Bawaal

When we think about Bollywood romance, flashes of classic SRK movies with vivid visuals and over-the-top caricatures immediately spring to our minds. However, the stylisation and the overall approach have evolved drastically and gradually moulded into a more relevant shape keeping our modern-day lifestyle and civilisation in mind. Albeit, the gist has remained identical. And thus, making every other romantic feature somewhat alike to some extent.

"Bawaal" attempts to break out of that norm!

While it uses some well-established tropes & cliches to lay the foundation of the lead couple, the kind of parallels it draws afterwards to build that relationship further is quite unmatched. Tracing way back to the horrific events of the Second World War, the story puts lots of effort to symbolise the difficulties and dilemmas of our minds to that of a time of absolute horror when all participating nations of the War and their innocent people went through inconceivable hardship and misfortune.

They endured Pain which is beyond comprehension.

Now such comparisons may come across as naive & pretentious to some people, and that is completely understandable cause it looks like Nitesh Tiwari (the director) wanted to tone down the actual severity of the circumstances so that his work could be widely accessible, thus resulting in a byproduct that lacks mandated sincerity and fervour.

Nevertheless, the tender chemistry between Varun and Janhvi made my two hours worthwhile. And I like that they both were committed to their roles and played their respective parts with utmost honesty and conviction and thereby making it one of the most interesting pieces of work coming from Bollywood.