Director: Ravi Udyawar
Cast: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Mrunal Thakur, Ila Arun, Joy Sengupta, Viraj Gehlani, Sandeepa Dhar, Deepraj Rana, Mona Ambegaokar, Achint Kaur
Where to watch: In theatres
Rating: 2 stars
Many films have its title inspired by a hit track. Examples are Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani, Aap Jaisa Koi, Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan, Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na and many others. This week’s release Do Deewane Seher Mein also happens to be a hit track sung by Bhupinder Singh and Runa Laila.
Will this film create melody at the box office or will it fizzle out is what we will be finding out.
The film starts off with the introduction of the film’s leading characters Shashank (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Roshni (Mrunal Thakur). While Shashank works in a sales department of washing machines, Roshni works as a content creator. These two have their own self confessed flaws (read ‘imperfection’).
While Shashank has a childhood problem of being unable to say ‘sha’ and says ‘sa’ instead. That also explains the logic behind the film’s title of ‘Do Deewane Seher Mein’ instead of ‘Do Deewane Sheher Mein’ (in case you were wondering!). On the other hand, there is Roshni who thinks that she has an imperfect nose and that’s why she prefers to wear large specs to cover her ‘imperfection’. Added to that, since she had been dumped earlier by her boyfriend just a few days before marriage, she is also loaded with trust issues.
One fine day, their parents decide to make these two meet each other for marriage prospects. What starts off as a rejection, gradually gets converted to love and mutual admiration for each other. Will these two be able to overcome their self confessed imperfections and live a ‘perfect’ life is what forms the rest of the film.
Actors' performance
The film rides totally on the shoulders of Siddhant and Mrunal. On his part, Siddhant walks every possible extra mile in order to get into the skin of his character. Even though he does manage to succeed to a large extent, still, there are places where he falters and stumbles.
On the other hand, Mrunal delivers a near perfect performance with her role. She too has her moments of stumbles, but, on an overall perspective, she emerges a winner with her role.
Rest of the cast (Ila Arun, Joy Sengupta, Deepraj Rana, Achint Kaur) do what they are supposed to and expected to do. Viraj Gehlani tries his level best to check all boxes as a sidekick, but fails miserably. In an attempt to provide comic relief, his character lands up becoming irritating at times. It's really nice to see Sandeepa Dhar on the silver screen after a gap.
Direction, Music and Aesthetics
Director Ravi Udyawar tries his best to keep the film as simple, appealing and relatable. In an attempt to do so, he only lands up making the film simple. Relatable and appealing takes a slight backseat. A major hand in this also needs to be attributed to the film’s screenplay (Abhiruchi Chand, who has also written the story and dialogues).
The film also suffers from the lack of wow moments in addition to memorable or seeti maar worthy one liners.
Even though the film’s music (Jackie Vanjari) does not hinder the narrative, the lack of hit track leaves the music without any recall value. The background music of the film is decent.
What really stands out in the film is Kaushal Shah’s cinematography. The film’s editor (Monisha Baldawa) should have tightened the noose mostly in the portions post intervals. For example: Viraj’s drunk speech could have been avoided totally.
FPJ Verdict
They say ‘anything in excess is poison’.. something that ‘Do Deewane Seher Mein’ suffers from… too much dragging simplicity. Given the current trend of films, a film of this stature will possibly find itself struggling at the box office… it really has to rely heavily on word of mouth.
