Badrinath Ki Dulhania

Director and writer Mr. Shashank Khaitan is first rate as a director but was under pressure to make this movie 'Hat Ke'. First half is romantic comedy with very good addition of sub plots, like brother accepting arrange marriage even being in love with another girl. This plot is simple but used and developed in good way. Yes main female back story of not believing in love because she was cheated by a boy is lame. Then coming to a common point with male lead for fixing her elder sister marriage and then love blossoms between them is shown in entertaining way. Some scenes are quirky but very entertaining like offering marriage proposal while singer is singing Mata Ka Jagran, Goons attack the couple but rather than intension of molesting girl they target boy creates humor but a bit long. At interval point the reason is thrown to audience just for shock but it smashes female lead character. Her reasoning for her act was not justified in second half according to her action. Male lead father being very angry like normally girl father used to behave in that situation is also not going well with the characterization. It was just for length and drama sake. Interval point clearly shown that movie is going to slip badly from Director. Second half starts with typical melo-drama. A bit of scuffle, cute Police angle, then drunken scenes, then live in and all that. Movie becomes slow in second half even after high dose of drama. You neither laugh nor feel that much intensity and it also reflects some humor angle too. Camera work by Neha Parti Matiyani is just fantastic. Film looks so vibrant and beautiful. Performance wise film is also in two parts. First half is full of smooth and fine performances but second half offers unbalanced by same artists. Varun Dhawan as Badrinath is first rate. His accent, body language are just impeccable. Alia Bhatt is brilliant with her emotions and innocence. Yash Sinha as Badrinath's elder brother is balanced and swift with expressions. Sahil Vaid as his friend Somdev is endearing and smooth. Sweta Prasad as sister in law is fine. Actor, who played his father, looks weak when he should have carried typical negative look. Something wrong with his make up too especially beard. Climax comes with a cute message but again with full unnecessary drama.

How a boy & a girl recognizes by society when they born, how their life builds and at the life stage of wedding how things being done and how it affects the lives of them. These things well explained in this movie.

Let me give you all the reasons why this movie is what our country needs:

1) It targets how parents manipulate children with their health when it works to their convenience. 2) It shows how some children have to sacrifice their love to please their blind parents. 3) It rejects dowry. 4) It shows how we must oppose superstitions, and stand up for what is right. 5) It shows how talented women are, and how far women can go when given a chance. 6) It shows that a 10th pass man can change, and reason, so why can well educated people? 7) It shows that authoritative male figures must be questioned. Because age cannot give anyone a license to do wrong. 8) Varun proudly says Jhansi was not named after the great things done by a Raja, but by a Rani -Rani Jhansi. 9) Sure there are scenes of stalking, but he accepts that he was wrong. And the bigger message is of CHANGE! 10) This movie is one of the best movies of 2017. Anyone capable of reasoning and thinking, will look beyond and see the larger message.

We are all intelligent beings. Sometimes we make mistakes. But what important is our ability to CHANGE.

Anyone who uses words like misogynist, anti feminist, regressive to describe this movie, needs the latest dictionary, because clearly the definitions they believe are skewed.

Shashank Khaitan is here with the second installment of "Dulhaniya" franchise: "Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya"

So, what did we expect from the film? We expected a romantic comedy with several melodramatic moments, foot tapping music in beautiful locations with meticulous dance sequences, the charming chemistry between the lead actors and finally the bride goes with the groom.

We all know what are we going to see, it has everything mentioned above however, it delivers something new, it integrates social issues like dowry, objectification of women, equal rights with subtle humor. It successfully culminates a path for feminism in the most authentic way and delivers a good social message.

On the other hand, it is your usual romantic comedy set in Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Kota (Rajasthan) and Singapore. However, it fails to showcase the rural locales and milieus, the weddings are profligate and sets are luxurious, we can comprehend that it was produced by Karan Johar.

Shashank has done a fantastic job in direction, the characters are embodied by the lead actors, even Varun managed to pull off some emotional sequences, Alia is effortless and Sahil Vaid is on top form.

The film works perfectly in the first half, however; it loses the narrative flair in the second half as the film drags. The cinematography is brilliant but the editing in the second half could have been crisper.

Overall, it is a lovely movie filled with light-heart humor, good dialogues, amazing performances and a punch on relevant social stigmas.

Recently watched Badrinath ki Dulhania. The name of the movie for one! Why did it have to again be someone's " dulhania?" More power to women we say, then why was it not "Vaidehi ka dulha" in the first place, especially since the movie portrays Vaidehi( Alia Bhatt) as a fiery go-getter who is shown to be an educated, independent, self- made girl unlike Badri (played by Varun Dhawan) who is the exact opposite. And as goes the story, Vaidehi is to be the bread-winner of of this Kota-Jhansi bred couple in the end. Why then was it so necessary to add the "dulhania" tag to women power? The movie is a rundown of the a typical Hindi movie masala encompassing the all, love, song and dance routine, amid prevailing social evils of dowry defied by the fiery spirit of an independent girl, who is the epitome of " never say never"! The story , which otherwise seemed to be getting brownie points for 'more power to women', concluded too obviously for comfort! Just as one begins to think, Dharma Productions is about to make a dent in the traditions and conventions here and give a new food for thought about reconsidering the gender & matrimony aspect, the movie concludes on a "it always ends this way" note. So much for women power!! All said and done the on-screen chemistry Of Alia and Varun is terrific. Alia, as usual is flawless both in the eye appeal and performance and has given her best . Varun gets into his character and you see that intensity in acting, which he puts his heart into, in every role he's portrayed so far. A little humour here and there helps you to stay through an otherwise run-of-the-mill movie.