Bachna Ae Haseeno is a movie from Yash Raj Productions and directed by Siddharth Anand who previously directed Salaam Namaste starring Saif Ali Khan and Priety Zinta. The first half of Bachna Ae Haseeno is the story of Raj Sharma (played by Ranbir Kapoor) and the three different women at different stages of his life,first comes Mahi (played by Minissha Lamba), then
Radhika (played by Bipasha Basu) and Gayatri (Deepika Padukone).
The movie starts out with Raj travelling with three other friends to Europe and on a trip by Euro Rail meets up with Mahi. Mahi is a romantic who is obsessed with the movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and is looking for her own Raj who is like the lead character of the movie DDLJ. When Raj (from Bachna Ae...) finds out about this he decides to use that information to win over Mahi.In a nod to the earlier movie DDLJ Raj and Mahi miss the train at some point, the former intentionally and latter unintentionally and travels together to their next destination to catch up with their friends. Mahi is smitten,but at the airport at the time of parting she overhears Raj's conversation with his friends and realizes Raj is not serious about her. Raj turns around and finds her there but is not able to explain his thoughts and Mahi is heartbroken when she leaves for India
Fast forward a few years and you find Raj now living in Mumbai where he meets Radhika, his neighbor who is also a model. He expresses interest in her and she does the same and before you know it Raj and Radhika are living together. Fast forward another year or so and you find Raj has been offered a new assignment in Australia and he along with his friend decide to move there. Raj has no intention of taking Radhika along with him or of marrying her. Radhika has other plans and she wants them to get married and is willing to give up her career to accompany Raj to Australia. Instead of explaining his feelings or lack thereof to Radhika, Raj allows her to continue with the plans for a wedding and even goes along with her to get an appointment at the Registrar. On the day of the wedding though Raj jilts Radhika and flies out earlier to Australia leaving her waiting for him at the Registrar.
Fast forward yet another few years and you find Raj living the life of a swinging bachelor and is flitting about from one girl to another. Until he meets Gayatri a cab driver and management student and falls in love with her. When he proposes to her she refuses and Raj is hurt and realizes how it feels when the person you love rejects you. So with a view to correcting his past mistakes Raj decides to undertake a journey to India to beg for forgiveness from both Mahi and Radhika.
Do Mahi and Radhika forgive Raj, does Gayatri change her mind about Raj, does Raj and his story get a happy ending ...these are the questions that are answered in the second half of the movie.
The entire movie was extremely flawed and evokes no interest or sympathy for any of the characters. Raj seems to have no moral compass and there is no justification for why Raj's character behaves in the manner he does. Raj seems to be a callow and unfeeling person who is incapable of introspection or for being upfront with the women in his life.And suddenly towards the end you find Raj not only matures but overnight he turns into this wise and all knowing person.
The women in this movie are depicted in very poor light too.The writer/director would have us believe that Mahi who has known Raj for just a few days in Europe is so hurt by his actions that she is unable to love her husband of twelve years.That Raj and his shallow and selfish behavior impact her so much that the selfless love shown by her husband is not able to get through to her.Yet this same selfish person has so much influence on her that even after twelve years when he reappears in her life he is able to convince her to let go of the past and move on with her husband.Yeah Right !
Similarly with Radhika, she is supposed to have reached the pinnacle of her career and is enjoying her success but she is unable to move on because of Raj and his behavior and blames herself and feels inadequate.And suddenly Raj the cad reenters her life, freely dispenses some advice, sings a couple of songs, gets pushed around by Radhika to balance the story to some extent and voila she is suddenly able to let go of the past and move on.No hard feelings any more.
And lastly Gayatri whose justification to refuse Raj's proposal never seems to make any sense other than to move the story along.
The summation of the entire movie in one word : SILLY
Rating 1/5
Oct 8, 2008
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5 comments:
This is the third review I've read and they've all had such different takes on the film! One said "yay," one was pretty "meh" and you seem to have detested it... Hmmm.
All very true, Reviewer. But you are forgetting the formidable array of eye candy and the fact that its a movie of many firsts. A hero who is not only an inveterate womaniser but who also callously jilts women - how often do you see a Bollywood hero do something so life-like? Plus, a woman living with a man without the benefit of matrimony (scandal! sin! moral police, where are you?) is actually shown to be a warm hearted modern woman - this is the only instance (I've seen) when Bollywood isnt sneering at a modern woman's modernity. And to cap it all, a hero who pays (at least in some measure) for his crimes rather than being instantly forgiven by the women he injures which is what happens in Bollywood films usually.
The story could have been more intelligent but at least the concept was novel and not too badly executed.
Hmm...thanks for the review, don't think will watch this one.
I liked that movie...entertaining one.
I remember leaving the theater highly disappointed with this movie. True that there are a lot of things left unexplained. Good Review!
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