Film review: Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Film review: Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Director: Sharat Katariya
Cast: Bhumi Pednekar, Ayushmann Khurana, Sanjay Mishra
Censor: U/A
Rating:

As Aankhon Dekhi ably demonstrated last year, movies need not always be constructed around plot points, pace, beats and conventional graphs. A phase of someone’s life, section of a larger story, peripheral characters and scattered household scenes can make for a hell of an entertaining watch. Those familiar with the era, environment, dialect and tinier nitty-gritties find pleasure in visions of nostalgia, while others marvel at the authenticity, and chemistry displayed by performers who look like they’ve lived there for decades. Director Sharad Katariya takes more than a leaf out of this slice-of-life book, and gently constructs—with a remarkable eye for detail—one of the sweetest little fairytales in recent times.

He presents a conventional boy-meets-girl story in unconventional shape and form, and wisely chooses an unadulterated, crowd-pleasing mid-90s backdrop. The girl is educated, thereby having to settle for an illiterate, uncouth Momma’s boy. Blink your eyes and you’ll miss their community wedding, their memorable foray into a ‘physical arrangement’, his shallow frustrations and high-strung family banter. Blink your eyes and you’ll probably miss that she’s overweight, and that this forms the crux of this daring mainstream leap of faith. Blink your eyes, but you cannot shake off the feeling that the line producers, set designers, cinematographer, costume department, casting director, lyricist and musicians are the real heroes.

It’s impossible not to tear up at the purity of the 90s—cassette parlours, VCR wires (red over yellow), prudish ‘English film’ sex references, Limca and Campa colas, and especially Prem’s obsession with 90s playback sensation Kumar Sanu. Rarely have I seen an entire era of Bollywood pulp nut-shelled into a single music album, celebrated without a hint of condescension, to virtually define the simmering flavor of a film.

I’ve never been to Haridwar—a relatively virginal cinematic landscape—but I trust what Katariya has put on show. He exercises control over a script bubbling with cramped spaces, tantrums, tonal smarts and verbose arguments, and seems to enjoy the challenge of depicting commotion and camaraderie. It’s no coincidence that composer Andrea Guerra is European (Italian); his background score—in lilting contrast to the heartland’s earthy imagery—invokes the playfulness of

Yann Tiersen, strings of Abel Korzeniowski and Ludovico Einaudi’s
melody. Every actor in this film makes us forget that they’re on camera. Debutant Bhumi Pednekar is remarkable as resilient Sandhya; she is self-aware, measured and radiates a younger Ayesha Takia’s disarming innocence.

Sanjay Mishra stands out as the boy’s typically flustered father, and it is delightful to see veteran actress Sheeba Chaddha shine in the crucial role (for a change) of an overbearing aunt. Ayushmann Khurana’s Prem, however, is a peculiar character. The actor invariably excels, with quick-fire delivery and scowling ways, at playing bratty unlikeable man-children. But his outbursts, brooding montages and meltdowns seem like they’re part of the plan—like they’re written and needed, unlike most other natural interactions. There is no doubting Khurana’s talent and choice of roles, which is why I perhaps sound critical of his demeanor.


Unsurprisingly, the studio’s last-gasp stamp—in the form of an against-all-odds race that somehow becomes relevant and holds the contrived key to the fortunes of our mismatched couple—is visible in the dying minutes of Dum Laga Ke Haisha. Inserted for cheap thrills, this still doesn’t take away from a charming end-credit setup that leaves us grinning all the way home. Highly recommended, and hopefully, a sign of faster times in Bollywood High.