Befikre - Sorglos verliebt

I was misled into watching this movie by a glowing newspaper review. I took the bait since it came from Aditya Chopra i.e. the same director who brought us Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge which is an ageless romance drama. This movie was presented as the current generation version of it but it hardly was. Apparently, promiscuity is the middle name of every young girl and boy nowadays. Most of the movie is pointless. The movie was much closer to Shuddh Desi Romance which was another hang-your-head-in-shame kind of movie. That was based in India; this one's in Paris. Vaani Kapoor's dialogue delivery is terrible and her looks (jeez, that chin and jaw) don't compensate. Ranveer Singh is the saving grace here with his comic timing and the life he brings to his character. The truckloads of kissing (to hell with the opening of the movie) and skin show would have put a B-grade movie to shame. Poor Emraan Hashmi got a bad name for it while Ranveer Singh walks scot-free here - Don't watch it.

Aditya Chopra has issues with understanding love and relationships. He first started throwing up his ideas in 1995, and it took him close to two decades to finally get the people to understand that his interpretations are awfully wrong. Clearly evident in this ritzy romance drama.

Shyra (Vaani Kapoor) is a young, carefree, and promiscuous French woman born to Indian restaurateurs while Dharam (Ranveer Singh) is a comedian from Delhi who has final-stage satyriasis. They bump into each other at a rave party in Paris and immediately indulge in wham bam thank you ma'am. Dharam hopes that he can maybe start scoring, starting from Shyra, but is internally crestfallen to learn that the fun they had the previous night was just a one-time thingummy for Shyra, a professional travel guide who moonlights as garcon at her parents' rotisserie. The 2-hour game-play between these youngsters misrepresented as today's youth is what the film is essentially about.

Viewers are ushered into the film with a montage of various couples kissing and groping each other in the beautiful locales of France. As we move further in the non-linear story-line, Singh comes in as this joker, summoned by his Indian friend to add elan to the latter's comedy club-cum-cafe. But, we mostly see him as a nudist trying to get it on with Shyra, who has terrible taste in fashion, considering her nationality. The story-line tries too hard to showcase the youngsters' mentality when it comes to romance in the free world, but forgets to take all aspects into consideration. If the first half is foreplay followed by carnal knowledge, the second half is post-coital clean up, which is both gross and non-pleasurable.

Dating in the 21st century is everything NOT like one sees in Befikre. Instead, the film is a personal diary of director Chopra who chose to market it as something about no-strings-attached relationships. There is, however, some humor in the drama, contributed mainly by Singh. Albeit, there are too many improbable situations here, which makes the whole shindig slightly unbelievable for the viewers. Dharam shares an apartment with two homosexual women, while Shyra observes licentiousness while living with her parents. Convenience looks good in a store, not in a film. So much, that it flip flops from one idea to another, and often churns out dialogues pinpointing certain stereotypes and gives out critiques which do not pass muster. Today's youth are impulsive, which is not a novel thing about them, but writer Chopra thinks of it as a paradigm shift as we move ahead in life.

With very less background data about the protagonists, the film largely engages in differentiating them as Dilliwala and Pariswali, as if trying to tell that the film may not be universally relevant. Which is true to some extent. The makers also try to bridge the gap between how romance is perceived in India and elsewhere in the West, but falls through, because there is no consideration of the complexities and stigmas that come with it. They fail to realize that casual relationships are not just practiced in Paris and New York, but also in Connaught Place and South Bombay. Also, I'm surprised how the Indian CBFC even cleared the film for the morally-virgin Indian consumers.

Sort of a reverse primer for marriages, the film can most relevantly be described as the less faithful version of Karan Johar's exaggerated snooze-fest, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016). While that took a distorted look at relationships, this one here take the on-off approach. It refutes its own claims of how romantic relationships nowadays are - proclaiming that they are fleeting at one point, and then describing it as a bond at another. All in all, it blows its chances at depicting how hook- ups affect people's lives, because while love takes the backseat, lust hops in to take care of the wheel.

Singh marginally steals the limelight with his stronger performance, while Kapoor is let down by her costume and a weird air. Their mannerisms may be a reason to ignite vanity, but their glossy performances fail to ante up the narrative. For a moment, one may even think that the actors are starring in a ridiculously long advertisement by the France tourism board, but then chuck that thought because a French ad would have more French in it than Hindi.

Of course, there are some minor takeaways from the film, which I am leaving alone for your individual capabilities to grapple. Nonetheless, there is one dialog from Shyra's parents that Chopra gets right: "These days parents don't bring up their children, it's the other way around." Don't get excited, because even this is spoken in Hindi.

BOTTOM LINE: Aditya Copra's fourth film, "Befikre" is like a fancy boutique situated in a romantic city. It sells everything from horseplay to foreplay, targeted at the YOLO generation and endorsed by good-looking people. However, by the time you fill your cart with one or two good pieces and go to the counter to check out, you take a glimpse at the backside storeroom, and repulse in fear because you realize you have been duped by men and women who want to set bad examples. Skip for life, or use as a travel guide when you visit Paris.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NO

DDLJ for me was a romantic benchmark in Indian Cinema along with Mohabbatein and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and it all happened because of one person who brought good mentality from his father and that is Aditya Chopra himself. I always admired his films by the writing, chemistry, direction, and music. But this is the only movie in Aditya Chopra's table which screwed every classic in Indian cinema.

The fantastic trailer and the music YRF put up made me excited but honestly, this film is a disappointment. I don't mind rom-com movies but when it comes to scripting, Adi should've been a bit cautious about what to write. A movie about carefree relationships is not one of them.

The performances in the movie were decent. An actor like Ranveer Singh can make a movie like this worth watching. He was very withheld and humorous in his respective role as Dharam Gulati who played a comedian/playboy.

Vaani Kapoor as Shyra Gill acted averagely well as a tour guide but I felt like she took coaching classes from Katrina Kaif like the way to seduce a guy and create romantic expressions in one way during the movie. That could explain the puffy lips she got after an excessive amount of kissing in the movie.

The direction and cinematography were absolutely spot-on. Aditya Chopra and his DOP managed to shoot Paris very realistically top to bottom with good resonance. The good thing that Adi managed to do was giving good Aesthetic shots in the movie, especially how he shot the kisses although more than 20 weren't needed. The first half was interesting especially the songs in the opening but the interval and climax made me cringe a lot.

His writing was not good because having a carefree relationship colliding with marrying someone else are 2 things which didn't make sense to me. The script for me is hard to explain because of some bit of confusion.

Good music can only come from 2 humble gentlemen and they're Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani. Nashe Si Chadh Gayi is a good track which I've been listening to on a loop as well as You and Me. Khulke Dhulke is the only song in the album which failed to pack a Punjabi wedding punch. Vaibhavi's choreographic skills are getting better and better. Better than Farah Khan and Prabhudeva.

Overall, if I want to describe this film, I would say that Befikre is a mediocre written blue film. The music and direction kept the movie tight but the poor writing and post-interval compromised it which is why this movie is worth a one-time watch or on a Netflix and T.V broadcast.

Aditya Chopra- I know how much you wanted to make a fun and sensuous movie but a script for that needs time. You're still a good filmmaker in my opinion but be careful.

2/5- Yash Raj Films have some damages to fix because of what the Box Office will be like.

Its a good movie .. Ranveer Singh once again did a great job. Light hearted with renewed Yash Raj movie formula. No over melodrama, Excellent acting by Ranveer, OK acting by Vaani, good and tight script and direction, nice and peppy music, beautiful locales. It has a one liner story but still bound you till the end. That's the trademark of a good director. A very good effort by Aditya Chopra. The trailers of the movie showed the lewd side which is not actually the prime part of this movie and so a bit misleading. Aditya Chopra should not have made the kissing focus in the trailers as movie has lots of other things to offer. Go watch it, you will not regret!!!

Befikre (2016): I never have any problem with lengthy duration like The Godfather,LOTR series but I never felt bored.In fact I enjoyed those films and remained classics.Why am I comparing those classics with Befikre?I am coming to the point.While I was watching Befikre,suddenly I felt that this movie is coming to its ending at last so I checked my watch but to my shock just 1 hour of the movie has completed:(:(:( At that moment itself I felt that how do I have to bear this crap for another hour..

Plot: A quintessential Delhi boy Dharam (Ranveer Singh) comes to Paris for work in search of an adventure. Just when he was about to embark on this journey of his life he bumps into a wild, free spirited, French born Indian girl Shyra (Vaani Kapoor). A feisty romance ensues between the two in which both of their personalities- one being an equal match for the other are tested to the limit. Battling their ups and downs, both realize that love is a leap of faith that can only be taken by those who dare to love.

Plus Points:

1)Ranveer Singh: With his typical but decent performance Raveer Singh is the only saving grace of the movie.He was very well suited and humorous in his respective role as Dharam Gulati who played a comedian/playboy.

2)Cinematography: Kaname Onoyama's cinematography is brilliant.He did extremely well showing the exotic Paris with beautiful camera work.

3)Nashe se Chad gayi: This is the only song which is very good and choreography in this song is very good.A good number for parties.

Minus Points: Apart from what I have written in plus points,rest of the movie is crap.Aditya Chopra,the legend who gave best romantic movie of India with DDLJ,gave this utter rubbish.

This movie was titled Befikre which means Without any worries.So I waited a lot to see what they will do "that crazy" without any worries.But only thing I found is that they only have sex and some kissing without worries.Clearly a wrong title for this movie.

Vaani Kapoor looked like a weird robot in few scenes.Her look is terrible.

The movie has 23 kissing scenes! One of the largest Bollywood movies have ever got.This is the only thing the makers wanted to attract and if you want to watch those weird kisses,you can watch this crap.Otherwise avoid this and save your valuable time..

My rating 4/10