Dile bole, bhangra overkill

There are good movies that you must see. There are the middling ones that you can be forgiven for having missed. And then, there are those that are so absolutely rotten that you just have to watch them. I saw Dil bole Hadippa out of Friday late night joblessness ( bad call, I know). I’d dragged my flatmate along and going in, I made this declaration about how I might be pleasantly surprised since I had absolutely no expectations from this film and didn’t even know what it was about. I thought it would be generic Yash Chopra fare, loud and dramatic, but entertaining. But this one takes Bollywood bhangra too far. I will leave a more detailed critique for my colleague Sanjukta who reviews movies for Lounge on the web. She’s missed seeing this one so far but I hope she does soon. Story in brief: Rani Mukherjee wants to play cricket but is rejected from trying out for a cricket team because she doesn’t have a moustache. Shahid Kapoor has been emotionally blackmailed by his father into returning from the U.K to head this team to play against Pakistan. Rani gets moustache, Rani gets into team, moustacheless Rani and Shahid fall in love, Shahid discovers moustached Rani’s real identity, bad things happen, good things happen. Some randomness: 1) The entire movie seems to be set around two songs that suddenly materialize. One is a big outdoor ‘all of Punjab dances with you’ sort of song with unmoustached Rani (and Shahid) and one is moustached Rani (with Rakhi Sawant). 2) The movie, while supposedly being about women’s empowerment etcetera is amazingly chauvinist. Camera lingers obscenely on all unmoustached characters. Also there is something very perverse about seeing Rani Mukherjee all strapped down. And she makes a very bad sad sardar which is what she is for one third of the movie (she’s still bearable as a happy sardar). 3) Rani’s nails grow rapidly back and forth in size when she switches from being moustached and unmoustached ( okay, this is just me being picky). 4) Moustached Rani has freckles, unmoustached Rani has unblemished skin (duh!). 5) Rani doesn’t seem to mind when Shahid’s father ( Anupam Kher) offers her money for having flirted with his son. 6) Shahid discovers Rani’s ‘real’ identity because one of her contact lenses falls off ( this reminded me of Baazigar). Apparently, that’s the only way to recognize your lover. 7) After the match, during a sentimental speech to the Indian and Pakistani teams, all of Pakistan’s women are represented by one burkha-clad woman who cries in solidarity to Rani’s nari mukti speech. The camera stays on her almost the entire time. You really have to go see what a mess this is. One second thoughts, it might actually be entertaining. POSTED BY ANINDITA GHOSE ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2009 AT 9:35 PM