Tag: 2 States

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12 Years (My Messed-Up Love Story): More of a Bollywood romantic drama with some interesting topics

Chetan Bhagat does a good job in building up the love story while also making sure that the 12 years age gap doesn’t come across as cringeworthy. The conversations between the hero and the heroine have a good flow with well-established personalities. Mention must also be made of how Chetan Bhagat integrates different issues through a romantic drama. The novel though needed much a much better edit and a cut down on staple Bollywood elements

Most of Chetan Bhagat’s novels come across as a pitch for producers. Whether it’s the autobiographical novel 2 States or Half Girlfriend, Revolution 2020 and now 12 Years (My Messed- Up- Love Story). Chetan Bhagat’s latest follows the journey of the 33-year-old Saket Khuranna and a 21-year-old Payal Jain. Saket is recovering from the emotional wounds of a divorce while trying to chart a new career path of standup comedy. Payal Jain on the other hand is a young woman stepping into the corporate world. How the paths of these two cross and the various tribulations they go through with a happy ending forms the core of Chetan Bhagat’s latest.

As already mentioned Chetan Bhagat does a good job in building up the love story. The dilemmas which both go through before taking the big leap has been well written. What also helps the love story is the integration of hero’s standup comedy profession. This acts as a building block for Payal’s attraction as she finds Saket unique. How her presence helps Saket in navigating the emotional wounds of the first marriage makes the readers root for the couple. The novel’s ending with the two having a happy ending in a standup comedy act leaves the viewers in a happy mood.

Up until midway point the novel has a smooth flow especially for those who are acquainted with Chetan Bhagat’s style of love stories. A mention too must be made of the portion where the two are caught in the middle of a sexual act. It’s both laugh out funny as well as tragic.

However, once the separation sets in the novel follows a set template. Saket almost becomes a Devadas slipping into depression. He has also a major fall resulting in hospital treatment. The reactions of Saket is definitely understandable given his love for Payal and what she means to him, but these portions overstay their welcome.

This is where the staple Bollywood elements kick in whether it’s parental opposition, separation and destiny bringing them back together. Hopefully these elements are toned down if the novel is made into a movie.

Keeping aside these things, Chetan Bhagat deserves appreciation for how he has integrated various societal aspects. Some of these include gender-based divorce laws from the perspective of men and the demands of unreasonable maintenance. Also, how society looks at age gaps along with the community aspect has come out well.

Final word: 12 Years (My Messed Up Love Story) is worth reading for fans of romantic fiction and also those who have grown on Chetan Bhagat novels.

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Alia Bhatt And Her Tryst With Different Languages And Cultures

An overview of how the talented Bollywood actress covered various Indian States and different dialects through her roles.

In a career spanning over a decade, Alia Bhatt has represented women characters from different parts of India. These women are not only varied in terms of physical demographics but also their social strata.

The states that Alia Bhatt has represented so far include Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Goa, Rajasthan, Kashmir, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Bengal.

Though most of them are Hindu characters in three films, she played Muslim characters, too. They are Sehmat in Raazi (2018), Safeena in Gully Boy (2019) and Badru in Darlings (2022).

Alia Bhatt has proved her efficiency in moulding herself to suit each of them.

Let me start with the latest picture:

Rani Chatterjee

Rani Chatterjee in Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani (2003) is a Bengali journalist who settles in South Delhi.

The Bengali imprint was clear in the gorgeous sarees she wore and also in the way she spoke her mind like any educated Bengali woman would do.

This came out brilliantly in her introduction scene itself when she bashed a minister for his sexist comments about how women should dress and what they should eat. It was much more of a massy entry than Ranveer got.

Alia Bhatt’s Bengali accent wasn’t flawless, but the actress ensured that it didn’t become a distraction with her screen presence and acting capabilities. Well, Alia was bang on when she pronounced “Khela Hobe” which means “the game is on”.

Gangubai

In Gangubai Kathaiawadi (2022), which won Alia a National Award for her performance as Gangubai, the actor’s dialect had a mix of Gujarati and Marathi.

On many occasions, we see her speaking in the Kathiawadi accent. It came from the family that her character Gangubai was born in.

Alia Bhatt was not only good at showing a gamut of emotions through her eyes but she also aced the dialect.

The Gujarati touch can be particularly seen in the song “Dholida“.

Sita

In SS Rajamouli’s RRR (2022), there was one heavy scene that Alia Bhatt shared with Junior NTR’s Komaram Bheem. It came at a juncture when Ram Charan’s character Alluri Seetharama Raju was in jail and on the verge of being hanged.

She had to speak lengthy Telugu dialogues and the actress didn’t miss a beat in conveying the emotions.

Vaidehi

In Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), Alia played a rebellious girl from Rajasthan’s Kota who aspired to be an air hostess. Marriage was the last thing on her agenda.

Through her character Vaidehi, the Bollywood actor represented the ambitions of many small-town girls. She was also successful in pulling off the Kota accent.

Bauria

In Udta Punjab (2016), Alia Bhatt’s character Bauria is that of a Bihari migrant who goes to Punjab in search of work. For this film, the actress learnt the Bihari dialect under the guidance of the acclaimed actor Pankaj Tripathi.

There is a lengthy monologue where Bauria pours her heart out to an astonished Tommy Singh, played by Shahid Kapoor. Alia Bhatt was brilliant throughout the film, but her performance in this scene was heartbreaking.

It is not just about conveying the pain and pathos, but it is also about how she convincingly says it in the Bihari accent.

Ananya

In 2 States (2014), her very third film, Alia played a Tamilian.

In 2013’s Chennai Express, Deepika was criticised for her over-the-top portrayal of a Tamil girl. Although Deepika is a South Indian by birth, she has an exaggerated accent.

On the other hand, Alia Bhatt was much appreciated for portraying Ananya in a more nuanced way and speaking Tamil more naturally. At no point does her accent bother the viewers.

Other roles

Regarding the Muslim characters she played in Gully Boy and Darlings, both roles had a backdrop of slums in Mumbai.

In Gully Boy, there is a particular slang that the actress uses. Despite not being the central character, her dialogue became one of the highlights.

In a scene, she says, “Mere boyfriend ke saath koi gulu gulu karenga toh dhoptuingi hi na usko.”

In Darlings, Alia Bhatt’s Badru constantly spoke in odd plural phrases. These included “I loves you” and “bad lucks”.

In Raazi, the Bollywood actor played a Kashmiri Muslim named Sehmat. Naturally, there was some Kashmiri touch to her dialogues and the actress expectedly got it bang on.

What made the role of Sehmat even more interesting was that Alia is half Kashmiri and half Gujarati in real life.

Given the speculation that Alia Bhatt would play Roopmati in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film, she might soon add another name to her cross-cultural list of characters!

https://thesouthfirst.com/entertainment/alia-bhatt-and-her-tryst-with-different-languages-and-cultures/

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Meenakshi Sundareshwar: A Slice Of Life Entertainer Propelled By Its Leads

Meenakshi Sundareshwar directed by Vivek Soni rests on a thin plot but the director makes it work with his packaging. He is also aided by his two charming actors in the lead roles. The major theme that Vivek Soni touches upon is the perils of long distance marriage. There are certain other themes which are used as a plot device to build up the drama.

The story of Meenakshi Sundareshwar is set in Madurai. The film begins off by setting up the character traits. Sanya Malhotra’s Meenakshi is a huge movie buff; she has also got the habit of reading books every night before she goes to sleep. In addition, she is also a crazy fan of Rajinikanth. She sees all his films first day first show. Abhimanyu Dassini’s Sundareshwar is a polar opposite. Movies put him to sleep, his only interest is coding. In general he is an introvert who holds back.

In a scene straight out of Tarun Bhaskar’s Pelli Choopulu Sundareshwar’s family comes to the wrong house, the leads come to know about this after they have chatted for a while. This is not the only similarity that the film shares with Pelli Choopulu. Sundareshwar’s father has a very low opinion about his son and he feels that his son is wasting his time in trying to make a career out of coding. Instead, the father wants him to join the family business of sarees. On the first night Sundareshwar gets a message from a company that he has to join urgently. Initially the long distance marriage is all hunky dory as they keep chatting on Skype but the lack of communication soon catches up and cracks begin to appear. Sundareshwar’s problems are further compounded by the fact that he has to hide his marital status from the boss. The reason being the company only wants bachelors. The rest of the story is about how the couple makes their marriage work.

The success of Meenakshi Sundareshwar lies in how Vivek Soni deals with the conflicts between the lead characters. Many young married couples would be able to relate to those problems. There is an important message that the director delivers. The message is about the importance of communication in a relationship. The best thing is that this message is conveyed in a non-preachy manner.

The differences in the personalities also form an important part of the film. These differences are used by Vivek Soni to explain why they are making rash decisions or even holding back when they don’t need to.

The film is also visually stunning thanks to the cinematography by Debojeet Ray. It presents Madurai in a gorgeous way. The music by Justin Prabhakaran is soothing to the ears,

For any romantic film chemistry between the leads plays an extremely important part, fortunately Sanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu Dassani don’t disappoint. They make for a charming pair. Sanya Malhotra particularly shines as a smart, confident woman. Her imitation of Rajinikanth in certain scenes is also fun to watch. Abhimanyu Dassani has less to play with but he still shines with his understated portrayal. The patch up of Meenakshi and Sunderswar happens in a theater which is playing Rajinikanth’s Darbar, it is over the top but it goes well with the mood of the film. The supporting characters don’t have a lot to do but they are efficient in their respective parts.

There is a special thanks which is given to Alia Bhatt at the beginning of the film. The reason for the thank you card is that Vivek Soni had first given the script to her; he wanted to know her opinion about the plot. He was an assistant directors on the sets of Shaandar and Udta Punjab, there they become friends and continued to stay in touch.

Alia loved the innocence of the characters and was thoroughly impressed. She then connected Vivek Soni to Karan Johar. That was how Karan Johar came on board and produced the film under Dharmatic entertainment.