'Anjaana Anjaani' (Hindi, Romantic Comedy, 2010)
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Zayed Khan
Let me get this straight. I am not really the type of person who would go to a theatre and watch a film like 'Anjaana Anjaani', feminine pressure notwithstanding.
Watching one too many Hindi films of this mould would have you believing that all Hindi speakers in the world now live in New York. Film after film with helicopter shots of New York have had only one noticeable effect on me — I now belch at the mere mention of apples.
Add to that the growing awareness and popularity on crowded Indian shores of Las Vegas and boom! It’s in every movie. Ultimately, 'Anjaana Anjaani' is about all that’s familiar to Indians about the US of A- the Brooklyn Bridge, that big bronze bull on Wall Street and oh, before I forget, Times Square.
The charade meant to tell you, “Hey notice we are not in India (wink, wink)”, is enough to make you squirm, scream and everything in between. But wait, that’s about all Hindi films based in the US, not just about 'Anjaana Anjaani'.
Now that I have used up my critic’s quota of kicking and complaining like a constipated child, here is what I actually think of the film.
'Anjaana Anjaani' is an eye-opener, in the sense that a certain level of maturity has finally arrived in the way Bollywood deals with love, sex and relationships. The film is of the mould of that recent cracker of a movie, 'Wake Up Sid', but is different enough to be seen on its own merits.
'Anjaana Anjaani' starts with America’s most defining biennial cultural occurrence, a stock market crash (relax, I won’t tell you the whole story). The meltdown on Wall Street forces Ranbir Kapoor to give up hope and that’s when he meets a very prettily drunk Priyanka Chopra.
Fate brings them together and they walk around New York in December, after escaping from a hospital, in matching hospital gowns, completely immune to the phenomenon where people freeze to death. But that’s all right; a certain suspension of belief is required.
They decide to live together till the day of reckoning that they will face together. They have a bit of fun along the way. Plausible situations and good performances from the actors make these scenes carry the entire movie. Some of them are excellently crafted and keep you laughing. There is also a classic red 1967 Ford Mustang and the legendary Route 66 to ogle at.
Some excellent compositions by Vishal-Shekhar help these scenes along nicely. The songs are also well placed, letting the film flow. Also a note to Salim-Sulaiman: your background score worked, but don’t think I didn’t notice that Jason Mraz song you ripped off.
Other characters are brought in only where absolutely necessary and exit as soon as their purpose is served.
Kapoor does justice to his role, but he is going to have to do something about his dialogue delivery very soon. It is bound to get stale if he keeps doing it the same way. Priyanka Chopra plays the wild child with limited success and is very good in bits and pieces. But as is always the case, she is found wanting in heavy scenes, where her pretty face pretty much freezes up.
An aside: the film is based on the 1999 French film, 'Girl on the Bridge'.
Maybe it was the low expectations that I went in with, I’m not sure. But 'Anjaana Anjaani' was not a film I walked away from screaming for oxygen. I used to be the guy who unequivocally denounced such films but to my surprise, I actually enjoyed parts of it.