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A sweet date flick
Set in the times of economic meltdown when the Wall Street was redubbed ‘Fall’ Street because of the number of upwardly mobile yuppies who were jumping off the windows of their high-rise offices to put an end to their misery of an overnight descent from riches to bankruptcy, Anjaana Anjaani tells the story of Aakash (Ranbir Kapoor) who has a similar plan. The company he spearheaded has gone bust leaving him and his partners in a debt of millions. So jumping off a Manhattan bridge to end his debt-ridden life seems the best option. Before he can take the plunge, he meets Kiara (Priyanka Chopra), who’s also at the same bridge to commit suicide, but for a different reason altogether.
When their repeated and varied attempts to end their lives fail, Kiara thinks it’s a ‘sign’ that they should give life another chance, albeit for a few days. The duo makes a pact. Twenty days later, which is 31st December, they would jump again from the same bridge, but till then they would live their life to the fullest, and fulfil all their unrealized wishes.
The similarities to the French film ‘Girl On The Bridge’ and the Hollywood film ‘The Bucket List’ can straightaway be trashed on the ground that Anjaana Anjaani is quintessentially a product of Bollywood, where anything goes in the name of ‘creativity’ as long as it brings footfalls in theatres. And director Siddharth Anand’s Anjaana Anjaani will most likely achieve that.
Firstly, the movie rides on the sparkling chemistry of its lead pair Ranbir and Priyanka. The duo, who hog almost the whole running time of the film, rise above the inane and corny script and deliver fine performances. Ranbir plays a rather conservatively minded yuppie who’s decidedly uptight, unadventurous, retiring and, consequently so, a virgin. Priyanka plays a free-spirited tomboy who’s getting over a failed relationship by knocking back bottles of beer and gin. Which brings us to Zayed Khan, who plays her childhood sweetheart with a roving eye. Khan, never known for his acting, is surprisingly restrained in his performance and never hams up his part.
Anjaana Anjaani starts off well, but the story by Mamata Anand slackens repeatedly on its course to the predictable climax. What stands out are the assorted episodes of the duo’s escapades as they fulfil wackiest of their wishes - from getting laid (Ranbir wanting an end to his virginity), or swimming in the Atlantic, to going on a long road journey to Las Vegas in a run-down car.
No denying that there are many rough edges in the script. Take the sequence in the bar where Ranbir tries to woo Priyanka with his absolutely ludicrous gibberish about him being a hounded Gopal and she being a lovelorn Radha. Or that scene in which the doctor (Tanvi Azmi) lectures Ranbir about the value of life. Subtle nuances are simply not to be expected in the script of Anjaana Anjaani.
That said, the excellent cinematography of Ravi Chandran makes the film a spectacle worth relishing. Vishal-Shekhar’s music is hummable but nothing really catchy to make the songs less intrusive.
Director Siddharth Anand comes from a school of filmmaking where the story is mandatorily complemented by breath-taking shots of the most attractive foreign locales. On that count he surely succeeds in Anjaana Anjaani. But how one wishes he had put more meat in the story; that the plot did not swirl in circles after taking off on a fantastic leap. It’s here, Siddharth falters. Thankfully, with Priyanka and Ranbir pitching in superb performances, the movie buffs won’t have much to complain.
In a nutshell, Anjaana Anjaani is a sweet date flick, with a couple of touching romantic moments. And with Ranbir taking off his shirt more than once and smooching Priyanka almost equal number of times, expect the ruck at the box office.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
