Review: Bachna Ae Haseeno – Tribute to YashRaj

When you are a one of the most successful production house in the country with 7 flops in the last 8 movies, you definitely seek desperate measures! When you’ve tried every genre from wooing the kids to even bringing back your favorite diva in a comeback role, you need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what’s wrong. Yashraj has definitely done a lot of brainstorming and they’ve decided to visit their biggest success stories. Bachna Ae Haseeno does exactly that, and we see shades of all the biggest winners from the YashRaj stables. Ranbir Kapoor pays tribute to his father with the title song as it opens with the opening credits and that sets the mood for what follows. One thing that grabs your attention in it is the budget for clothing. With only a meter of cloth at their disposal, the women did well to save their dignity. It was hard for me to resist drooling, as my movie companion kept jabbing me in the chest every time I opened my mouth!

The film brings a whiff of freshness and that is something we’ve stopped associating with YashRaj films. After Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, this was the second only movie this year that has a feel good factor. The camerawork is slick, the colors are bright the locations spunky. The dialogs are funny without being slapstick and most of the humor is situational. The songs are already a rage and playing on every radio station, and the cinematography doesn’t disappoint. There is a whole sequence that tries to recreate the magic of DDLJ with EURail and surprise-surprise our hero is even called Raj. The trailers and promos are quite misleading and give you the impression that this is yet another movie with three bimbos falling head over heels over a stud.

For once women are not depicted as mindless bimbos but have some good characterization. It takes the ‘Kudiyon ka hain Zamana‘ tag to an all new level with the hero bearing all levels of humiliation with a smile. The film has a sense of deja vu as the boy revisits his past with a heavy sense of guilt and sudden stroke of realization. I’m not giving away the plot here but it is a must see for every guy. Ranbir Kapoor is the whole and soul of the movie and for me, after Shammi Kapoor he is the only Kapoor who can act! Despite his disastrous debut, he proves that he isn’t another untalented star-son. Minissha Lamba looks cute at times but ugly in the close-up shots. Sultry Siren, Bipasha Basu sizzles(click here) in her meatiest ever role after Corporate. Deepika Padukone can only blame the writers for her half-baked extended guest role with only the Khuda Jaane song to her credit. Kunal Kapoor seems to be YashRaj’s favorite guest star and the less we speak of him, the better it is.

I did get a bit emotional as it was like a trip down memory lane and so my views might seem biased. Do watch it in the nearest cinema hall and let me know if you agree with me.