Having so many strong, bold and issue based movies in his kitty, Madhur trying his skills in a comedy actually had me in doubts initially. But with DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI, the talented director surprises the industry as well as the viewers, revealing a new undisclosed dimension of his personality, which is light, fresh and enjoyable. Thankfully following the comedy genre of Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Basu Chatterjee and not Aneez Bazmee, Priyadarshan or Rohit Shetty, Madhur comes up with a nice, feel good realistic comedy which also tackles the mid life crisis problem of men in a delightful manner.
Revolving around the three one sided love stories of Ajay, Emraan and Omi, the film has an entertaining first half and a realistic second one with some regular comic touches inserted smartly to keep the viewer smiling. Plus DTBHJ also has the Madhur Bhandarkar we all are familiar with, evidently visible in few sequences dealing with the rich socialites and office colleagues. In its first hour the film keeps on moving at a pleasant pace introducing all its characters in no time and moving into their individual love stories effectively. And just before the intermission, Madhur brings on a surprising twist in the script which further adds a new dimension in the movie and one expects to see a much more exciting second half coming up.
But post intermission, as usual the pace drops a little with all the emotional drama coming in and that does make you feel restless for a while. However, Madhur hits back again in the last half an hour and gives you a completely unpredictable climax which makes the viewer feel light and refreshing with a smile on his face. Still, as I see it, the post interval part of the movie could be much better with a faster edit and a better selection of supporting actors. In fact the choice of actors by Madhur Bhandarkar in DTBHJ remains quite strange and questionable keeping in mind the fact that he could easily have roped in much better and known actors for some important roles in the script.
The merits of the movie include its fresh and cool, story-telling style which is very close to the one seen in Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee movies. So for that Madhur indeed deserves his praises considering the fact that he has never ever tried this genre before in his career. The other major merit is the way the film tackles the issue of mid life crisis in both men and women. At one side Ajay Devgan is shown fighting with his divorce and new one sided love life together in a hilarious manner and on the other is Tisca Chopra dealing with her middle age after having a successful career as a famous model and former Miss India. Along with that the film has a very soothing presence of Shazahn Padamsee, who looks very pretty, bubbly and ravishing on the screen.
The weaker points of the movie include the same old or monotonous kind of role given to Emraan Hashmi who plays a Casanova in the film as seen several times before in his previous films. And second is the not so great kind of character given to Omi Vaidya who is now hugely famous after 3 Idiots. Though both Emraan and Omi have done full justice to their assigned roles but their fans may feel disappointed as there are no specifically enjoyable scenes featuring both the actors. In addition to this, I found the casting of Shruti Hassan not up to the mark as she looked very heavily over confident in her role of a rich socialite. In other words I found Tisca Chopra much better and impactful in comparison.
Actually it's the main story of Ajay - Shazahn and the scenes of all the three friends Ajay, Emraan and Omi together, which keeps the ball rolling and you don't mind the other minor hiccups in the second half. Ajay Devgan once again proves his versatility with a brilliant performance which simply shows that he can equally perform well in both Hrishi Da style and Rohit Shetty kind of comedies made in Bollywood. Emraan Hashmi has got nothing new to do but still he looks charming and inviting in his lover boy role. Omi Vaidya underplays his part well and impresses but his fans may not find what they were looking for in his shy character of a poet. Shazahn as stated before looks great and acts well too but Rituparna Sengupta and Shraddha Das are just OK. Shruti Hassan overacts whereas Tisca Chopra is simply superb in her scenes with Emraan.
Musically I liked the track "Abhi Kucch Dino Se" instantly after a long time and also "Tu Khwaab Hai Ya Koi Jaadugari" playing in the background. So Pritam once again gives you something to cheer about in his soundtrack. But I couldn't understand why 'Abhi Kuchh Dino Se" was not used and promoted in the film's promotions. Cinematography is pretty descent with an eye catching art direction along with some enjoyable dialogs from Sanjay Chhel. But after watching DTBHJ I really wondered why the Censors gave the movie an 'A' certificate. May be they just gave the rating by only seeing the name of Madhur Bhandarkar in the credits without even seeing the movie entirely.
Summing up, if you want to have a good time in the theater with nothing loud or over the top, keeping your comedy expectations on hold, then the chances are that you might like the movie on the whole and would enjoy it with a smiling face. In all its a nice, welcome changeover from the serious and bold director.
Revolving around the three one sided love stories of Ajay, Emraan and Omi, the film has an entertaining first half and a realistic second one with some regular comic touches inserted smartly to keep the viewer smiling. Plus DTBHJ also has the Madhur Bhandarkar we all are familiar with, evidently visible in few sequences dealing with the rich socialites and office colleagues. In its first hour the film keeps on moving at a pleasant pace introducing all its characters in no time and moving into their individual love stories effectively. And just before the intermission, Madhur brings on a surprising twist in the script which further adds a new dimension in the movie and one expects to see a much more exciting second half coming up.
But post intermission, as usual the pace drops a little with all the emotional drama coming in and that does make you feel restless for a while. However, Madhur hits back again in the last half an hour and gives you a completely unpredictable climax which makes the viewer feel light and refreshing with a smile on his face. Still, as I see it, the post interval part of the movie could be much better with a faster edit and a better selection of supporting actors. In fact the choice of actors by Madhur Bhandarkar in DTBHJ remains quite strange and questionable keeping in mind the fact that he could easily have roped in much better and known actors for some important roles in the script.
The merits of the movie include its fresh and cool, story-telling style which is very close to the one seen in Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee movies. So for that Madhur indeed deserves his praises considering the fact that he has never ever tried this genre before in his career. The other major merit is the way the film tackles the issue of mid life crisis in both men and women. At one side Ajay Devgan is shown fighting with his divorce and new one sided love life together in a hilarious manner and on the other is Tisca Chopra dealing with her middle age after having a successful career as a famous model and former Miss India. Along with that the film has a very soothing presence of Shazahn Padamsee, who looks very pretty, bubbly and ravishing on the screen.
The weaker points of the movie include the same old or monotonous kind of role given to Emraan Hashmi who plays a Casanova in the film as seen several times before in his previous films. And second is the not so great kind of character given to Omi Vaidya who is now hugely famous after 3 Idiots. Though both Emraan and Omi have done full justice to their assigned roles but their fans may feel disappointed as there are no specifically enjoyable scenes featuring both the actors. In addition to this, I found the casting of Shruti Hassan not up to the mark as she looked very heavily over confident in her role of a rich socialite. In other words I found Tisca Chopra much better and impactful in comparison.
Actually it's the main story of Ajay - Shazahn and the scenes of all the three friends Ajay, Emraan and Omi together, which keeps the ball rolling and you don't mind the other minor hiccups in the second half. Ajay Devgan once again proves his versatility with a brilliant performance which simply shows that he can equally perform well in both Hrishi Da style and Rohit Shetty kind of comedies made in Bollywood. Emraan Hashmi has got nothing new to do but still he looks charming and inviting in his lover boy role. Omi Vaidya underplays his part well and impresses but his fans may not find what they were looking for in his shy character of a poet. Shazahn as stated before looks great and acts well too but Rituparna Sengupta and Shraddha Das are just OK. Shruti Hassan overacts whereas Tisca Chopra is simply superb in her scenes with Emraan.
Musically I liked the track "Abhi Kucch Dino Se" instantly after a long time and also "Tu Khwaab Hai Ya Koi Jaadugari" playing in the background. So Pritam once again gives you something to cheer about in his soundtrack. But I couldn't understand why 'Abhi Kuchh Dino Se" was not used and promoted in the film's promotions. Cinematography is pretty descent with an eye catching art direction along with some enjoyable dialogs from Sanjay Chhel. But after watching DTBHJ I really wondered why the Censors gave the movie an 'A' certificate. May be they just gave the rating by only seeing the name of Madhur Bhandarkar in the credits without even seeing the movie entirely.
Summing up, if you want to have a good time in the theater with nothing loud or over the top, keeping your comedy expectations on hold, then the chances are that you might like the movie on the whole and would enjoy it with a smiling face. In all its a nice, welcome changeover from the serious and bold director.