Today, Yash Raj Films’ much HYPED movie, Bachna Ae Haseeno, has been released. So what is the response? Well, the movie is fine and it is not a typical Hindi romantic love story. It shows a more matured relationship between a guy and a girl. The movie focuses on love vs marriage conflict.

There is a good possibility that Bachna Ae Haseeno, is inspired from Alfie, the 60’s hit British romantic comedy starring Michael Caine in the lead role, Alfie Elkins. The movie was remade in 2004 with the same title. Alfie is about a womanizer who learns in a hard way about the consequences of his life-style. withoutgivingawaythemovie says:

Falling in love is almost always a random occurrence in Hindi movies. You just “come…and fall in love”. But Bachna Ae Haseeno deals with the complexities and the process of how the characters are led-on and betrayed, how they hurt, how long the healing process takes, and ultimately how all the relationship needs is closure.

Bachna Ae Haseeno is the story of Raj Sharma, Punjabi man and his three love affairs in three different ages. The movie starts with Raj (Ranbir Kapoor), who is 30 years old, thinking about his past love events. The year was 1996, Raj was 18 years old. He went to Switzerland with a group of friends and there he met his first love, Mahi (Minissha Lamba), an Amritsar girl, who is sweet simple and a big fan of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The two falls in love.

The second love story takes place in 2002. Raj is now working as a games developer in Microsoft. He lives in a rented apartment and he falls for her neighbor, Radhika (Bipasha Basu). Radhika is a very independent minded girl. Radhika and Raj gets into a living relationship, a non-committal one which all the guys dream of. When Raj gets the offer to go to Australia, he thought that Radhika would leave him but Radhika was ready to go with him.

After breaking hearts of two beautiful girls, Raj finally finds someone whom he falls in love with in 2007. It is Gayatri (Deepika Padukone), an ambitious and tough girl. However, this time Raj could not hit the right spot. Gayatri dumps him. This leaves Raj mentally upset and he repents for his past deeds.

The first half of the movie deals with Raj’s love life and this is the best part of the movie. Love is in the air, everything is beautiful and enjoyable. In the second half, the movie becomes dull. This is where the writer could not do justice to the story. indicine.com says:

The second half is emotional (which is okay), a bit too long and very predictable. The execution of the script by the director especially in the second half could have been better. The editing too could have been much crisper. The music and locations, well it’s almost like a world tour with a song in every single location. Two songs stand out, the classic Bachna Ae Haseeno and Khuda Jaane. The cinematography is fantastic; the locales of Australia and Italy have been beautifully captured.

Performance:

Performance wise, Ranbir Kapoor and Bipasha Basu deserve the highest mark. Ranbir Kapoor gave an excellent performance although the movie. Ranbir has to play three characters in one character: a teenage boy, a young man and a grown up guy in his thirties. He has played all the roles very well. He may look boyish and younger but he covered it up with his performance.

Along with Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu deserves a THUMBS UP. She is the eldest among the three actresses but she played her character accordingly and looks great. whoisdeep.com says:

So to sum the things up.. on the acting front, Ranbir was pretty good.. though he was kind of over the board in first story but overall.. good acting. Minnisha again, she went overboard like Ranbir in first story but later it was all good.. Bipasha.. despite of looking bit older in front of Ranbir.. she was the best of the lot.. I really loved her acting.. Deepika was good..actually, she did not have much to do.. I think Bipasha got the best role..

In the first half, Minissha Lamba’s performance was not very satisfactory but in the second half, she gave a good performance.

Unfortunately, Deepika Padukone’s performance was not so appreciated. Many believe that she did suit her character. In the movie, Deepika Padukone plays the character of a self-dependent girl. A business school student, she supports herself working as a cab-driver in Sydney. Deepika Padukone looks too glamorous for the character. Despite being real life couple, Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor’s on screen relationship was not so appreciated.

Kunal Kapoor was the surprise element in the movie. He handled his role with great efficiency.

Katrina Kaif was supposed to appear in this movie but her role has been chopped off to keep the movie within three hours.

Cinematography:

So far, this is the strongest point of the movie. The songs are like three in one: you are listening to music, you are watching beautiful actor and actress and at the same time you are having a world tour watching exotic locations of different countries. The way scenes were captured has mesmerized the audience.

The songs:

Only three songs are enjoyable: Bachna Ae Haseeno, Khuda Jaane and Lucky Boy. Lucky Boy can be referred as the item song of the movie. Bipasha Basu had severe pain in her leg while shooting the song. However, she looks more gorgeous on the screen.

Do not forget these movies:

Another interesting thing about Bachna Ae Haseeno is, the movie has elements of Yash Raj Films’ previous movies like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Tashan, Dhoom, and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. For example, the meeting between Raj Sharma and Mahi in Europe. Raj (Shah Rukha Khan) and Simran (Kajol) also first met in Europe. Sify.com says:

Perhaps to be clever, the film incorporates several Yash Raj Films duds into the script. So Raj’s friends say something like – tashan mein jaate hain. I am sure I heard the word another time in a dialogue. The four friends, when approaching girls, strut to Dhoom’s soundtrack. The boys have a wild party dancing to Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. It might slip most viewers, but these touches have no great effect even on those who realise the writer’s attempt to be a winking wit.

Conclusion:

Overall, Bachna Ae Haseeno has everything but its story is its major weak point. The main problem of the story is that it is not a typical Hindi movie love story. It is a 21^st century urban love story of young and well-educated people. This is a big limitation of the movie. Taran Adarsh says:

Now let’s move on! BACHNA AE HASEENO has a great cast, great chemistry amongst actors [so sizzling, it could melt butter], great locations [jaw dropping actually] and some great moments. But all these factors combined together don’t make a great film. BACHNA AE HASEENO suffers, to a major extent, due to its screenplay running out of steam in the second hour.

Aside from young and educated people, others may not enjoy the movie. Still, it could have been enjoyable if little more care had been given in narrating and editing the movie. Bachna Ae Haseeno is one of those movies which you would not love to see time and time again like the way you would Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na or Shahid Kapoor starrer Ishq Vishq. Due to Yash Raj Films good promotion, the movie might do good business in the opening week but after that it may not do well.

Useful links:

http://www.indiafm.com/movies/cast/13633/index.html

http://www.indiafm.com/movies/review/13633/index.html

http://withoutgivingthemovieaway.com/main/bachna-ae-haseeno-review/

http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/bachna-ae-haseeno-movie-review/

http://www.buzz18.com/reviews/movies/review-bachna-ae-haseeno/75311/0

http://www.indiatarget.com/cgi-bin/slide_shows.cgi?1201:5

http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/review.php?id=14740453&ctid=5&cid=2425

http://www.realbollywood.com/news/2008/08/bachna-ae-haseeno-review.html

http://www.tarakash.com/josh/20080815544/Reviews/Bachna-Ae-Haseeno-Movie-Review.html

http://www.whoisdeep.com/2008/08/15/bachna-ae-haseeno-movie-review/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfie_(1966_film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfie_(2004_film)