Movie: Bewakoofiyaan
Director: Nupur Asthana
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sonam Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor
Rating: ***1/2
There are certain stereotypes associated with a traditional Yash Chopra and a Karan Johar production that you always pay heed to. The production values are enviable, the imaginary duets are portrait equivalents, the costumes are surreal, the plots are shallow and their characters are desperate for the silliest of aspects in larger-than-life backdrops. The endings are generally happy and mostly feature weddings, extravagant smiles, photo-shoots. There’s also that element of melodrama you don’t really connect with. Bewakoofiyaan gets rid of this very facet and it works in its favour hugely for it is never meant to be taken seriously. It doesn’t boast of an earth-shattering interval bang or a conflict point. Its just about an ego-riddance ceremony on display with cheeky lines, down-to-earth humor and believable characters.
Habib Faisal always has his way of smartly intertwining geographical aspects of Delhi into his dialogues and they warrant little complaints while gelling with the story accordingly. Be it a Band Baaja Baraat, a Do Dooni Chaar or an Ishaqzaade, he went on to utilise lines in coherence to the script’s spontaneous potential and never made the narrative seem a farce, however pointless the stories were on paper. Here too, there are visual and textual references to Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar besides talks on monthly bills,budgets and obvious ego-clashes. The plot has hardly half a dozen characters and it is not a film where you bluntly search for their emotional-depth.
The sequences are structured understandably to show their humanly flaws with the need for justification being generally avoided. Mohit is extremely sure of his self. Almost narcissistic, he earns well, though lesser than his romantic interest, Mayera. They have a great relationship going. This was a little scary for a start as the stories on these lines always find an excuse later to slip into eerie silences and the agony of characters is mostly transferred to the viewer. However, it’s not the case with this one. The pace is never compromised upon and the self-realisation is quite simplistic sans sobbing.
The confusions between materialism, addiction and a stable relationship are portrayed well. All this happens in a lighthearted tone too. Be it Sonam Kapoor, Ayusshman or Rishi Kapoor, everyone’s worse and rather better shades get equal screen space. While the baffling nature of the lead pair looks similar, the transformation of Rishi Kapoor’s hatred into empathy for his son-in-law is very heartfelt. From the commencement, he is one-minded about rubbishing love and talks about practicality, preaching about monetary requirements for a comfortable life. The revelations are interesting and even if he retracts his statement later in the proceedings, this happens smoothly.
This is purely a case of the director understanding her target audience. Nupur Asthana wants to connect with the urban sect more than anyone else. She doesn’t fiddle with an outrageous concept and instead focusses on the little significant things for a film to work. She has consistent characterisations in place whose moves and decisions never surprise us or baffle us at the same point. That in no means stoops down the screenplay to be predictable. The clarity is relieving and so is the lavishness that’s apt.
Ayusshman has a blast playing his part. Whenever he parties, works out or utters the ‘Kha Jaaon Tujhko’ to his lady love, he has an enviable on-screen ease and that within a couple of films itself is an out-pour of his abilities in contemporary comedies. Sonam Kapoor surely has a fragile side to hers when it comes to her performances and though she brands her physicality aggressively than her abilities to emote, the director extracts the balance out of her right here. Rishi Kapoor has as much energy as his co-actors and if there’s someone who could have made this part as a safety-obsessed father work, it should be him. For a veteran, he’s literally enjoying the freedom he gets in these supporting acts getting close to the space that Bachchan is too relishing. Bewakoofiyaan on an entirety is confident of its purpose, enough to celebrate than ponder over its follies.
Review by Srivathsan N, who had originally written it for Cinegoer.net
