I was inclined to go to the theater because of glowing reviews of this movie; but it was merely decent. I’ve seen many of the plot themes a million times before. Everything from the rich, connected, corrupt family member in politics to falling in love with the best friend’s different religion sister are tired tropes seen in EVERY Hindi movie. Hindu/Muslim conflict is also seen over and over again. The happy, cookie-cutter argument that ’we’re all more similar than different’ ending of these types of movies is even more nauseating than the cliches themselves.
Everything before the riots is utterly fluff. The challenges and the montages that it takes to overcome them are laughable. The bromance angle is one that Hindi films are experimenting with recently, and its not the worst thing. I buy that the actors are good friends in their roles. The songs and actual Ahmadabad street scenes make for some of the movies positives. There is something gritty and surreal about life in an Indian city. This movies gets the cinematography right, at least, but like almost every other Hindi film chooses to offer up a comfortable cliche storm instead of actually challenging the audiences sentiments.
Movies of complicated relationships are about grey areas and anti-heroes. Instead this falls into the trap of having all the answers shoved down our throats. Worse yet, the movie emotionally manipulates you into agreeing with its answers as I did as I left the theater. Movies with life lessons are too self-satisfied and easy. In reality the choice between friendship and religion/one’s people is both difficult and carries severe consequences on both sides. The movie made the choice for us and did so smugly.
So enjoy the movie while you watch it and think about the 100s of ways it could be MUCH better afterwards.