Dil Bole Hadippa: After-thoughts

Dil Bole Hadippa is a quintessential mass masala movie. It has all the ingredients required to cook a Yash Raj mass masala movie. I am using the template from Tarla Dalal's website to review the movie.

Name of the dish:
In our school, When reviewing a story/play, we were advised to write about the title at the end. This was because title is supposed to give out the overall idea and ethos of the story/play. So, once other elements of the stroy/play are reviewed we evaluate how good the title is in representing the story and the elements making the story. But i am violating that protocol and describing the title first (following Tarla Dalal). The name of this dish is very generic and any resemblance to the plot of the movie can be considered as purely coincidental. It however induces curiosity in the viewer as what the movie could be to have such a title - Dil Bole Hadippa (My heart goes hurrah). The curiosity, however, doesn't end with the movie. Looks like Yash Raj has bought a lot of 'such' titles in discount and is now using those randomly - Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (can be used for most Yash Raj love stories), Ta Ra Rum Pum, Tashan and Salaam Namaste. Dil Bole Hadippa, looks like to be from the same pool and could have been used for any of the above movies.


Cooking Time: Doesn't matter. It depends heavily on the availability of the actors.

Preparation Time: The time required to teach Rani how to act out cricket shots.

Ingredients:
1. famous actors - Rani, Shahid, Anupam Kher and Dalip Tahil
2. Average bollywood masala music and dances - both are not really required.
3. Some fairy tale kind of a plot. [Sometimes i wonder, how useful would these yash raj movies be to the grandmas!]
4. Some very fashionable costumes

That's it. With the above four ingredients can make you heart go hurrah - at least, so is the claim

Method:
Bring a beautiful Indian village girl and an NRI guy together. Make them dislike each other initially. Make sure that the father of the guy likes the girl and thinks that she would be 'ideal' for his son. Now, add a dollop of, what the movies claim, 'indian values' in the girl. Now, add a tumbler full of dreams into the girl. And in the end make sure her dreams come true.

Garnish the dish with some India-Pakistan 'aman', come-back-to-india, eternity of marriage and gender equality messages.

That's it. You are ready with Dil Bole Hadippa.

Well, if you couldn't get any relation between the above and what is shown in the trailers, you are correct. For the sake of completeness i would mention it.

The movie is actually of only about 20 mins. How long is a purely detective movie if you get to know who the culprit is in the very beginning? The movie opens with Indian Tigers losing the India-Pakistan 'Aman Cup' for the 8th time in a row. Indian Tigers owner', Anupam Kher is desperate to win it the next time. His son (Shahid Kapoor) is shown to be an ace cricketer staying in London with his 'separated-from-Anupam-Kher mother (Poonam Dhillon). And Veera (Rani Mukherjee) is the best batsman (both right handed and left handed) in the village. That's it. It doesn't take one to write in Mundane Journey to fit the pieces together. The movie exactly does what you think it should do. And in the same precise detail you thought it would do. It even injured Veera's right hand so that she can prove her claim that she is both a right handed and a left handed batsman.

The one good thing about this movie is the performance of all the actors, especially Rani. She proved how seasoned an actor she is by playing the role of Veer (male) and Veera (female) brilliantly.

The movie, essentially, banks on two of the three things India is passionate about - Cricket and Pakistan (third being bollywood itself). The plot, however, is very old.

Dil Bole Hadippa is not a multiplex movie. So, be austere and don't waste your hard earned money on this movie in a multiplex, especially when you have recession in the US and drought in India. If you have time, you may watch it at a single screen theater that is at walkable distance from your house.

Think of environment before driving to the theater.

Cheers!