Befikre: Love is second hand here

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Vaani Kapoor

Rated: 6/10

Production qualities: More than slick, very YRF. Locale: Most romantic in the world, very YRF. Drama: Modern romcom, very YRF. Music: Titillating, very YRF. Production House: Extremely reputed, YRF. Director: All about Bollywood’s best mohabbatein, very YRF. Love story: Very not YRF.

That’s because Aditya Chopra’s Befikre largely forgets that the heart is a vital organ for such movies, and focuses solely on hi-tech polish, packaging and preening about romance being a YRF patent, howsoever misplaced, howsoever misconceived.

This was Aditya’s first outing after his father, the grand man of romance, passed away and overall only his 4th directorial venture. After DDLJ, Mohabbatein and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Befikre was eagerly awaited, more so after Karan Johar’s botched up, hung-up money-spinner Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. After all, the padshah of energy Ranveer Singh was at the helm and diva of sculpted body Vaani Kapoor his “very French” love interest, that too in a place no less groovy than Paris. 

In this one, Chopra summarily shifted from chiffon saris, lilting music, Switzerland and sarson ke khet, to bare lissom legs,Dhoom-style body abs, a lot of bra-dancing, French kissing (at the drop of a crop top, i.e. almost every 2-3 minutes) and, of course, bare buttocks, envy dancing, live-in mirth and the joy of throwing dares at each other as a barometer of arriving at the true and ultimate romantic relationship in a flippant world.

Yes, modern, actually unnecessarily modern, especially for the shy and reclusive son of the great Yash Chopra. Maybe, it was a personal dare he was executing. But, really! When did hearts start beating fast or stopped beating at all on seeing Ranveer in briefest of briefs, Ranveer in hot and shiny lycra underpants, Ranveer nude wiggling his naked butt for a split second, Ranveer thrusting his family jewels into the audience’s face in a pink Playboy naughty v-brief, or Ranveer exchanging body fluids from the lip and elsewhere too!

In between, there is frenetic activity, in and out of bed, brittle relationship issues, lust more than love, break-ups, buddy comebacks, different partners and all the song and dance that Aditya could notch up to make Befikre much too young for a staying YRF kind of romance.

Things that draw you to Befikre are sadly not from the heart-beat section, actually the romance in the film is as minimalistic as the hotpants Vaani sports. What you will love are the songs and the Paris-hopping acrobatics that go with it. You might also be taken in with the carefully carved out bods, that Dhoom-like obsession with the celestial muscles of both Vaani Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. You will also love the dances, the choreography, the localing and the dressing up of the entire environment which are established cornerstones of the YRF stable.

You also might just be in the mood to indulge in Aditya raising theDDLJ moments here and there and lending a Farida Jalal kind ofmomma to the proceedings just to remind you that his cinema is still Indian and that he once had it in him to showcase a love story quite simply and beautifully.

But that’s about all. As Vaani and the riveting Ranveer try to fight out the dares thrown at them by their story-short director, as they serenade lust, battle each other for love, turn buddies and generally live it up in Paris, as they try to find a script in their situation, you eat up all your popcorn and wonder why someone as arrived as romcom specialist Aditya Chopra could go so wrong, that too in Paris, the romantic capital of the world. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, December 11, 2016