![]() The question is whether this ship functions as a complex, multi-levelled metaphor for contemporary India or merely a big block of soap, trailing suds in its wake. (Akhtar’s title – “Let the Heart Go On”, according to my schoolboy Hindi – may be a sly reference to that other blockbusting boat movie.) The voyage is intended to foster a spirit of togetherness amid mounting business tensions – friends and family are all aboard – yet a split soon opens up between older and younger passengers, as pronounced as that between rich and poor on James Cameron’s Titanic. ![]() ![]() We meet the Mehras as they embark upon a 10-day Bosphorus cruise, organised by industrialist patriarch Kamal (Anil Kapoor) to celebrate three decades of marriage to the meekly loyal Neelam (Shefali Shetty). Seeing as this family is weighing up whether to sell off their private jet, we arguably need a closer point of identification this humble pooch, balefully observing his masters’ follies, will for a while be the most sympathetic presence on screen. Last month’s Piku structured itself around the constipated Amitabh Bachchan’s inability to pass solids now Dil Dhadakne Do, the latest crowdpleaser from writer-director Zoya Akhtar (Luck by Chance, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) sees the misadventures of a family of one-percenters narrated by a dog with Aamir Khan’s voice. Yeh dil maange more.It must be Bollywood’s silly season. In all this, my heart developed a big beat for Mr and Mrs Mehra, was attentive to Ranveer, skipped a bit for Farhan, and kind of floated over the rest. And in keeping with Zoya’s insistence on keeping it bubbly and bright, the characters do not cut and bleed, just burble and weep, and some crucial sharpness goes missing.īy the second half, the film starts to stretch over the horizon. Then there is the hearing-Hindi-while-actually-hearing-English problem: people go around saying: ‘woh kya thaa?’, and you hear ‘what was that’? Why not just say what comes more naturally? And why take so long to come to the point you’ve been heading to all along? It’s feel-good factor gets the time to dissipate. Or to include amiable solutions to problems that are kept carefully contained. ![]() And there are at least a couple of sequences which look as if they’ve been added just for the pleasure of using a few clever puns. It all goes swimmingly to begin with, but soon the smooth sailing is marred by languidness and choppiness: some scenes have rise, some do not ripple. Both Priyanka Chopra and Anushka Sharma, who trails off, are better than the parts written for them. It’s time Priyanka got back to being a little messy: all these not-a-hair-out-place roles are making her constrained. The latter is scruffy- dishy, and the former is perfectly coiffed, but they are not given enough. There isn’t that much traction between Priyanka Chopra’s put-upon Ms Mehra, married to a man (Rahul Bose) who clearly likes doormats more than women, and the real love of her life (Farhan Akhtar). And some of the spikiness in relationships that are unraveling is very effective, especially the stuff that goes on between the blonde-haired middle-aged glad-eyed Mr Mehra, and the stuffing-her-face-full-of-fat-and-sugar miserable Mrs Mehra: Anil Kapoor and Shefali Shah bring a real sting to their interactions she is the best part of this film, and he is not far behind. So are the sun-drenched vistas of Istanbul, Zoya’s new Spain (the scene of action of her previous ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’). The dinky clothes, the champagne lunches, the doing-nothing-because-you-can lifestyle of the rich if- not-very-famous are drool-worthy. There are pleasures to be had while vicariously spying on the good life. It is the 30th wedding anniversary of the Mehras, and what better than to celebrate other than a communal jaunt on a luxury yatch? And how best to air their problems and neuroses other than over sparkling wine and beauteous foreign vistas? Pluto, speaking in Aamir Khan’s distinctive voice, delivers little homilies from time to time as the Mehras - Papa (Anil Kapoor), Mama (Shefali Shah), Beta ( Ranveer Singh), Beti ( Priyanka Chopra) and Damaad (Rahul Bose) and their families and frenemies go sailing into the blue yonder. The canine is off on a cruise, as are his humans.
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