Movie review: Kill Dil
Film: Kill Dil
Cast:Ranveer Singh , Ali Zafar , Parineeti Chopra , Govinda
Director: Shaad Ali Certification: U/A
Rating:**1/2
Earlier this year, there must've been a time when two directors under the same Banner were making virtually the same movie: Gunday, the Spaghetti Eastern and Kill/Dil, The Khichdi Northern. Ranveer Singh is one of the good baddies—a loyal brother from an unknown mother—in both films.
While the former suffered from forced chemistry and Arjun Kapoor, the latter reluctantly reels you into the campy sharpshooting world of Dev (Singh; mini-Govinda) and Tutu (Zafar; efficient). Their universe is conveniently lawless, awash with dusty sepia-tinged action and flashy setpieces to the tune of criminally addictive title tracks. Their phone ringtones and terrace quarters are ripe with Bollywood homages (again), and their camaraderie, simple. They don't go the full 70s hog though, what with sync-sound grounding their silly lines. Dev is Viru to Tutu's all-business Jai, although potential complexities of their relationship are ignored in favour of the producers' obsession with tonal smarts.
Notably, Kill/Dil has a bad baddie too, a gangland villain second only to Mardaani's urban menace Karan Rastogi—Govinda as Bhaiyaji, the man behind his adopted dogs. I grew up admiring his early dramatic turns (Swarg, Baaz) as much as his iconic comic-restlessness, and here, he left me wanting more. With one furious monologue, he gives the role more depth than it deserves. Thankfully, the writers don't explore the whys and whats of his being, which sort of adds to Dev and Tutu's trigger-happy ways. Singh, in particular, looks in awe of his idol; this reverence works in the larger context of what is otherwise a painfully predictable tale of deceit.
However, this clearly looks like a screenplay slightly more compromised to avoid coincidences with Gunday. The second half is off the charts, especially during Dev's foreseeable transformation for a rich girl. And this girl, Disha (+ wardrobe), is a major problem. She is the reason behind many unnecessary songs. Parineeti Chopra initially lends a substantial amount of intrigue to the part, leading us to believe that there's more to her than meets the eye. Maybe there was, in early drafts, but we'll never know. Even her profession (rehabilitating old criminals) seems barely credible, and the writers' decision to base the conflict around her leads to a limp climax. It all hinges on how she is blissfully unaware of Dev's double-life—a plot device difficult to digest in this particular environment (Delhi). Because of her and Singh's puppy eyes, the film takes a tangent into a bizarre job-seeking offshoot; a flaky portion, fun to watch but sorely misplaced.
Kill/Dil is eventually the kind of lightweight effort watchable not for its content, but because you see the makers enjoying themselves. We admire the way they laugh, not the joke they laugh at. That said, more is expected of director Shaadi Ali (Saathiya), and perhaps this is just the rusty beginning of his comeback.
Cast:
Director: Shaad Ali Certification: U/A
Rating:**1/2
Earlier this year, there must've been a time when two directors under the same Banner were making virtually the same movie: Gunday, the Spaghetti Eastern and Kill/Dil, The Khichdi Northern. Ranveer Singh is one of the good baddies—a loyal brother from an unknown mother—in both films.
While the former suffered from forced chemistry and Arjun Kapoor, the latter reluctantly reels you into the campy sharpshooting world of Dev (Singh; mini-Govinda) and Tutu (Zafar; efficient). Their universe is conveniently lawless, awash with dusty sepia-tinged action and flashy setpieces to the tune of criminally addictive title tracks. Their phone ringtones and terrace quarters are ripe with Bollywood homages (again), and their camaraderie, simple. They don't go the full 70s hog though, what with sync-sound grounding their silly lines. Dev is Viru to Tutu's all-business Jai, although potential complexities of their relationship are ignored in favour of the producers' obsession with tonal smarts.
Notably, Kill/Dil has a bad baddie too, a gangland villain second only to Mardaani's urban menace Karan Rastogi—Govinda as Bhaiyaji, the man behind his adopted dogs. I grew up admiring his early dramatic turns (Swarg, Baaz) as much as his iconic comic-restlessness, and here, he left me wanting more. With one furious monologue, he gives the role more depth than it deserves. Thankfully, the writers don't explore the whys and whats of his being, which sort of adds to Dev and Tutu's trigger-happy ways. Singh, in particular, looks in awe of his idol; this reverence works in the larger context of what is otherwise a painfully predictable tale of deceit.
However, this clearly looks like a screenplay slightly more compromised to avoid coincidences with Gunday. The second half is off the charts, especially during Dev's foreseeable transformation for a rich girl. And this girl, Disha (+ wardrobe), is a major problem. She is the reason behind many unnecessary songs. Parineeti Chopra initially lends a substantial amount of intrigue to the part, leading us to believe that there's more to her than meets the eye. Maybe there was, in early drafts, but we'll never know. Even her profession (rehabilitating old criminals) seems barely credible, and the writers' decision to base the conflict around her leads to a limp climax. It all hinges on how she is blissfully unaware of Dev's double-life—a plot device difficult to digest in this particular environment (Delhi). Because of her and Singh's puppy eyes, the film takes a tangent into a bizarre job-seeking offshoot; a flaky portion, fun to watch but sorely misplaced.
Kill/Dil is eventually the kind of lightweight effort watchable not for its content, but because you see the makers enjoying themselves. We admire the way they laugh, not the joke they laugh at. That said, more is expected of director Shaadi Ali (Saathiya), and perhaps this is just the rusty beginning of his comeback.
