binducherungath Review of Hasee Toh Phasee

Hasee Toh Phasee (2014)

Hasee Toh Phasee may not drive you crazy with laughter but am sure you may get trapped in the positive tone of this movie.

[7/10 · 19 March 2014]

Hasee Toh Phasee, undoubtedly is not a regular rom-com movie with a typical love triangle, or a runaway bride or a movie with long romantic dialogues. The lead pair Nikhil Bhardwaj (Siddharth Malhotra) and Meeta (Parineeti Chopra) are weird, quirky, and unconventional. Nikhil feels that asking money from would-be father-in-law is not a threat to his self-respect, and on the other side, Meeta steals her own father's money; both do so for breakthrough in their respective careers. Meeta completely wins us over with her deglamourized performance. Yes, the strength of the movie is that it is distinctly different from the usual ones and both Siddharth 'emotional dhakkan' (in his own words) and Parineeti as 'bahut hi khatarnak experimental' are terrific together. The first half of the movie moves from a Chawl in Mumbai to Delhi and back to Mumbai over a span of two decades which though moved very fast, but the background / plot of the movie was build up in a sluggish manner. Still, bizarre mannerism displayed by Parineeti (a runaway daughter, who comes back from China), popping up pills followed with projection of a weird expression on face and the confident screen presence / endearing smile of Siddhartha are definitely refreshing which pulls us through the first half. This unusual, soft and neat decent love between the lead pair develops slowly through lot of freakish / comical / bizarre incidents. Let me tell you, there is no mushy-mushy love in this movie. Almost 80% of the plot develops with the wedding celebrations in the backdrop and wacky guests, which do ensure Karan Johar Moments. Karishma (Adah Sharma), sister of Meeta is good in the role of an actress, ready to be hitched, who is particular that her fiancée earns on his own capability, announcing break-up every now and then (since she is sure that her fiancée would never leave her). Manoj Joshi (as Meeta /Karishma's father) excels and we get to see wonderful emotional bondage between father and the eccentric daughter Meeta whom he finds extremely intelligent, creative and original. The poignant reunion of the father-daughter duo after a period of seven years do moist our eyes. Sharath Saxena (as Nikhil's father) is also good as a retired IPS officer. Neena Kulkarni (as Nikhil's mother) is also good. It can not be denied that movie is baffling at times. Just wish that the debutant director Vinil Mathew should have enhanced the pace of the movie at least a bit more so as to engross the audience (when I say pace, I mean the pace of Tanu Weds Manu, Jab We Met, Banti Babli etc.). Screenplay / Story by Harshvardhan Kulkarni takes a different take on the modern day romance. Dialogues by Anurag Kashyap are simple and clean without double meanings or slangs. The cinematographer Sanu John Varughese has done a good job in capturing the Panoramic view of Mumbai's sweeping Powai Skyline and other locale. The song 'Zehnaseeb' sung by Shekhar and Chinmayi Sripada is musical to the ears and a romantic treat. Though other numbers viz. Punjabi wedding number, Shake it like Shammi, Drama queen, Manchala, Ishq Bulaava are youthful but easily forgettable. Watch this movie, if you can ignore the lapses in the logic in it and are ready to enjoy a very soft, clean, unconventional yet baffling romantic comedy (though it is neither a hard core romantic movie nor a comedy).