Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Movie Review by Taran Adarsh

yjhd4 Opposites attract! He’s charismatic, gregarious and passionate with an indomitable spirit to explore places. She’s the archetypical seedhi-saadhi girl, Plain Jane actually, an academician who’s focused on attaining what she’s zeroed for herself as a career. Add two more characters who cross their paths in this beautiful journey called life. Now place these four straight-out-of-life characters in a bottle, shake with a swizzle stick and presto, a love story is ready to be served.

Come to think of it, Ayan Mukerji’s second outing YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI is akin to his accomplished directorial debut WAKE UP SID. Yet diverse! The characters in both, WAKE UP SID and YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI, undergo a metamorphosis and transform into mature individuals with the passage of time. Life is a great teacher after all. At the same time, YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI is dissimilar from films of its ilk — and conventional love stories too — because Ayan’s characters never embark upon the run of the mill, mundane route to express feelings towards each other.

Like all rom-coms, YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI sparkles with romance, merriment and heartache, is brightly glossy and boasts of crackling chemistry between its lead actors, but Ayan makes sure the heady concoction never waters down. The best part is, he never borrows from romantic cliches that most love stories depend upon and that, in my opinion, is this film’s biggest strength. Expect no unwanted melodrama, no unwelcome characters, no earsplitting background music to accentuate the proceedings… the best thing about YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI is that it’s refreshingly unique within the conventional Hindi film format.

YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI narrates the story of four characters — Bunny [Ranbir Kapoor], Naina [Deepika Padukone], Aditi [Kalki Koechlin] and Avi [Aditya Roy Kapur] — as they navigate through their youth… from their carefree laughter as they set off on a holiday together in their colleges days, until their bittersweet tears as they watch the first of their bunch get married.

It’s pretty evident that Ayan wants to offer that something extra beyond a love story. The conflict in this plot has nothing to do with parental pressures or social disagreements. The issue that the characters face is very real, extremely relevant and reflects the mindset of those living in a metropolis. But scratch the exterior — beneath the fun quotient, the song and dance routine — Ayan takes up some serious issues, albeit in a subtle way, that envelope the human emotions brilliantly.

Ayan exhibits immense growth as a raconteur. His understanding of life, the characters, the road blocks they encounter, the resolution… radiates tremendous maturity. He nurtures his characters well, garnishing the narrative with episodes that have a lot of heart and which capture the energy and silence astoundingly. The message that Ayan attempts to convey is wonderfully real: There’s more to life than conquering peaks and achieving targets. Sharing the precious moments with your loved one is what matters eventually. Although the film is targeted at youth, the film speaks a universal language and holds appeal for people of all age-groups.

Although the narrative congregates vigor, melodrama and gloss dexterously, the only time it totters is when the pacing slows intermittently. Besides, the narrative is stretched towards the middle of the second half. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the trivial blemish, the writing manages to hit the high notes for most parts of the enterprise. Also, it never goes overboard with the drama. The strings tie up really well towards the resolution and the conclusion is sure to leave you buoyant, grinning from ear to ear.

YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI is embellished with a youthful and crazy score, with Pritam belting out popular, energetic numbers. ‘Badtameez Dil’, ‘Balam Pichkari’ and ‘Ghagra’ are high-on-energy tracks that have already hit the popularity charts. ‘Kabira’ oozes melody and has rich lyrical value. The choreography of ‘Badtameez Dil’ in particular is super, with Ranbir gyrating to the tunes with delight. Madhuri’s presence in the ‘Ghagra’ track adds credence too.

V. Manikandan’s cinematography is pure art in motion. Every frame is simply spectacular, with the DoP capturing the varied colors and landscapes with brilliance. Dialogue [Hussain Dalal] are unusual, but fascinating and have a lot of clever hilarity entwined in them.

The writing is enhanced by the performances! Ranbir is the show-stopper, the film’s major muscle, the jewel in the crown, no two opinions on that. He is pitch-perfect, managing to be maddening, exasperating, childish and endearing in a flash. He captivates you with his gaze, his tone of voice, his chuckle and those itsy-bitsy gestures that make Bunny so so so lovable. Post COCKTAIL, Deepika nails her part yet again. The actress makes her character distinctive, blending grit, courage, compassion, sensuality and buoyancy with flourish.

Aditya continues to climb the ladder. Post AASHIQUI 2, here’s yet another act that gives ample evidence of his fine talent. Kalki infuses poise in her part, holding her own despite the film clearly belonging to Ranbir and Deepika. Farooq Shaikh, as Ranbir’s father, is simply outstanding, more so towards the final stages of the film. Kunal Roy Kapur is competent, as always.

Dolly Ahluwalia and Tanvi Azmi are perfect. Evelyn Sharma is charming. Navin Kaushik is good. Rana Daggubati sparkles in his cameo.

On the whole, YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI is a revitalizing take on romance and relationships. A wonderful cinematic experience, this one should strike a chord with not just the youth, but cineastes of all age-groups. Watch this celebration of love and get mesmerized!

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18 Comments
  1. Sir 11 years ago

    YJHD Will start with a bang especially overseas and then depends on content… if this turns out another 100cr grosser than akshay has some serious competition at this stage of his career.

  2. Bored 11 years ago

    If this does 100 cr then Ranbir displaces SRK from being the top romantic star of bollywood. Nothing else changes

    • mate 11 years ago

      Totally agree with u, Bored Sir.
      If YJHD earn 100 cr than it will get Hit-Super Hit tag, and It will be Ranbir’s 2nd romantic movie after APKGK that will get Super Hit status.

      So, lets assume YJHD crosses 100 cr and become Super Hit, then lets analyze how many romantic hits Ranbir has in his entire career (According to BOI).

      1) APKGK – Super Hit
      2) YJHD – Hit/Super Hit (In case of 100 cr business)

      In his 7 years career, Ranbir give 1 Super Hit and 1 Hit/Super Hit in romantic genre.

      Now, lets see where ‘poor’ SRK stands infront of ‘great’ Ranbir as far as his romantic movies are concerned. In his career, Srk gave following romantic Hits (According to BOI):

      1) Deewana – Hit
      2) DDLJ – All Time Blockbuster
      3) DTPH – Super Hit
      4) Pardes – Hit
      5) KKHH – All Time Blockbuster
      6) Mohabbatein – Super Hit
      7) K3G – Blockbuster
      8) Devdas – Hit
      9) KHNH – Hit
      10) Veer Zaara – Super Hit
      11) KANK – Hit
      12) RNBDJ – Blockbuster
      13) JTHJ – Hit

      In his 21 years career, SRK gave only 6 Hits, 3 Super Hits, 2 Blockbuster and 2 All Time Blockbusters in romantic genre.

      The above data clearly shows that If YJHD does 100 cr then Ranbir displaces SRK from being the top romantic star of bollywood, no doubt. Bored Sir very well summarizes his thoughts, I totally agree with him, Hats off to u sir Bored.

  3. Aditya007 11 years ago

    It already released in UAE and An Friend Watched with around 20-30% people ,but According to him , movie strictly average ; The story has also nothing good & an huge disappointment. screenplay is poor.

  4. Serenzy 11 years ago

    Bored, Sir,

    Ohh really… And what about Ajay Devgn then?

  5. ank_16n 11 years ago

    BOI saying it might get close to Dabangg2 1st day(that was during Xmas holiday)…

    if that’s the case then sorry to say Salman is going to be replaced by Ranbir Kapoor..!!

    Ajay was never in competition as Ranbir had over-shadowed him in Raajneeti itself…

    while SRK will be next as Ranbir is attacking his GENRE of movies..!!

    😀

    ________

    “In his 7 years career, Ranbir give 1 Super Hit and 1 Hit/Super Hit in romantic genre.

    Now, lets see where ‘poor’ SRK stands infront of ‘great’ Ranbir”

    wah what a logic comparing Ranbir hit list(7 years since his debut) with SRK’s hit list of 21 years career…
    this itself shows that Ranbir is on par with SRK as far as Romantic GENRE is concerned..!!

    • ank_16n 11 years ago

      BTW some salman fans Attacked Girish Johar when he said that Dabangg 2 record of 19 cr could be in danger..

      one said YJHD will collect 12-13 cr 1st day and 75 cr Lifetime…
      and Ranbir can’t cross Salman..!!

      Aryan and FS knows these 3-4 Fans on Twitter……won’t mention their names as Samajdaar ko ishaara kaafi..!!!!

      • Sir 11 years ago

        but i don’t troll & stalk people on twitter like u 2b aware of who said wht, who abused whom & why wud i bother abt sum1’s opinion as well? results are there to display & iam sure Akshay will feel the heat if YJHD turns out blockbuster & another 100cr grosser which is likely.

        • ank_16n 11 years ago

          yes if YJHD cross 100 cr and Settles say at 110-115 cr then Akshay will have more pressure as he has given 134 cr(RR) and 114 cr(HF2) both in 2012…

          while
          SRK will feel no Pressure as JTHJ collected 101 cr in 2012 and Ra.one 114 cr in 2011..!!

          and Aamir will also not feel any pressure as his last film Talash collected 91 cr in 2012 and doesn’t had any Substantial movie in last 4 years(2010-2013)..!!

          while Hrithik has nothing to worry as his Agneepath did 120 cr in 2012 and 87 cr ZNMD in 2011..!!

          and
          Salman will feel zero pressure bcoz he won’t be having any release in 2013 and most probably will have no pressure bcoz his next release won’t be a HOLIDAY RELEASE..!!

          i know FS u always talk sensibly ….so i trust ur Thinking..!!

          • Sir 11 years ago

            ank you were complaining abt others but you yourself had estimated 13-14Cr opening lol & now its 20C

    • mate 11 years ago

      @ank_16n
      “wah what a logic comparing Ranbir hit list(7 years since his debut) with SRK’s hit list of 21 years career…this itself shows that Ranbir is on par with SRK as far as Romantic GENRE is concerned..!”

      My comment was in response to Sir Bored, where he stated that Ranbir will displace SRK after the 100 cr success of YJHD. To put the number of years they spent in bollywood had nothing to do with the relevance of my response. My response was complete without mentioning that 7 years or 21 years thing, and you choose the most irrelevant part of my comment for your counter-attack… LOL.
      But for the sake of your comment, even If you compare the initial 7 years performance of SRK with Ranbir’s (or even with the performance of other biggest stars of bollywood), SRK is still miles ahead, infact there is not a comparison at all particularly with Ranbir. You can see in my previous comment, the first 5 movies of SRK are of his initial 7 years, and you can see their verdicts.

      • mate 11 years ago

        Inshort, someone will definitely replace Srk in Romantic genre because you can’t expect a 47 years old actor in a romantic avatar anymore, but the legacy of a romantic hero will always be associated with SRK just like Action is synonym to Amitabh Bachchan. And if Bored sir’s comment was in former sense, then I really agree with him. But why only Ranbir, there are so many other actors who are equally convincing or even better than him like Shahid or even Aditya Roy Kapoor, who also gave a Blockbuster in the same genre that Ranbir is still incapable of.

        • ank_16n 11 years ago

          “Inshort, ”

          ye short tha…toh Long comment kya hota hai tumhara..!!

          my only point was the most fans of SRK are now Turning into Ranbir fan bcoz of both have Romantic heroes image nothing else..!!

  6. aryan 11 years ago

    Review by Raja sen.

    Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a good-looking film but lacks a good story, writes Raja Sen.
    Click here!

    When we can’t stand something a certain way, we’re instinctively prone to wishing it were the other way around, the opposite.

    This, naturally, is a huge fallacy, since the opposite is hardly ever what we truly mean. When we watch a Hindi film, for example, where the songs get in the way of the narrative and make the film longer than it should be, what we long for is a film where there are no songs, or one where the songs are truly a part of the storytelling.

    But that isn’t the opposite, no.

    The exact opposite of a film where a great narrative is disrupted by songs is, then, a film where perfectly good song-and-dance sequences find themselves hampered by a tedious narrative. And that admittedly odd description should be on the poster for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

    For this is a very good-looking film. It is a film with almost exclusively pretty people, each primped up and glossed and shot at their most flattering, and every time Pritam’s songs burst through the speakers, Ayan Mukerji’s film gallops into gear like the run-rate when the bowler has a towel tucked into his pants.

    There’s a zingy energy to the uptempo proceedings, the lead actors are at their most electrifying, and the sheer, heady enthusiasm is deliriously grand. Even the greatest heroine in all the land merrily shakes her caboose. It’s huge fun.

    When the songs aren’t playing, however, this is a daftly childish film, one where most actors act half their age and the narrative stumbles forward inanely and gracelessly.

    What should have been a breeze turns into a pained plod, and while things still look all glossy, the songless part of the movie — the story, we dare say? — remains dismally predictable and awfully contrived, eventually becoming quite a bore. (Throw back the towel, say I; here is indeed need for a fix.)

    Three chums from school (along with the class geek) hit the hills for a trek, and have the kind of riotously slapstick time that they do in the movies.

    So farce so good, and while Kalki Koechlin, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor gamely put on their underage faces and walk the walk, things are made more than bearable by Deepika Padukone earnestly playing the shy wallflower, on the outside looking in.

    The film feels like her story, and the actress is refreshingly assured and blessedly restrained in the part. Enough to make us root for her.

    And then, conveniently around the point of intermission, she whips off her glasses defiantly (as all movie geeks must do, to proclaim their newfound, myopia-beating wings) and becomes one of the gang.

    Which is all cheery enough except the story now becomes that of the boy. And truth be told, he isn’t worth talking about.

    The hero, Bunny, likes to travel. His dreams are exploratory, dreams of soaring and falling and discovering, and he’s heading effortlessly towards his fantasy.

    He’s cracked the code but left everyone behind in the process — a fact nobody ever lets him forget, his dearest friends hitting him with guilt-trips and sighs instead of congratulatory high-fives the moment they learn of his awesome scholarship. And so this film becomes about Bunny being made to feel worse and worse for getting what he wants.

    There is no conflict, you see.

    Bunny has the passport-scorching job, the life, the girls. He has parents that support him unquestionably, and friends who think the world of him. How then is a filmmaker supposed to make things weepy when the second-half of the film is set at a massively opulent Indian wedding, a backdrop made for kerchiefs and melodrama?

    Problems, therefore, are engineered: but despite the swelling background music, it’s all most trivial.

    The girl, after discovering her cool side, is now always found by herself, feet frequently dipped into moonlit water.

    She has evidently been waiting helplessly, and no matter how much of a boor the boy turns into — one scene in particular has him being inexcusably horrid to one of her friends — she’s willing to wait, incredulous and hopeful. Tsk.

    There are a couple of nice touches, but it needed more than a few stray smiles to save the catastrophically doomed second half, mired in boring convenience and poor plotting.

    The cast tries valiantly but, stuck in their one-note characters, they can’t do much.

    This is the kind of film where a girl at her desk has her hair tousled by a wind-machine, and where Manali shacks look Amster-damn good, but despite glitzy unreality being the order of the day, seasoned character actors thankfully don’t seem to have been given the memo: Farooque Sheikh, Kunal Roy Kapoor and Dolly Ahluwalia are top-notch.

    Heck, Ahluwalia — who is inexplicably absent later in the film — could have livened up the second half all by herself. She’s magnificent merely saying the word “wild”, with utter derision, as she talks of a girl in hotpants.

    Kalki’s at her shrillest and smiliest, while Aditya broods from behind a beard. They’re both good but unremarkable, as is Ranbir, except when showcasing his admittedly spectacular dancing abilities.

    By now he can play a rake in his sleep, and delivers some lines — like one where he calls the girl “vulgar” — with immaculate timing, but he’s strictly average here.

    Deepika, on the other hand, plays it beautifully. She acts within herself and eschews exaggeration, and the results are impressive.

    Her Naina is intelligent and eager, impulsive yet tentative, and, while mostly timid, also a girl who can whack a ladder with gusto.

    This may be her most self-aware performance so far, and here’s to more of the same.

    Now if only they’d have left out the story. Coulda been a helluva great Superhit Muqabla, this. For youth is wasted on the unsung.

    Rating: Two Stars

    https://www.rediff.com/news/report/review-yeh-jawaani-hai-deewani-disappoints/20130531.htm

  7. ank_16n 11 years ago

    I m waiting for the review of Rajeev Masand….
    as it would be interesting to know whether he have same parameters for some or different for different Stars..!!

  8. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Movie Review by Anupama Chopra

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=wqvYrPtGXkg

  9. Author
    sputnik 11 years ago

    Indian Express Review by Shubhra Gupta 2 Stars

    Link

    Times of India Review by Gaurav Malani Verdict Good

    Link

  10. Sir 11 years ago

    Ranbir is also Critic Proof now…

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