Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji Hindi Movie
Before Madhur Bhandarkar decided to make this film he had declared he would be making another film based on the film industry, with Kareena Kapoor in lead. And while he waited for the actress's dates he decided to go ahead with Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji. The film was finished in no time and the results are there to see. DTBHJ looks half baked.
DTBHJ is based on a single thought. And it is not a bad one! It's about how men never learn from mistakes in love. But it is never established well.
The story is about three men - different in character and at different stages of the lives - and what happens when they fall in love. 38-year old Naren (Ajay Devgn) falls for 20-year old June (Shazahn), who is an intern in his office. He starts believing that June likes him when the much younger girl gets friendly with him. Milind (Omi Vaidya) works with a matchmaking website and falls for an RJ who thinks he writes great poetry. Abhay (Emraan) is a playboy who falls in love with a girl who is busy with social issues. All three start believing that the girl they love will reciprocate till they learn otherwise.
The film starts out well. The opening credits actually remind you of good old '70s. Things go good for the first half an hour as the director established the characters and the situations. The girls are quickly introduced too. However soon after that the story goes haywire clearly indicating that the writer didn't put much effort. Or maybe it was a case of lack of time, as indicated in the first paragraph. Emraan Hashmi's love story is way too patchy as the director decides to give more space to Tisca Chopra than Shruti Haasan. None of the stories have a proper graph and the ending is a complete spoiler. The dialogues are intended to be funny, but you may laugh only a few instances as they rarely make an impact.
Technically too the film is quite weak. While the cinematography is inconsistent, the production quality is a letdown. The background music is too loud and the editing is just about ok. The playback music is good.
Performances too are a mixed bag. Ajay Devgn is the best of the lot. Emraan Hashmi plays his usual character fluently while Omi Vaidya, playing a similar character to what he played in 3 Idiots, just about manages his Marathi lines. Tisca Chopra is best among the girls. Shruti Haasan and Shazahn Padamsee fail to please yet again. They clearly need a lot of work on their act. Shraddha Das is ok while Rituparna Sengupta hardly has anything to do.
In the film Shruti Haasan says to Emraan, referring to a one-night stand, that it was neither her first time nor his and hence he could just forget it and move on. The dialogue somehow suits the whole film. This is neither Madhur's first bad film nor the first bad one that we have seen. Move on, let it pass. Hold on safely to your money, you will find better avenues to spend on! Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji is at best mediocrity fuelled by hasty filmmaking decisions.
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