Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania   Producer: Karan Johar Director: Shashank Khaitan Starring: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana, Siddharth Shukla Music: Toshi Sabri, Sachin Jigar Lyrics: Genre: Comedy Recommended Audience: General Film Released on: 11 July 2014 Reviewed by: Kaushik Ramesh  - Rating: 7.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review

For those who believe or have agreed to people who believe that Bollywood is on its downward journey of producing quality films, here is a kink for you. Amidst blatantly mindless money spinners, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya strikes, definitely not as a masterpiece, its far from one, but as a charming and cheeky entertainer. An electrifying screenplay does qualify it as the perfect weekend entertainer.

But after counting in merits on this film, you wonder if it actually deserves it. Ofcourse it made you laugh, it did offer a jaunty ride, and for a change, you weren't given the hackneyed advice of "keeping your brains at home"; but deep down you are still disappointed, with the lapse of reason in the film (the instances of which abound), the blatant pride with which it embraces clichémelodrama.

You know Humpty (Varun Dhawan) and Kaavya (charmingly enough Alia Bhatt) will eventually fall in love, Kaavya's father will be dead against it, this seemingly rude man would want his daughter to marry a NRI doctor; and you can almost bet all your money on the fact that this bossy father is innately a good man and will ultimately happily agree to their love story thereby allowing "Saturday Saturday " to play in the end credits. DDLJ fan-boy or not, you know all that is going to happen, but this is where the director clearly wins. Each scene brings with it an air of immense freshness and believe it or not, the film does not seem humdrum ever. This is indeed one of those very rare situations where you are well aware of what is coming, but are craving to see how it comes about. The bubbly dialogues are clearly the winner here, saving the film from its possible pompous gravity.

Another clear forte this film has is the periodic occurrence of a commendably realistic scene in the first half (strongly reminded me of Raanjhanaa). The chemistry Humpty shares with his friends is lovable and can easily be related to; initial brushes of romance between Humpty and Kaavya are directed to be the golden breezy patch of the film, complain not if it induces a formless envy in you.

Alia Bhatt reaffirms the fact that she will continue to rule as the most liked actress.

Her powerful and believable portrayal adds to her striking screen presence making her irreplaceable in the movie. But the real star to watch out for this time is Varun Dhawan who comes off as a complete surprise. His light tongued accent which delivers the cheekiest of dialogues to his laudably casual portrayal, both in humorous and sincerity demanding scenes, makes him clearly steal the show. The lead pair shares stunning chemistry which turns out be the biggest strength of a movie getting compared with another one of DDLJ's calibre.

The supporting cast is impressive too; especially Gaurav Pande and Ashutosh Rana (adding further credibility to Amrish Puri's character) impress. The music is conventional and is a rage among the public, so complaining of its inferior quality is pointless. But the Background Score is disappointingly conspicuous by its absence in most of the scenes and mediocrity where it is present.

As a whole, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya will induce a wide range of reactions and reviews. Credit goes to Shashank Khaitan for maintaining the live wire in the script even as the movie may have suffered from the monotonous storyline if not for the adept handling.

It may qualify as a must watch for the college going audience but only as an average entertainer for the more mature class. Definitely, it offers respite from the unsettling class of movies made these days; atleast the characters don't seem fake, they have been directed with full passion and earnest. Unless you are the insatiable intellectual, this film would have impressed you through some aspect or the other. If only we had a replacement for the prosaic climax!