Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania - Movie Review & Lessons

Spoiler Alert: Note- This Review reveals many key scenes, dialogues and the story-line... Don't read if you are planning to watch it!

Directed by debutant Director, Shashank Khaitan & produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (HSKD) is a sweet Romantic Comedy (RomCom). It is a happy-go-lucky kind of a movie like its lead characters. 

Delhi-boy Rakesh Sharma aka Humpty (Varun Dhawan) and Ambala-girl Kavya Pratap Singh (Alia Bhatt) meet at Delhi when the latter is at her uncle's place for her wedding-shopping. Humpty and his fast friends, Shonty (Gaurav Pandey) & Poplu (Sahil Vaid), land up to meet her uncle and get introduced to Kavya.

One thing leads to another. Humpty invites Kavya over to celebrate his fake birthday as their real bond becomes stronger. As the 'Emotional Fools' are busy singing and dancing to 'Lucky Tu Lucky Me' (with Rap by Varun Dhawan) & 'D Se Dance', they realize that they are in love. 

Humpty lands up at Kavya's home-town Ambala to impress her family, dances to 'Daingad Daingad' & attempts to make Kavya his Dulhania. Kavya is engaged to Mr.Perfect-CollegeTopper-NRI-Doctor, Angad Bedi (Siddharth Shukla). Humpty realizes that he's not even 'Mowgli' in comparision with this  'Superman' beau!

What all does Humpty have to do to woo Kavya's family? Does he succeed? No prizes for guessing that! Of course he does! Evident from the movie's title!

HSKD seems to be in awe of the 90's blockbuster- Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ). Many scenes are heavily influenced/inspired by DDLJ & openly flaunt the filmy-connection! 

The Climax scene even has Mr. Singh telling the same dialogue to Humpty- "Jaa jeeley apni zindagi!" (Go & live your life)

Likes:

All the characters and their endearing acting. 

Humpty & Kavya (Varun Dhawan & Alia Bhatt) shine! What super chemistry & screen presence! 

Humpty's friends Shonty & Poplu (Gaurav Pandey & Sahil Vaid) & Kavya's friend Gurpreet (Guncha Narula) & sister Swati (Mahnaz Damania) are excellent as is Angad (Siddharth Shukla). Mr. Singh (Ashutosh Rana), the no-nonsense dad of Kavya and  Mr. Sharma (Kenny Desai), the cute easy-going dad of Humpty are great too. However, the latter doesn't have much role to play (unlike the boy's father in DDLJ - Anupam  Kher)

The lilting melodious song that touches the heart-strings is 'Samjhawan'. The Electronic, Pop, Sufi, Punjabi music by Sachin-Jigar-Toshi Sabri is hummable & dance-worthy. 

Ahmed Khan's choreography is too good. 

Some dialogues & scenes are fun & touching. 

- Humpty's rhyming poems like Jail-Bail-Heart-Fail & Go-Slow made me smile! 

- How & why Humpty got his names- Humpty & 'Rakesh Sharma'.

- The friends dancing to current Bollywood songs in the fake birthday party!

- Doctor who doesn't drink or smoke and is too fit!
- The reasoning why do Indian girls like NRI grooms!

- The lovers sharing "jali hui Roti" (burnt Roti) & "namak-kam sabzi" (Curry with less salt) and conversing about "perfect".

- Humpty's "man-to-man" talk with Mr.Singh at the Railway-Station with guarantee about the "Ek Roti" (One Roti)

- Kavya's dialogues to her dad towards the climax:
"Ab jab pyaar ho gaya, in sabka koi mol nahi" (Now that I am in love, all this has no value for me)
"Kaash designer dulhe ko local se badal sakti" (Wish I could exchange the designer groom with a local one)

10 Lessons from HSKD-

1. Help people. Be good-at-heart.

2. Have a conscience. Don't take anyone's precious item(s). 

3. Uphold promise - Humpty promise!

4. Never give up. Pursue what you want sincerely till the end.

5. Don't abandon your morals. Running away in a train is no solution!

6. Accept mistake. Some love-marriages, like that of Swati (Kavya's sister) result in divorce.

7. Be independent. The lead characters, including the girls- Kavya & her sister, are shown driving four-wheelers and latter is a divorced working-woman.

8. Think before you splurge. Do your research. Designer-fakes are available with ditto designs at a fraction of the price... 

9. Beware of trusting anyone. They might blackmail using videos...

10. "Bandey perfect nahi hotey, Rishtey perfect hootey hain" (People aren't perfect, relationships are perfect)

  

Concerns:

Use of force/threat at History Professor, Mr. Shastri's place.

"Jo kaam Gandhigiri se na ho, wo kaam Gundagardi se hota hai."- The work that can't be done by Gandhi's lessons must be done by Gangsterism/Vandalism.

Paying money for extra marks to pass in Exam.

Use of untruth about Kavya being their "lucky prize winner" to gain access to Kavya's home.  The lie is caught by Kavya's street-smart father.

Consumerism with peer-group-pressure- "Designer Lehnga" & bad habits like- Beer-guzzling & Cigarette-smoking.

Some scenes/situations are out of place/inexplicable.

- If Kavya has no money (Rs 5 Lakhs) for her "Designer Lehnga" to earn which she sets out to Delhi, does not manage to earn much, sells her gold-earrings & finally accepts the Rs 70,000 Humpty raises for her, how does she afford to gift a "Celerio" Car to Humpty that too immediately after she leaves Delhi & reaches her hometown?!

- After Mr.Singh asks Humpty and his friends to leave Ambala before Kavya's wedding, they are shown to be travelling by train. We assume they are on their way from Ambala to Delhi. Later, when the wedding is about to begin, in the evening (or is it night?!), Mr.Singh lands up at Humpty's place at Delhi. (Mr.Singh also travels from Ambala to Delhi.)

When Mr.Singh gives his permission for the marriage, Humpty is seen running! (Now Humpty couldn't have reached Ambala from Delhi by running!) In the next scene, Humpty, his dad, his friends & Kavya's dad, all are in Ambala attending the wedding baraat in real-time! Okay! Distance no bar in a Bollywood movie! :P

What happens to Angad? He's conspicuous by his absence & is not there in the Climax-wedding scene to dance at his would-have-been Dulhania's wedding!

Quite unlike Salman Khan in the KJo movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hota (KKHH)!

We don't get to see the would-have-been Groom dancing or getting hooked to heroine's friend or sister here!

All is well that ends well! Overall, HSKD is a fun watch!

My Rating: 4/5

Watch it if you love sweet RomComs, cool music & dances & bid bye to logic!

Have you watched HSKD? How did you like it?

Pics Courtesy- Google

Note- Personally, I feel popular stars endorsing drinks, cigarettes & physical contact/union may tempt their fans to go for the same... Many recent movies portray all this. The times are changing and how! 

Youngsters beware! Please note that the stars are "acting"...

The impressionable minds who have Alia and Varun as their role-models, may please understand that the stars have to 'act' their characters. Please do not go for beer-guzzling competitions.

Just because Humpty & Mr. Singh are shown to indulge in Cigarette-smoking, doesn't mean you also have to do that. Kindly follow Doctor Angad  who is a teetotaler & non-smoker & even advocates the health-benefits in the movie!

We must learn the best qualities of all the characters....