Dir: Shashank Khaitan

Starring: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana, Siddharth Shukla, Gaurav Pande, Sahil Vaid

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge casts an omnipresent shadow over debutante writer/director Shashank Khaitan’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. The new movie constantly references the Shahrukh Khan-Kajol starrer that has become the touchstone for romantic movies for the previous generation. The very first scene of the movie has the titular character shedding a tear upon watching yet another rerun of DDLJ on the telly and the movie also ends with the leading lady reciting some lines from the earlier film. While Khaitan’s affection for DDLJ is kind of sweet but by inviting constant comparison to it he also does himself a disservice, for his film is likely to come up short when held up against Aditya Chopra’s film. And so it does. For despite all its positives, HSKD is not this generation’s DDLJ.

The movie’s first half is quite entertaining as Delhi college boy, Humpty (Varun Dhawan) meets Ambala girl, Kavya (Alia Bhatt) who is in the capital city for some trousseau shopping for her impending marriage to an NRI doctor. Their meet-cute and the following scenes work nicely and Dhawan and Bhatt have a nice chemistry going. Also fun is Humpty’s relationship with his best friends Shonty (Gaurav Pande) and Poplu (Sahil Vaid) and with his father. But the movie moves into predictable territory when Humpty follows Kavya to Ambala in an effort to put a spanner into the upcoming nuptials and to win over both her and her disapproving father (Ashutosh Rana). In a neat little twist, however, Kavya’s intended spouse Angad (Siddharth Shukla) is near-perfect – good looking, successful, and even a good cook – so even Humpty fleetingly doubts whether he’s doing the right thing. But we all know how this is going to end up, don’t we?

All the performances are quite good – both Dhawan and Bhatt continue to improve and are looking at long careers ahead of them – and Ashutosh Rana (appearing in a film after quite a few years) does a particularly fine job of fleshing out a character which could have easily been one-note. Khaitan also keeps the movie humming nicely throughout so that the pace doesn’t slacken. However, there’s not enough novelty in the film to get you very excited either. The soundtrack is also just about passable, with the best song being a reworking of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s brilliant ‘Mein Tenu Samjhawan Ki’ which actually pales in comparison to the original.

Cut to chase: Pleasantly entertaining – but not a must watch

 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 ***

Dir: Dean DeBlois

Starring: (voices of) Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Herington, Jonah Hill

Coming out of nowhere, 2010′s How To Train Your Dragon was a really pleasant surprise, expertly combining laughs with some action, a budding romance and some excellent animation. Hence the tale of a boy and his dragon and how their relationship changes the dynamic between a Viking village and supposedly deadly dragons proved to be a winner at the box office. So naturally it has now spawned a sequel. How To Train Your Dragon 2 isn’t quite as good as the original but it also avoids the pitfalls of many sequels – it isn’t just a retread and isn’t done purely by the numbers.

Returning writer/director Dean DeBois (he co-directed the first one) tells a more adult story this time around. It is five years or so on from where the first movie left off and our hero Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) still has some growing up to do. He’s reluctant to take on the mantle of leadership that his father Stoick (Gerard Butler) appears intent on foisting upon him. He’d rather fly with his dragon, Toothless, exploring uncharted territory. But when he comes across some dragon hunters and a would-be world conqueror and a mysterious dragon rider then things change rather drastically for Hiccup.

The first half of the movie has quite a few laughs in it but then the focus shifts to action and things turn darker. The characters have to face not only war but also learn about mortality and loss. So the little ones might have a slightly tougher time watching this than they would the typical animated film (I’m quite sure I heard sniffling at one point from the little boy sitting a couple of seats over). The animation, however, is brilliant and even better than the original’s – the early flying sequences are nothing short of amazing and may be worth the price of admission alone.

Cut to chase: Not as much fun as the original but still nicely done.

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