Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani – The colourful package which fizzles out.

 Yeh jawani Hai Deewani is essentially story of four friends who in their youth go through life changing emotions when they are trekking through Manali.

Bunny, played by Ranbir Kapoor is a happy go guy who wants to roam around the world to experience the thrills of life. He starts it by going on a trekking trip to Manali along with Avi (Adithya Roy Kapur) and feisty Aditi( Kalki Kochlin) joining them in the last moment is Naina, played by Deepika, is a homely girl and also a book worm but eager to experience different things in life,  so decides to join the trip to Manali.

As expected Naina falls in love our daring hero. But as the trip ends they go on their separate ways in life to fulfill their dreams. How they get together forms the rest of the story?

Ayan Mukerji who gave us a coming of age movie in ‘Wake up Sid’, falters very badly in all his departments i.e, story, screenplay and direction. The story is so flimsy that you will start wondering why Naina fell in love Bunny in the first place. Screenplay is so clichéd that our heroine forgets to board the halted train then starts running so as to create a DDLJ moment. Our director drags it in the second half to an extent that the one heartfelt sequence of our hero confessing his love to our heroine seems boring.

Cinematography by Manikandan is standout feature along with editing and production values, which is expected from Karan Johar production.

Songs, already a chartbuster, provide some relief as they are well shot. Madhuri Dixit appears in a item song, even though the song is awkwardly timed, shows what is missing from today’s heroines. She brings grace to the songs and the dance moves.

Ranbir & Deepika among the cast are the only saving grace of the movie, but even their chemistry is not enough to save the movie from the slow screenplay. Aditya Roy Kapur is only seen in the movie either running behind girls, losing money or holding a glass. If he took one step forward in his career with his performance in Aashiqui 2, he takes two steps back with this one. Kalki’s only contribution in the movie, apart from yelling in the first half, is in getting everyone back together for her marriage.

What promised to be a summer blockbuster with colourful enthusiastic trailer and hummable songs turns out to damp squib.

I am going with 2.5 out of 5 for this colourful package which fizzles out without making any impact on the audience. Waste of such a wonderful title.

Go Goa Gone – Get ready for Zombie Ride

The movie starts with two friends ( Luv & Hardhik) arguing over who is nearer to the remote to switch off the channel playing the telugu megastar Chiranjeevi movie. When the power cut occurs, their other friend (Bunny) trips over a table and falls. With the lights back on his face is smeared with what appears to be pizza pieces, which scares the other two. They then start figuring what are the creatures which appear with a face just like him.

If you are as clueless as them or ready to forget the fact that that you know a bit, about zombies, this movie takes you on a roller coaster ride with a zombie as your partner.

The story moves on with Luv falling out with his girlfriend, Hardhik losing his job and bunny getting a chance to to go to Goa for his presentation. The other two hit on a plan to accompany him to Goa by making him drive his car all the way. Over in Goa Luv meets his facebook friend Luna and gets invited to a rave party organized by a desi russian mafia leader Boris in a secluded island. Hardhik ever enthusiastic to get wasted manages to convince to Bunny to sponsor the event. That’s where the fun begins with the rising of the zombies.

How did the zombies appear? How did the friends survive against them? Forms the rest of the story.

The movie being the first of its kind in Indian cinema could be called a huge step in globalization (as described in the movie for the appearance of zombies in India) of the storylines in our industry. The story faults heavily in explaining the rising and the demise of the zombies. But as I said if you ready to forget the science behind it, you will be treated to a eyeful of gore, thrills and earful of hindi gali.

The actors do justice to their roles with Kunal Khemu, Vir Das walking away with all the plaudits using their charisma. Puja Gupta is decent, so is Anand Tiwari as bunny.  And Saif (did I mention him? Its too late anyway, so watch him and get surprised) just adds star value to the movie. Directors RJ & DK, who made critical success like 99 & Shor In the city, loosen the grip over their making a bit. But the sheer freshness of the storyline in India makes up for all the cons.

Don’t expect it be Zombieland standard, but go with friends and have fun to make a good start to the weekend. I am going with 2.5 out of 5 for this first Indian Zombie entertainer.