Pick the oldest memory of Kya Kehna, add two
spoons of Salam Namaste, a pinch of Hum Tum 'swaad
anusar' and there you have the tried and tested, rather tired & tested
formula for Saif's character.Yudi is a writer, with a writer's
block and commitment issues, the whole movie is as original as this plot. The
good thing is that since Saif's a pro with this by now, he
plays Yudi with a agreeable ease. As an audience, the character seems acquainted,
because in your mind it's more of a sequel than a new movie.
As far as Ileana is concerned, well she's
just there. There are good actors, there are bad actors and there is Ileana. It
is unfortunate how she is doing almost everything right to be 'Aanchal'
,another one book writer with commitment issues, but it fails to register.
There is something about her that is not right, so much so that you don't even
want to believe that Aanchal exists. Her screen presence is so flat and
lifeless that even the skin show doesn't save it. The name of her book reminds
me of lame Yahoo ids first timers use to create, 'Crazy Hearts', enough said!
The first half of the movie tirelessly introduces and
justifies Yudi's character, more than we would care to know.
Amidst this drab pretense of an unusual love story, are some
life saving characters.
'Montu' played by Ranveer Shorey is an
adorable BFF, and one reason to not leave in the interval.
His one liners like 'Karma is being Bitchy bro' validate the
genre of this movie. You would wish there was more of him than Saif.
Kalki Koechlin as a stalking girlfriend charms
us with her versatility and it is refreshing to see Preity Zinta after
such a long time.
The scene stealer ofcourse is our very own No.1 actor Govinda.
He plays a typical bollywood narcissist, and is the only 'new' thing about this
movie. Every time he appears on screen he raises the energy meter so high that
you just want to pause and be amused by his guise
The casting of the movie is perfect, and all the actors have
done complete justice (except one of course) in whatever limited scope they
had.
The tonality on the whole is refreshing yet confused. In an
attempt to be a mockery of, yet not so divergent from, the usual Rom-Coms, it
leaves us with nothing to take away.
The music does deserve a special mention and will definitely
linger on your playlists for a while, but other than that 'Happy Ending' is a
lost cause that could have been much happier!
