Zoya Akhtar’s new film is the Hum Aapke Hain Kaun of this generation with even wealthier characters, says Aniruddha Guha in his Dedh Minute Review.
Dil Dhadakne Do’s characters are the crème de la crème of Delhi’s high society. Anil Kapoor and wife Shefali Shah are part of a friends’ circle that wants to control the lives of their children, while the kids are divided between breaking out of the family fold and keeping their parents happy. How much freedom must you give the people in your life? A lot of what Zoya Akhtar says in her movie is extremely relatable.
But DDD suffers from trying to do too many things during its massive 170 minute runtime. Several characters board a cruise, most of who are broad stereotypes. The huge ensemble never allows Akhtar and co-writer Reema Kagti to flesh out a majority of characters, and their presence serves no purpose beyond a point.
Aamir Khan is the voice of Pluto, the family dog who’s also the sutradhar. It’s a smart plot device, but is overdone to a point where it loses its charm. There’s a great scene where Kapoor and Shah are screaming at each other, and their voices are drowned by the background score. That itself would suffice, but then Khan’s voiceover begins to tell us what we are seeing. That spoon-feeding is persistent and it gets annoying after a point.
Ironically, for a film that makes a comment about Indian society’s bias to the male child, it’s Ranveer Singh’s character that is better fleshed out, while sister Priyanka Chopra’s track remains half-baked.
Singh is in his element, delivering his best performance to date, and some of the best moments are those between him and Anushka Sharma. Shefali Shah is brilliant as usual, and Anil Kapoor gets a great role after a long time. What Rishi Kapoor was to Luck By Chance, Anil Kapoor is to DDD. The veteran is in fine form.
There are several laugh-out-loud moments in the film, like when Chopra’s mother-in-law wonders if she’s unhappy because her husband isn’t providing her with enough “shopping money”. Unfortunately, the humour doesn’t stay as sharp throughout.
Even though Dil Dhadakne Do is a bumpy ride, there are enough laughs and some genuine moments that don’t make you regret taking the journey. My rating is a 3/5.
