Movie Review: Diwale

It’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen and neither will it be. Am sure I’m fated to see much, much worse.

But Dilwale was a bit loose compared to the usual Rohit Shetty fare IMHO.

And while it makes zero since to critique an out and out potboiler from Bollywood, one must undertake meaningless things in life. Why? No clue baap.

Alors!

Ok let’s start with the locales. Bulgaria? Check!! Made me want to see it once. Goa? Not so much. Not because I’ve been there before but Goa wasn’t showcased in the slightest bit. It could have been though.

Cast: SRK- you have to hand it to a guy who is 50 and manages to keep his body chiseled and hot. He hasn’t hulked up into a musclebound moron unlike some others I could mention but won’t but still. The man has *presence*. His crying scenes haven’t improved at all and he still comes across as utterly fake doing them but that jaw-clenched look of his still works. At least for me. He doesn’t smolder but he does does a sexy simmer 🙂

Kajol: I will NOT talk about the demise of the dusky skin and the near unibrow but will talk about the fact that she looked good. She is toned and does what she is supposed to do aka look in the clothes chosen for her and have good chemistry with her co-star. The dialogue delivery is fine. And let’s leave it at that.

Varun Dhawan: I had liked this guy in HSKD and thought that he could deliver consistently. But he really has very little to do in Dilwale. He doesn’t have a decent song filmed on him, neither does he have any really funny dialogues. And speaking of dialogues, VD was uttering his like he’s developmentally slow. Really.

Kriti Sanon: Why baap? They’d have been better off keeping a mannequin in her stead. Zero screen presence. Stiffness while moving around and emoting is probably she considers putting smiles in her chat texts.

Boman Irani: Wasted. Totally.

Johnny Lever: Belongs only on the so-called comedy shows on t.v. His act is hackneyed an doesn’t elicit as many laughs as a comedic role should.

Sanjay Mishra aka Oscar Bhai had some colorful and zany dialogues. I wonder what the writers smoked while writing his lines out. It really could come from those truly stoned. Not that I could vouch for something like that myself *wink wink*.

Kabir Bedi: looks plastic and barring his bassy voice brings zilch to the screen.

Vinod Khanna: is on for too little a time to make any impact.

SRK’s two goons: Did a remotely passable job of providing comic relief.

The music: Why Gerua? It is catchy but why gerua? But then again why hara or peela either so gerua gets the pass. So do Janam Janam and Daayre. But Manma Emotion Jaagey and Tukur Tukur should have been axed on the editing table without a thought. Brainless bits.

So, did I like it at all? Yes I did. Liked it. Slightly. Liked the lead pair’s chemistry. Really liked the cars they used. Didn’t mind the locales and I wasn’t tempted to walk out midway. That and the cheesy popcorn and the funny company made it a painless one-time watch. Twice would be painful.