After an over-dose of elections and politics, team Jaipur Beat was more than excited to get a chance to watch a movie and that too the very first day. Making a movie on a fairly successful novel is always a challenging task, as there is always a parallel comparison going-on, but Abhishek Varman’s attempt is creditable in that aspect.
The movie is about Krish Malhotra (Arjun Kapoor) from Delhi and Ananya Swaminathan (Alia Bhat) from Chennai. It’s about how they meet during IIM Ahmedabad, how they fall in love, how they convince their parents and finally, despite hiccups, how they eventually manage to get married. The movie reflects varied Indian culture quite powerfully, typically the gap between north Indian and South Indian one.
The initial one-hour showcases IIM Ahmedabad as more of a festival celebration location, dating and time pass kind of venue. It also emphasizes more on physical aspect of a relationship between a boy and a girl. In fact at times you are made to believe that this is the only thing in the couple’s mind.
Amrita Singh and Ronit Roy play the role of Malthotras whereas Revathi and Shiv Kumar are Swaminathans. The story very clearly depicts that in India it’s one thing for boy and girl to fall in love and entirely another thing to get married. Amrita Singh as over the top possessive Punjabi mother is hilarious, and Revathi as a subdued and silent South-Indian parent is equally effective.
Arjun Kapoor gets chunk of the role in the movie. For a newcomer, this surely is big-big break. But does he deliver? Made to act as a Delhi ka Punjabi who himself claims to be over-the-top kinds, his character was too docile (like Amol Palekar) for this claim. Arjun is quite subdued; not reflecting the true Punjabi boy wala feel. He cannot dance, never over-flows with emotions unlike his mother and in fact fits the bill of a of a south Indian, rather than a north Indian. He also fails in most critical scenes especially while proposing or while dealing with his parents. You can’t, but have to believe that IIT-IIM combo actually possess low self-esteem and poor decision-making skills. If the movie ‘Two States’ does not get 4+ rating, it’s largely due to this guy.
Alia Bhat continues to be the breath of fresh air in the film industry. She looks totally stunning, delivers yet another powerful performance after Highway and convinces you to be a fair Tamilian. Her portrayal as loyal daughter, as would-be daughter-in-law and as a lover are very well dealt with. What really appeals to you is her fantastic wardrobe. She has worn some really beautiful and pretty kurtas and south silk sarees and despite minimalistic exposure she still looks very sexy and hot.
Ronit Roy as an alcoholic father who abuses his wife to the core and treat her really bad is highly impressive. His expressions are very powerful and even though he is not made to speak much, he delivers a power packed performance. The scenes between father and son are intense and very realistic. Amrita Singh as loud mouth Punjabi mother is very authentic. In fact you can’t help but remember the character of hers from the movie Chameli ki Shaadi. She proves that given a role, she is very versatile in delivering it to aplomb.
Some of the scenes are really funny such as the interview scene or the plug point one. Some arguments our Son’s choice here (a Tamilian girl and her cooking skills) gives the true flavor of typical punjabi MIL. In fact the entire scenes when both the parents meet and try to get along are hilarious. There are some really illogical scenes as well; a guy using laptop and Samsung smartphone still uses a typewriter to write his book! A senior manager in a Bank is still far away from what digital presentations are all about?
The music has its bright moments however Arjun Kapoor disappoints in the dance sequence. Mast Magan, Chaandaniya and Locha-e-ulfat are melodious. Cinematography is very impressive especially during the proposal scene in the hostel, in the beaches of Chennai and the last marriage scene in the temple.
If you have read this novel, you are bound to be disappointed with the movie. However its must watch at least once because it does offer some really powerful moments. The entire movie was so faithful to the novel that the director totally missed any chance to experiment with something new & original. Probably the director didn’t take the dialogue of the movie “story mein hero na ho lekin story hi hero honi chahiye” seriously himself.
Rating 3.5/5
Jaipur Beat 