Bachna Ae Haseeno – When every wish comes true!!

This is what one would feel after watching ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, indeed everything that Raj - played by Ranbir Kapoor - wants in life comes true as if life was trying to accommodate every whim and fancy of the initially babe-hungry rich Raj and later after much journeying, the mature Raj who finally learns to respect and above all ceases to see the opposite gender as Shikar!

Of the three ladies, Deepika looks ravishing as the B School student in Australia who drives a taxi and mans a grocery store; Manisha Lamba struggles to act (more than struggling to act, I feel the role demanded her to look a little dumb which was difficult for herJ) in the first half but more than compensates in the second half in a befitting costume with looks that kill; Bipasha fits her role completely and comes up with a performance that at times makes the viewer wonder at her near subservience in the first half and daring in the second!

Ranbir has a very good presence throughout and acts well too. This movie had a range of emotions to showcase and he does it with aplomb. For a second movie, he looks convincing romancing in the snow and crying after his love rejects his hand. He is a good dancer too though he reminds one of Hrithik.

The story is patchy and dragging even before intermission when Raj meets all the three ladies, rejects the courtship of two (Manisha and Bipasha) and gets snubbed by the third to whom he proposes (Deepika). The best part of the movie is the first 25 minutes post interval when realisation dawns on our hero!

The locales are excellent and two songs captivate the viewer for that simple reason. Music is just above average. The audience in the theater clapped at all the right places. When Raj is threatened by Manisha’s husband and despised as personal assistant by Bipasha, there was applause.

This movie reinforces a lot of stereotypes though it tries to salvage something by showing a successful model and an aspiring manager. No girl would write letter after letter everyday for 6 months longing for a guy she had rejected firmly. But then, this is cinema and that is how things are!

This is a good entertainer. If only conventional Bollywood cinema looks beyond the traditional woman dialogues and realizes that with movies like this, it is only perpetuating stereotypes that have to be done away with!