Band Baaja Baaraat (2010)

January 2010: Pyaar Impossible! – aka Uday Chopra’s Face Impossible! Predictable geek-gets-girl rom-com plays like Shrek for the Bollywood-lovin’ junta; fails.

May 2010: Badmaash Company – aka Lol, Aditya Chopra, what you smokin’, bro? ‘Honesty is the best policy’ theme stretched thin [all 2.5 hours of it.] The climax: Hero saves the day by marketing defective t-shirts as Bleeding Madras – with Michael Jackson as brand ambassador. Film ends. Madras bleeds. With shame.

August 2010: Lafangey Parindey – aka it’s Rocky. No it’s Black. Wait – it’s Dirty Dancing. Neil Nitin Mukesh channels sadak-chaap, Munnabhai MBBS, etc; fails. Deepika Padukone tries to prove nobody puts Pinky in a corner; fails. Film’s as blind as her. Bland. I mean bland.

Right. So Yash Raj Films has obviously not had a good run this year. Gone are the days of Chandni, of [controversial yet sublime] Lamhe, of DDLJ or Dil To Pagal Hai. Sure, there have been a couple of hits in recent years [Chak De! India and the Dhoom franchise, for example] but it’s mostly gone downhill for Yash Chopra and co. since the new millennium. It was thus with practically zero expectations – and, post I Hate Luv Storys [But Not Really, As My Kitschy Film Will Testify] and Break Ke Baad [Waapis Cinema-Hall Mat Jaana] with mild hatred for the rom-com – that I sat down to watch YRF’s latest offering Band Baaja Baaraat.

The verdict: BBB turns out to be a pleasant surprise, and then some. This is possibly one of the most refreshing, honest, uncomplicated and believable films to come out of the Yash Raj camp in years. Gone are the done-to-death Swiss locales – the film has its heart set in Dilli – inaccessible characters, or narratives that defy logic [I’m looking at you Neal n’ Nikki, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi & Dil Bole Haddipa!] – replaced instead by a film that might be small on budget, but is big on heart.

The Plot: Twenty-something Delhiites – the driven, no-nonsense Shruti [Anushka Sharma] and slacker Bittoo [Ranveer Singh in his debut] – both from a middle-class background, enter the business world together by creating a wedding planning enterprise [‘Shaadi Mubarak’], a venture which proves to be tumultuous: Shruti breaks her own ‘Jisse vyapaar karo, usse kabhi na pyaar karo’ [Don’t mix business with pleasure] rule – and in the midst of the glitz and glam of Delhi weddings, their friendship and business are both tested .. till the film reaches its staple happily-ever-after ending.

In a nutshell: It’s a coming-of-age story, Monsoon Wedding isshtyle.

And of course, you’ve seen or heard of similar themes in recent Bollywood flicks – unreciprocated love leading to ‘Oh-sh*t-I-love-her-and-how-convenient-the-film’s-just-about-to-end’ was seen most recently in I Hate Luv Storys – but what makes this film special is dialogue and presentation. Interwoven with the novel concept of a behind-the-scenes look-see at weddings, the romance works because the dialogues [Habib Faisal] do. The screenplay keeps it simple, and most importantly real. Shruti’s not your average size-zero heroine: fierce, independent, emotional, she’s a woman of substance, and Bittoo, with his Dilli-rooted witticisms – broken English et al, is your average head-scratching, purposeless mundaa turned Alpha male turned Roadside Romeo [product placement!]

Two ordinary protagonists – but never prosaic. It is that girl/boy-next-door persona that makes them so accessible to audiences. Casting newcomer Ranveer Singh and two-film [RNBDJ & Badmaash Company] old Anushka Sharma was a stroke of brilliance; spontaneous, unsophisticated, unorthodox – both actors deliver pitch-perfect performances, and their chemistry is, to borrow a trite phrase, electrifying. Ali Zafar [Tere Bin Laden] faces stiff competition at the Filmfares for best male debut from Bandra boy Ranveer Singh – twice in the same year you’re reminded of Ranbir Kapoor’s stellar work in SLB’s Saawariya.

Anushka’s performance is stuff of true grit: notice an [underplayed] emotional sequence in the second half where both speak candidly of what was a one-night-stand to one, something infinitely more concrete to the other.

Then there’s the presentation itself: the opening number [‘Tarkeebein’] wraps up the differing personas/lifestyles of both characters in a neat three minutes; something – ahem – most Bollywood films take up till intermission to accomplish. The pace is swift; consistently so. There’s little melodrama, lots of mauj-masti, the language is colloquial, and you really get a kick out of watching what goes on in planning a wedding. Yes, it channels the feel-good chick-flick lovers in all of us. And the music’s a winner: you’ll find yourself humming ‘Tarkeebein’ and ‘Ainvayi Ainvayi’ [the latter song and ‘Baari Barsi’ are sure to find their way in the mehndi-DJ’s playlist alongside the Munnis and the Sheilas out there] well after the movie’s finished.

Sure, the last 15 minutes or so tread screenplay-of-convenience territory [actually, the entire subplot to reunite the quarreling duo via loaded-fairy-godmother Mr Sidhwani and his daughter’s multi-crore Rajasthani wedding is bizarre], but at that point, you’re so drawn into the lives of Shruti and Bittoo, you’re ready to forgive [the fact that even though Shahrukh Khan doesn’t show up to shake a leg at said wedding, Bittoo & Shruti manage to engage rabid aunties with a big-scale Bollywood dance number of their own. I’m sorry what?] and forget.

Perhaps the greatest triumph of Band Baaja Baaraat is how it turns out to be the antithesis of what constitutes Bollywood: even in the midst of obligatory song-and-dance numbers, the predictability aspect [Will they get together in the end – wait, am I stupid], the motley gang of so-loyal-it-hurts friends, you relate to the wonderfully refreshing characters and revel in their journey – much as you did with Aditya and Geet in Imtiaz Ali’s wonderful Jab We Met.

At times it seems so non-filmi, you forget it’s fiction. And that’s something debutant director Maneesh Sharma should be proud of.

This over a Golmaal 3 or a No Problem any given Friday – Osman Khalid Butt

Rating – 3.75 out of 5

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Aditya Chopra, Director – Maneesh Sharma, Music Director – Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant, Cast - Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh

Veena Malik

It may be startling for Indian TV-watchers, not to us Pakistanis. Catty and always worked-up, Veena Malik knows how to throw things, including tantrums. So in a Big Boss 4 episode (what the heck is that show about, can someone figure?) when Veena M threw one of her shoes at a character (another super-phony actor) it got the Indian media tongues wagging.

Well, friends, take it from across the border — when Veena hits the roof, she throws the kitchen sink and not just a shoe at the person she’s angry at. If you don’t believe me, watch all the TV shows on which she appeared to spew venom against a cricketer. The poor lad doesn’t even take her name anymore. So watch out, Indian boys!  – PYT

All smiles at the breakfast table, the Ganguly family, Shobha, Ashok's wife, carrying Preeti, their youngest child, on her arm, pours tea for her star husband, while son Arup addresses himself to a banana. Eldest daughter Bharati sits next to Ashok, with Rupa, the second daughter (extreme left) completing the group.

Pictures accompanying this article – Pic 1 – Pic 2 – Pic 3 – Pic 4 – Pic 5 – Pic 6

Ashok Kumar House is situated in the heart of the business quarter of Bombay on the top storey of the building is the home of the star who gives it his name.

Guarding the last flight of stairs leading up to the star’s apartment are two Alsatians. They are friendly and, when the visitor goes past them, he enters a comfortable, un-conventional-looking home, which immedia­tely strikes him as a place which is lived in, rather than a show place meant to proclaim a star’s affluence or personality.

A passage, giving on to bedrooms on the right and on the left affording a glimpse of sea over roof-tops, leads into a large sitting-room-cum-dining-room.

Here, the walls are painted pale green and the curtains are of bright red material. Three alcoves in this room are hemmed in by divans.

Above each of the cozy alcoves are two yellow shaded bracket lamps which light up the shelves built into the wall as well as another shelf placed in the corner with models of rural life in Bengal. The draw‑ing-room gives on to a semi-circular balcony.

At the far end of the room is the dining- table. Above the mirrored mantelshelf is a stuffed panther. Its teeth bared in a snarl, it dominates the entire room.

In a little niche in the wall behind the dining-table stands a vase filled with fresh flowers. Beside it is a glass cabinet con­taining carved articles and an assortment of curios. On the dining-table also is a vase, an emerald-green one, with a potted plant in it. The chairs round the dining- table are done up in red leather.

The long, mirrored shelf along the wall and parallel to the dining-table has a row of little multi-colored lights at the top which twinkle, providing a pretty effect at night. At each end of the wide mirror is affixed a pale yellow shaded bracket lamp which sheds a soft glow on the flower vases and bronze statuettes on the shelf.

Of the two bedrooms adjoining the drawing-room, one is of Ashok’s daughters, the other ‘s son’s. Next to them is the nursery of the youngest, Preeti, who, Ashok says, “Never likes to get down to the floor. You have to carry her all the time!”

Of this part of the house Ashok says laughingly, “It looks more like ‘Star’s Children At Home’ rather than ‘Stars At Home’!”

But it is the terrace bedroom, which is also his den, that really reflects Ashok Kumar’s personality. Reached by a winding staircase, it is comfortable and secluded. Here the star can be far away from the outside world, linked to it only by the telephone.

Two Jamini Roy originals, one above the bookcase and the other above the bed decorate the walls. Dark green curtains conceal a door to an alcove which serves as the star’s wardrobe.

Dark shades of green, blue and red form the color scheme and the room opens on to the terrace, affording a sweeping view of the city’s landscape. Potted flower plants, some of them in bloom, lend an appropriate garden atmosphere.

“I sleep out here in the hot weather!” said Ashok.

A love of music distinguishes the members of Ashok’s household. His daughter is an accomplished pianist and accompanies the star when he sings. Ashok has had a great fondness for singing ever since his early acting days when he used to sing his own songs. He still sings at home either when friends gather or when he throws a party, which is often. His wife and other children also share this inter­est (Source – Filmfare Magazine 1955)