2 States **
Dir: Abhishek Varman
Starring: Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy, Revathy, Shivkumar Subramaniam

Adapted from Chetan Bhagat’s partly autobiographical novel 2 States: The Story Of My Marriage by first-time director Abhishek Varman (screenplay) and Hussain Dalal (dialogues), 2 States has been a monster hit across the border. But is the box-office success truly deserved? Unfortunately, the answer has to be a "nyet". I say "unfortunately" because this rom-com does have a few things going for it – an attractive lead pair, a topical subject,decent performances, and a touching denouement. But Varman’s adaptation meanders too frequently (the whole framing  sequence of the film with Arjun Kapoor’s Krish narrating his story to an unseen psychologist makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, adds nothing to the movie and only eats up valuable screen time). Plus the movie’s visual slickness and glossy treatment (to be only expected from a Karan Johar production) – complete with a standard musical wedding number – actually works against the book/film’s loftier aims of tackling a serious subject (the cultural divide between North and South India – something we can easily relate to here in the land of the pure) seriously.

The movie never really scratches below the surface and as a result Krish and Ananya (Alia Bhatt) never go beyond being the generic Johar-esque urban hip young couple battling against tradition and disapproving parents (though the hero wanting to be a writer is certainly different for a Mollywood production). And while I bought into the romance somewhat, the comedy – which is

supposed to revolve around the cultural differences between Punjabi and Tamil families and which should, theoretically, have provided plenty of grist for the mill – never really takes off and both sets of parents (but Krish’s mother, in particular) actually come across as boorish at

various times and rather unlikable as well. Similarly, though Krish’s efforts to win over her parents are believable, Ananya’s own public display of defiance-cum-ingenuity at her boyfriend’s cousin’s wedding, which acts as the means for converting Krish’s relatives seems implausible as well as too simplistic. The most interesting part of the film for me was the dynamic of Krish’s family, with a semi-alcoholic/semi-abusive father (Ronit Roy) and a possessive, almost-bigoted mother (Amrita Singh) and I wish that this had been developed even

further. As it is, both Roy and Singh are excellent, and it is fitting that they have key scenes at the movie’s poignant

climax.

Overall, I’ve seen a lot worse and it’s not a complete waste of your time, but the movie just doesn’t live up to its

potential – its breezy first half let done by a sluggish, repetitive second. Pruning the film by 30 minutes and sharpening up the script would have helped greatly. The soundtrack, too, includes a couple of hummable tunes but nothing which lingers in the memory.

Cut to chase: Slickly packaged with an affecting ending but unevenly paced and ultimately superficial

Queen ****
Dir: Vikas Bahl
Starring: Kangana Ranaut, Lisa Haydon, Rajkummar Rao, Sabeeka Imam

I’ll come right out and say it – I loved this movie. Tightly

scripted, wonderfully dialogued (for which leading lady Kangana Ranaut gets co-credit, director Vikas Bahl reportedly allowing his cast members to ad lib a fair number of their lines) and superbly acted, this joyous chronicle of a young woman’s journey of self-discovery is the best Hindi film I’ve seen this year.

Ranaut, who has so far

specialised in either playing off-

kilter protagonists (she was inspiring in the otherwise trashy Fashion, stealing the movie right out from under leading lady Priyanka Chopra) or dumb sexpots, is

outstanding as Rani, an Indian Punjabi girl from a Delhi suburb, naive but never unintelligent, who travels all by herself to Paris and Amsterdam (for reasons that most of you are probably aware of but which, just in case, I won’t spoil here) on a 10-day voyage where she finds not only new worlds and new friends but her true self as well. Ranaut is both understated and nuanced and should be in line for a number of trophies come awards season next year. She is more than ably supported by the rest of the cast including the ever-reliable Rajkummar Rao (so good in films like Kai Po Che and Aamir Khan’s Talaash) as Rani’s selfish but gutless fiancé but, in particular, by a revelatory Lisa Haydon, as the earthy, bohemian half-Indian, half-French Parisian Vijaylakshmi who befriends Rani. Haydon’s dusky sensuality is sexy without being crude and her performance is top-notch as well. Haydon isn’t the

typical Mollywood heroine and she breaks the mould but she can reach the top if all the stars align for her in the future.

What I particularly liked about this movie was the fact that Rani transforms but without losing her true self or her middle-class values – having Rani turn into a super-hip, super-cool symbol of Karan Johar’s idea of India is a simplistic trap into which the writers Bahl, Parveez Sheikh, and Chaitally Parmar could have easily fallen into but which they studiously, and creditably, avoid. But the writers also know that there are many kinds of women and they can all have an identity and a brain and a soul and their existences can have equal validity – witness Vijaylakshmi or Roxette (a stripper in Amsterdam), another character whom Rani comes across. This is subtle writing which makes its point without hammering you over the head with it.

The movie’s not perfect – squeezing all of Rani’s adventures as well as her transformation into only 10 days stretches credulity a tad as do a couple of other bits (like the gol gappa selling scene) – but, overall, it will have you both laughing out loud as well gently moving you. The atypical soundtrack by Amit Trivedi is the icing on the cake.

Cut to chase: Simply put,
Queen rules.
Kmumtaz1@hotmail.com;
khusromumtaz.wordpress.com