2 States

I had the misfortune of watching this movie last night. I was actually looking forward to it after people's reviews on facebook and also critics' reviews. But don't worry, there is one honest blog which says it like it is (C'mon... I am allowed some self importance atleast on my own blog).

What I loved about Kai Po Che was that the movie enhanced the book... the book was crap, shoddy, un researched, very simple. Thats my grouse with the new crop of writers... there is no depth and the characters are too simple. I was expecting something similar with this movie... that the director- Abhishek Varman (never heard of him) would enhance the book.


So, we have the book which was set in 1990s and based on Chetan's real life experience... the director/scriptwriter/producer (blame who you want) has taken the same incidents and put them in 2014 without any change.

Before I get to that... the story is about 2 IIMA grads who meet in college, fall in love but one is a North Indian and another a South Indian... and their parents don't get along. They try to get their parents to like them... and then try the parents to like each other. By then I lost interest and turned it off.

There is a scene where Alia is wearing shorts in IIMA and asks Arjun to accompany her outside the campus. He is pissed off that she is wearing shorts (in 2014... and he is from Delhi... and they are in a posh area of A'bad). She changes... and only wears kurtas and long skirts after this. I don't even understand why they end up together. He is a loser... she is very smart and outgoing... I kept hoping they would break up and I would get to see a different movie... but no such luck.

They keep talking about how they don't want to run away and want their parents to be happy with their marriage. Excuse me... why will 2 financially independent people 'run away' and get married? Can't they get married without the parents around? What does the term 'run away' even mean? Who even stays home after school???

Arjun wants to be a writer... and he has a typewriter which he carries from Delhi to A'bad... to Chennai and back to Delhi. Did laptops become extinct in 2014????

Alia is good... I am very surprised because she can actually act. Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy and Revathy as parents are too good. But Arjun looks a little lost. He does not seem comfortable in the role and really needs to grow as an actor.

The funniest part is... Sunsilk has a marketing office in Chennai... in 2014... and it pays only 50k/month. Seriously!!! It seems like Chetan Bhagat did not want anyone to change the story at all since it is so close to his heart.

Please avoid... so many cliches. And no, don't say this is 'Bollywood'. Anyone remember 'Pyaar ke side Effects'??? Even that had scenes about Mallika Sherawat's father not approving of Rahul Bose... they were funny and genuine and cheeky.

The movie is confused.... it tries to be funny but fails... and then it tries to be emotional... and fails at that as well.

Avoid. Atleast don't spend money on it and just download it on torrent.

In the times of 'Game of Thrones' I am surprised such movies are getting made... worse, they are targeted at the 'GOT' watchers.