HAPPY ENDING is yet another attempt by director duo Raj Nidimoru & Krishna D.K. to offer Indian cine audience glistening, newfangled & avant-garde cinematic experience by making a Kickass Romedy (As per Govinda in the movie) but it fails to strike the right chords. If we look at their past directorial ventures, they have made contempo & modish flicks, be it their first movie 99 or Shor in the city and Go Goa Gone with the underlying tone of the movies being either satire or spoof. Happy Ending is an extension to that and in fact, it seems that this movie in a way represents their personal contemplative on the typical rom-coms that they have always shirked away from making. But yes, one thing is sure that despite this being their biggest big budget outing so far as this movie has it all ; picturesque locales, big stars n even bigger ensemble starcast, glossy frames and great technical finesse, it lacks the soul. Happy Ending is basically a spoof on the romantic comedies that Bollywood has been churning out with the underlying thought that every genuine and real life story in this world ends in two different ways, one happy and one sad. Being the optimistic kind, we always hope and wish for a Happy Ending. And this what our Indian Cinema has been feeding us and en-cashing upon, with most of our masala Bollywood entertainers after its usual dosage of rona-dhona pretty much always have a happy ending so as to keep audience happy while he/she exists the cinema hall. In fact, in the movie, Saif himself says in the intro, " Pyaar Picturon Mein Hi Acha Lagta Hai, Extra Baatein Edit Kar Dete Hain, Sirf Comedy, Romance, Gaane Dikhate, Hero Kiss Karta Hai, Aur Phir Kya Hota Hai......Happy Ending. The biggest hurdle in the success of Happy Ending is going to be its lack of appeal towards a larger section of audience which has been the case with earlier movies of Raj & D.K. as their movies generally appeal to a certain section of Multiplex audience only and have few takers in single screens of small centres.
STORY & SCREENPLAY :: The story as well as screenplay has been penned down by the director duo themselves i.e. Raj Nidimoru & Krishna D.K. Although, the writers attempted to inject Hollywood sensibilities into a Bollywood format,
they struggled to keep it clever and witty. There’s even a hint at
'happy ending' massage parlour adventures as the credits roll out, but
that’s hardly the tone of the film. DK and Nidimoru, pick characters and scenes off Hollywood rom-coms, and weave them
into a Bollywood love story brimming with romantic songs and plush
international locations. It’s almost like they’ve taken the cues from
their own megalomaniac superstar Armaan-ji, who is in search of a script
that’ll win him the 'masses and classes.' On many levels, ‘Happy
Ending’ is a reflection of its own effort. There are glimpses of promise, no doubt, but those are far too few. As
the 150-minutes of a scattered love story comes to an end, we are left
with something pretentious and unworthy of applause, or tickles. The movie starts off with Kareena Kapoor's character (cameo) confessing her
love by telling those three magic words to Yudi (Saif), a one-book wonder
author and someone who is (self-confessedly) not allergic to 'I Love
You', but the baggage attached with it'. And when Yudi doesn't
reciprocate her feelings, Kareena's character shows him the middle
finger (quite literally!). No sooner does she exit Yudi's life, enters
Vishaka (Kalki Koechlin), a dentist by profession, and is head over
heels in love with Yudi. While she leaves no stone unturned in gaining his
attention, Yudi is totally unmoved by her and her feelings and emotions
towards him and wants to constantly break up with her. Whenever Yudi is
in trouble or feeling lonely, the only two people whom he always looks
upto are his 'ex-girlfriend-now-a-mother-of-three childen' Divya (Preity
Zinta), and his best friend of many years Montu (Ranveer Shorey), both
of whom lend him a patient listening and help him sort out the mess of
his life. Because he blows up all the money that he had made from his
book, he returns back to writing but, he gets dejected when he sees that
the same publishers hiring the gorgeous Aanchal Reddy (Ileana D'cruz),
whose romantic novels sell like hotcakes. What peps him up is the offer
to write a script for 'Armaanji' (Govinda), an actor who wants to
capture multiplexes after having conquered the single screens. To get a
hold of 'success formula' in writing, Yudi decides to befriend Aanchal.
Taking resort to a few tricks here and there, Yudi not only manages to
befriend her, but also lands up spending 'quality time' with her. Right
at the start of this 'relationship', the duo agree to be together
without falling in love with each other. While Aanchal is clear about
this relationship, it is Yudi who goes onto realize that he has actually
fallen in love with her!
STARCAST :: Saif Ali Khan, who is already a hit in the category of rom-com’s, is now
trying his hands in comedy about rom coms. The word for him is
fabulous. Saif knows when and how to use his comical sense and take the
scene to an altogether different level. Also, Saif’s duplicate character
named Yogi is hilarious. His dialogue delivery and expressions crack
you up everytime. Ileana, who has played a mere damsel in distress in
her earlier films, surely proves her worth in this one. She looks
glamorous and delivers a praiseworthy performance. Ranveer Shorey has done a great job, who fortunately lands some genuinely
funny lines, and delivers them with aplomb. Sadly, he’s got limited
screen time. Another actor who dazzled despite landing a tiny, twisted
part is Kalki, who excels as the naïve, yet annoying 'ex' girlfriend
Vishaka. But, the star of the show is undoubtedly Govinda. There’s a reason why
he’s called the king of comedy. Whether it’s flipping his sunglasses at
random, or shoving Hollywood DVDs at his new scriptwriter, or paying for
instant six-pack abs, he’s got it down perfectly. Even his disco number
is 'kickass.'
TECHNICAL FINESSE :: The soundtrack of the movie has been composed by Sachin-Jigar who have charted out a descent album. Three tracks namely G Phaad Ke, Pussycat & Meherbaan stand out. The cinematographer of the movie is Chase Bowman who has done wonderful job behind the lens as the movie is a visual treat. He has captured the locales of L.A. with aplomb. The other sloppy point about the movie is its weak editing as the movie progresses at a very dull pace consistently without having any high or low points due to which it is not able to withhold the interest of the audience. To their credit, directors Raj & D.K. have managed to keep the frames uber-cool, fresh and the best part is that the movie is devoid of all those regular cliches that we are used to watching in regular love stories. They have definitely faltered in their writing department but when it comes to execution, they have scored brownie points. Had they worked more on the characters and the pace of the movie, chances of it being appreciated by audience would have increased manifold.
CONCLUSION :: The biggest drawback of Happy Ending is that the story doesn't have any interesting twist to it and keeps going on in a neutral manner. I suggest you can skip this one.
ROHIT SHARMA.
Follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/smgr105
rohitreview@gmail.com
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