videos, especially "Aahista, Aahista". That video is pretty much how I imagined it. "Lucky Boy," "Jogi Mahi," and "Small Town Girl" have fine videos, but they're not download-worthy unless you're an album-completist like I am. Thanks to it being overplayed on the Indian channel, I forwarded the "Bachna Ae Haseeno" remix but it's okay. Singer Shilpa Rao is a good voice for Deepsters.

Siddharth Anand strikes gold again. SN, TRRP and now BAH are all highly enjoyable pictures with good messages. This is a grand, glamorous and glossy movie with a powerful story to tell. Watching a redemption, in my opinion, is the most relatable cinematic event. It's the one human experience which we've all gone through. Bachna Ae Haseeno rates a 9/10.