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The only way she can now fend him off is if she tells him the truth. She: “Agar main tumhare saath do minute aur rahi toh…” He: “Toh kya?” She: “Toh mujhe tumse pyaar ho jayega… phir se.” His eyes shadow the happiness in his heart. But she has more to say. She: “Aur tumhe nahin hoga… phir se.”
He realises what must have happened eight years ago and rather than rue what could have been, he seizes the moment and takes a step forward. So does she. They lock eager lips and share the most tender of kisses.
The scene playing out till now almost entirely in close-ups is cut to this picture-postcard shot of them standing under the arc in the beautifully lit haveli-hotel, their reflection glowing in the pool of water in front of them. And not just that camera, but you too suddenly find yourself at a distance from him and her.
Ayan Mukerji, who made the poignant coming-of-age tale Wake Up Sid a couple of years back, again writes and directs a moving rhapsody of inner awakening that perhaps could have done without the technicolour, crore-splashing, XXXL canvas. The stories at the heart –– the boy-girl love story, the father-son story, the best friends’ story –– are so intimate and real that plunging them in raai ke pahaad goes a little against the grain of the treatment.
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is actually Before Sunrise and Before Sunset rolled into one, the first Linklater film being the first half here and the sequel the second half. And like those two beautiful films, this one too has a light-handed conversational tone to it. Add to that a little wisdom about living life and drawing up your priorities and you know it’s from the same guy who woke up Sid. The guy who makes you feel good about yourself when the lights come back on in the theatres.
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Like Jesse and Celine had crossed paths in Vienna and Paris nine years apart, Bunny (Ranbir) and Naina (Deepika) connect first during a trekking trip in Manali and then eight years later during a wedding weekend in Udaipur. With them are Bunny’s best friends Aditi (Kalki Koechlin) and Avi (Aditya Roy Kapur), who have their own little heartburns to deal with.
There is a very been-there-seen-that feel to proceedings initially but then Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani hooks you with its earnestness and honesty. Ayan clearly is not interested in the storyline or in the plot development but more in creating this beautiful mosaic of heartfelt moments, of pitting one way of life against another and arguing for both cases convincingly. “Tum galat nahin ho, bas mujhse bahut alag ho.”
Bunny is a drifter who wants to travel the world and make use of every single moment at hand. The kind of guy who manages to cram in every tourist spot in a new city within a day even if he doesn’t spend a single second soaking in any of them. Naina would rather skip the next big sight and just watch the sun go down in the distance. The kind of girl who doesn’t want too much from life but enjoys the little things that it throws up.
In a day and age when their images as stars cast such tall shadows, Ranbir and Deepika still manage to become Bunny and Naina. In a way that you are invested in their characters and aligned to their wants and desires and almost rooted to their reasons. Yet when they splash colours on each other or dance atop dinner tables, they are the stars you paid your money to watch.
Between the two, Deepika with her nervous smiles and knowing stares wins more hearts. Contrary to the trailer, she is not the usual Padukone party girl here. This is a mature and nuanced performance that digs deeper than the sight of those sexy long legs and washboard abs.
Ranbir’s good but there is not a hint of transformation in the eight-year-later second half. Maybe he really latched on to the line: “Bunny tum ek dum nahin badle!” Or maybe he’s just become a little too giving an actor, letting Deepika, Farooque Shaikh and even Madhuri Dixit (in that item song) steal scenes from him.
Aditya is better here than he was in Aashiqui 2 and his scenes with Ranbir hit the right notes. Kalki is a little rusty in the initial scenes but then makes Aditi likeable and fun. The other Roy Kapur, Kunaal, is appropriately funny in his cameo.
Ayan not just directs his actors brilliantly, his writing is top notch, mixing up gyan and goodness in just the right doses. Sometimes doing a Rajkumar Hirani better than Rajkumar Hirani. Just that he doesn’t need to set his characters in a world so made-up.
Despite their chartbuster status, a couple of the songs should have been left at the edit table because at 160-plus minutes, the film feels a little stretched. No complaints about Pritam, though, who delivers yet again, with Badtameez dil, Balam pichkari and Kabira being the picks of the lot.
You should definitely go see Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and you would definitely see a lot of Ayan Mukerji in the future. Hey boy, yes there is a demand of the genre, there is a demand of the fans and there is a demand of the banner but your haath ka daal chaawal is so good that you don’t need to serve us tangdi kebab or keema pao or hakka chow.
And if Bunny knows that, so do you.
