Zoya Akhtar, the daughter of Javed Akhtar and sister of Farhan Akhtar, is a talented film director for sure. After her highly admirable directorial debut Luck By Chance(2009), she diverted her attention to the stories related to those who are called filthy-rich, rolling in money and facing many kinds of problems except those related to money. Her next venture Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(2011) told the story of a bachelors’ trip of three well-off friends in which she depicted not only their camaraderie but also how they helped one another in overcoming their respective fears and inner demons. And after four years, she came up with the story of a business family which came before the audience through a cruise trip of that family alongwith its friends. This movie is Dil Dhadakne Do(2015).
The cruise trip of the Mehra family and its friends has been planned to commemorate the 30th wedding anniversary of Mr. Kamal Mehra(Anil Kapoor) and Mrs. Neelam Mehra(Shefali Shah). They have alongwith their friends(and deemed friends) invited(naturally) their son-in-law Manav(Rahul Bose) and his mother(Zarina Wahab), i.e., the mother-in-law of their daughter Ayesha(Priyanka Chopra). They have two children. The other one is their son Kabir(Ranveer Singh). Daughter Ayesha is their elder child and son Kabir is the younger one, still unmarried.
Now the situation is - the company of the Mehra family - Ayka is presently suffering from losses, son Kabir has no interest in the family business and daughter Ayesha is not happy in her wedded life. Kabir’s interest is in flying planes and he flies one plane which is actually a business asset of Ayka. Ayesha is issueless and has become a budding entrepreneur purely on her own. Her parents are not aware of her married life problems as she has kept them to herself only. Nor are they aware of the fact that their son is not the least interested in becoming the CEO of Ayka as per the wish of his parents. Prior to her wedding, Ayesha was in love with Sunny(Farhan Akhtar) who is the son of an Ayka employee only. To send him away from his daughter only, Kamal had sponsored his higher education and he had gone abroad. In addition to these facts, business rivalries are there, the concerns of various children(in various business families) are there and businessman like thinking lead people to go for matrimonial alliances to resolve business problems. Homemaker womenfolk are more interested in gossiping(and bitching too).
The cruise trip brings these hidden issues to surface. Kabir happens to meet Farah(Anushka Sharma) on the cruise who is an employee there(a part of a musical band) and they fall in love. But their marriage is no easy job. Ayesha wants divorce from Manav. And that too is no easy job. To solve the financial problems of Ayka, Kamal and Neelam plan Kabir’s matrimonial alliance with the daughter of Lalit Sood(Parmeet Sethi) - Noorie(Riddhima) but she is in love with Rana(Vikrant Massey) whose parents are not on good terms with her parents. Kamal is planning to sell the plane of Ayka which has disturbed Kabir very much. In order to help Noorie and Rana on one hand and teaching his parents a lesson on the other, Kabir fakes his love affair with Noorie, thus misleading his parents. Sunny also joins this trip in between and the old flame reignites in Ayesha’s heart. Thus there’s a hotchpotch of relationships and situations in this cruise trip. When some bubbles burst and some straight talks take place(which prior to the trip had not taken place), things begin to move in the corrective direction.
The compere of this tale is the dog of the Mehra family - Pluto. A lot of things including the introduction of the principal characters, have been conveyed to the audience through it only(the voiceover is of Aamir Khan). With the exception of the character of Farah, the characters of Dil Dhadakne Do(let the heart beat) are wealthy. They belong to the upper strata of the society. They are the first world people. Rarely only the life, thinking, feelings and activities of such people have been closely watched and dealt with by any movie prior to this movie. Zoya Akhtar herself must be belonging to this world only. However the story of the movie belongs to the industrial houses and a plethora of characters have been inserted into it to present a proper kaleidoscope of the life of such people. Their problems are different from those of the middle and the lower class people. However their feelings are just like the other human-beings only. Generation gap is also there(the filmmaker has brought it forth on the screen in a very cool manner). Besides, those old-fashioned thoughts are also there that giving birth to a child is the panacea for the married life problems and after marriage, the girl cannot come back to her parental house. Dil Dhadakne Do provides a peep into such life.
This movie establishes the significance of proper and correct communication between people(especially among the families). And it concludes on a note that every heart beats in its own way and it should be allowed to do so. Parents should not impose their wishes on their offspring. They should try to befriend them, listen to them and thereby understand them properly. Everybody has a right to live his or her life in his or her own way. And that right should be respected and accepted by the parents or the guardians. Being together is a blessing which renders much more happiness than anything else. This is something to be felt and understood by various people related to each other in one or the other way.
Zoya Akhtar has dealt with the stuff at her hand in a praiseworthy manner. The movie starts and moves towards its culmination in a natural way. There is no moment of boredom in the movie and the viewer’s interest is maintained throughout. A sizable chunk of the audience must be from the middle and the lower class, nevertheless the audience is able to invest in the story of the upper class being told on the screen. Despite the existence of a plethora of characters in the narrative, the script-writer and the director have allowed almost every character(including a child) to develop on its own and have an identity of its own. And that’s an essential feature of a good movie. In the narrative, mutual affection and understanding of the siblings(Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh) is stronger than any such thing in various romantic pairs. And this is truly heart-soothing.
The director has been able to extract admirable performances from her main cast plus the supporting cast. In fact, it’s difficult to pinpoint any particular character as the protagonist of the movie. Here the story is the hero. I will select Ranveer Singh as the best performer. Anil Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab and all others with the sole exception of Shefali Shah, have done full justice to their roles. Especially Priyanka Chopra has portrayed the stuffiness embedded in her character in a highly admirable manner. As for Shefali Shah, I have read praise for her performance in various reviews(written by established reviewers) and found that as ridiculous because this very good actress had perhaps understood widening of her eyes only as acting while doing this movie. I have never seen her in any role doing so much over-acting. She appears natural only while passing sarcastic remarks at her husband, i.e., Anil Kapoor.
The movie is a lavish one. And that is but natural because the story deals with the life lived by the affluent ones. Since the cruise is shown as moving on a world tour, the narrative moves through different countries. Maximum part of the narrative happens on the cruise itself covering parties, dances, eating and discussions(gossips too). All looks quite natural. The movie is a treat to watch because of the scenic beauty ably captured by the cinematographer. Scenes of the cruise, the ocean and the places are eye-soothing.
All the technical aspects are in order. Despite being a long movie, the length is not felt because of the narrative being very interesting. Background score is good. Dialogues are also impressive. Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy may not be upto their own standards but overall it is good.
Most of the people(who are not rich) want to become rich. We may criticize the community of the billionaires but a majority of us is willing to move up the economic ladder and join them. However all is not green in their lives too. See this movie and get a glimpse of what their lives are all about.
Copyrights reserved