It has gorgeous settings. It has beautiful people. It has talented actors (in Dolly Ahluwalia, Farooq Sheikh and Kunaal Roy Kapur). It has memorable songs. And yet, somehow, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is not able to bring these parts together to make a coherent whole. Perhaps one of the reasons is that without the songs and the settings, there is little to set the story apart from the hoary old fare we’ve seen for so many decades – boy-meets-girl, they separate, they reunite. Another reason is that the best actors in the film have the smallest parts – Dolly Ahluwalia, who has us in splits as the overprotective and proud mother of medico Naina (Deepika Padukone), simply disappears in the second half. Farooq Sheikh, who leaves us with a lump in our throats as the caring father of Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor), who chides him for taking off on holiday but gifts him a backpack for the trek, has nearly as short a role.
As for the beautiful people, Ranbir Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur would have to be on steroids to be built the way they are, and sport the facial hair they do, when they’re just out of school. Kalki Koechlin and Deepika Padukone don’t look anywhere near as young as they’re supposed to be either, and high-pitched voices don’t really help. But the biggest letdown in the story is that it doesn’t make sense for the people in it to behave the way they do.
It all begins when Naina runs into Aditi (Kalki Koechlin), an old schoolmate, at a supermarket. Aditi is taking off on holiday to Manali. And this is the first mistake of the film – this holiday, set in 2004, is a package by MakeMyTrip, which was launched in India in late 2005. You’d think people would check these facts out before they get into in-film branding deals. Naina decides to join them accidentally on purpose, and makes a midnight booking. She’s told at the station that they weren’t able to find a berth for her – surprise, surprise – but she’s allowed to come along when Bunny offers to take turns with her on his berth. Yeah, because Indian Railways would be so cool with that. The three friends – Aditi, Bunny and Avi (Aditya Roy Kapur) – seem to have no qualms with Naina tagging along with them. Throw in a couple of crazy incidents, and they become friends for life. They also spout intense dialogues about the things they want to do. Thankfully, the film looks back on this in a meta moment, when Bunny riles Naina eight years later, about the filmy lines she would fall for.
What I find unbelievable about the film is that the four simply don’t grow up. Only Deepika Padukone demonstrates any sort of character arc, but this is hampered by the fact that her body language completely changes in the second part of the film – surely, a one-off holiday and friendship with Aditi isn’t going to make a girl throw away her geek glasses, and most of her clothes? The girl in dowdy shirts suddenly turns into the girl in bikini tops. Bunny’s two friends are more resentful of his “leaving” them (on a scholarship, that too) than finding success in life.
The film could have redeemed itself with a bold ending, but settles for a tame tableau.
The Verdict: Though beautifully picturised and entertaining enough, this film is old wine in a new bottle.