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Post by dancelover on Feb 7, 2014 18:02:59 GMT
"... reasonable start in major metros ... has ... given it a good chance ..." Box Office India
Seems Parineeti is still golden; Sidharth too. Note: both attended Sonam's Party For Arjun. Several new jodis from that party!
Dancelover
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Post by karanjoharfan on Feb 8, 2014 1:00:31 GMT
Saw it first day, first show here in Austin, and liked it! Rating: 8.5/10. Pleasurable experience. Some key spoilers below in my review.
Sidharth Malhotra's character Nikhil definitely has a lot of presence, so whoever in the media was worried a few months ago the male lead doesn't have much of a role was wrong. I liked Sidharth's acting and liked his character too. The "I'm a hippie" line from the song kind of captures the character, although he has a bit more goals than that and he actually feels a lot of responsibility. Nikhil is far from one-dimensional. Another good description of how the character comes across is "Senti Sidharth" from the trailer. I chuckled a bit at how he spent most of the movie with the top two or three buttons of a button-up shirt unbuttoned though -- ah, sex appeal, lol. I was glad to see him in a movie with no violence as I didn't like how Student of the Year ended in a big fight -- sort of marred my opinion of that movie and his character in that movie, and marred my opinion of Karan Johar. Hope this movie enjoys commercial success as I feel like too many of the successful Bollywood movies today have tons of violence and action.
First time I've seen Parineeti Chopra (I hadn't seen a lot of recent movies till I started again a month or two ago), and I think she did well. I'm not sure she entirely pulled off "Meeta 2.0" after she took her medicines, but it was kind of a hard thing to pull off. I haven't made up my mind if the movie treated that too flippantly or if the tone was right.
Good characters, some surprises in the characters and the story. I can always relate to characters who feel like they are failures for their family. I liked the setup of young Meeta's relationship with her dad, then later the estrangement and the inevitable but still moving tearful reunion. I also liked the setup of how Nikhil and Meeta first met. The police dad for Nikhil didn't work quite as well. I liked all the random relatives and supporting characters, many of whom had their own little subplots with a past and a future we wouldn't see. I felt this was a world that had been thought of in depth and we were being privileged to get a little peek of it. The character who wants to be Indian Idol and sings, with a bit of a torch for Meeta, was a hoot.
I liked Meeta's project and think it would be really cool if something like that could be found in real life! I liked the incorporation of a Chinese connection, which was handled respectfully and not at all for laughs like you might worry it is from the trailer. Some of what was said was real Chinese (from the Chinese actors), and I think Parineeti Chopra was also attempting to speak real Chinese words at least part of the time but only succeeded sometimes. Other times I have no idea what she was trying to say. (I know some Mandarin Chinese, which is what they were speaking.)
I liked Meeta knowing what to do in the car breakdown/battery scene and the scene where Meeta is helping Nikhil in mid-air, and how Nikhil was pretty much totally cool with Meeta having saved him.
I was wondering how they were going to resolve the triangle and I was satisfied with that. Nothing earth-shatteringly new or different, but that's not what I wanted anyway. It wasn't boring or cliched either though. I felt there was just the right amount of depth. Also the movie didn't feel crass like I Hate Luv Storys did. At the end, I wondered if Nikhil and Meeta had gotten married or if they were simply a couple now. I felt bad for Karishma, but I guess not everyone can have a happy ending.
I liked seeing Karan Johar briefly on the screen in a cameo.
Nice music. Picturizations were hit-and-miss; I wish they had been more incorporated into the movie's narrative. Only a couple of them were. Two of them were opening and closing numbers. I'm glad the songs were subtitled because it really enhances the appreciation of a song for me when they are, but Dharma Productions has in the past sometimes not subtitled the songs. As usual, I think the subtitles sometimes were a bit misleading though; for example, I'm pretty sure they called dandiya "salsa" or "rumba" at one point to "translate" a lyric in a song as being about "other kinds of dance" for the audience. Also, I'm not sure if the Sherlock Holmes/Watson subtitle is really what they were saying. (Can anyone confirm?)
Anyway, hope people watch this! And post what they think of it!t what they think of it!
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carla
Junior artiste
Posts: 62
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Post by carla on Feb 12, 2014 17:52:48 GMT
I saw this movie the other night and liked it quite a lot. As usual I have written my thoughts in detail on my own site, and I will excerpt some of them here rather than subject you to a complete wall of text. Broadly, I am in agreement with everything karanjoharfan said in the previous post. On to the excerpts: ... I would wager that when Sidharth Malhotra was a boy, he wanted to be Shah Rukh Khan when he grew up. He clearly studied him hard, practiced the moves. He has the tight-lipped dimple-forcing smile down cold. He can reproduce that playful arch-the-eyebrow, bobble-the-head swoony smile when dancing with a pretty girl. He arches his back and flings his arms at just the right angle. But there is a crucial difference between his Nikhil in Hasee toh phasee and Khan's romantic heroes: Nikhil is a nice guy. Not a smarmy, arrogant jerk with an alleged heart of gold. Not a stalker or a deceiver, not full of himself, not dripping with confidence that all he has to do is stand there and wait while the girl-du-jour runs trembling into his arms. Nikhil is just a genuinely sweet fellow trying hard to do the right thing. ... Enter Meeta (Parineeti Chopra), a socially inept, chemically altered, peculiarly intelligent woman, and indeed the unlikeliest filmi heroine. Meeta is damaged in a variety of ways, some more vaguely specified than others. She may have a history of drug abuse - the characters who make this assertion might not be the most reliable interpreters of her behavior - but at any rate she is, in the film's present, dependent upon a cocktail of antidepressants that she prescribes herself. Forgery, kleptomania, and financial shenanigans all appear on her resume, but Meeta is also evidently a brilliant, if unconventional, chemical engineer. This is sort of the character who is at best a comic sideplot, the heroine's weirdo college friend. She is also profoundly lonely. In exile from her family and her country for seven years, Meeta is starved for compassion. She has suffered verbal abuse that is so intense as to be hard to watch, shredded by an overbearing uncle while other family members look on; no one stands up for her (until finally someone does). These scenes exemplify the sneaky richness of Hasee toh phasee, the moments in which it conveys a great deal in a relatively subtle way. Though it only happens twice during the film, the non-response of Meeta's family members suggest that this uncle's verbal sledgehammer threatens all of them with some frequency. And it helps explain a little of Meeta's symptomized peculiarity. In short, Meeta is a character with a whole lot going on. And Parineeti Chopra internalizes this many-tentacled beast of a backstory, rendering a performance that is vulnerable, sincere, and extremely appealing. Chopra throws herself into such unconventionally weird and likeable characters with great fearlessness, and it makes her an actor I want to see again and again. She showed it in Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl and shows it again here: a willingness to sacrifice glamor for the sake of telling a good story about a very interesting young woman. Nikhil is all but overwhelmed by Meeta's weird intensity, compelled by compassion and affection to take care of her, offering her the friendship and sympathy she obviously craves without understanding that need herself. And likewise, Sidharth Malhotra is all but overwhelmed by Parineeti Chopra. Whether attributable to good direction or his instincts as an actor - it is hard to know which, in just his second film - Malhotra has the good sense to get out of Chopra's way, to let Meeta be the bigger personality. Malhotra gets first billing but Hasee toh phasee is Parineeti Chopra's movie. ...
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Post by dancelover on Feb 12, 2014 22:50:26 GMT
Box Office India says HTP is doing about as well as Shudda Desi Romance, in metroplexes and overseas, but not on village single screens. It improved on Saturday, and more on Sunday, for a 16 crore weekend, and then held up well on Monday. Might reach 24 crore for the week.
Then watch out for Gunday!
D
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Feb 13, 2014 1:53:29 GMT
Very cool reviews-I was unimpressed by the promos, to say the least, but I keep hearing all over the web about people who gave it a try because it was Parineeti (or, less frequently, Siddarth), because nothing else was coming out, etc, and came out charmed by it. Kudos to all involved for that.
Regarding Dancelover's comments on its box office compared to SDR, I think this underlines the fact that Parineeti has real drawing power, maybe not up there with some of the big names, but more than Sushant or Siddarth.
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dreamygirl
Junior artiste
Posts: 65
Upcoming release you're most excited about: the next Aamir Khan; Aish's comeback
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Post by dreamygirl on Feb 14, 2014 1:49:53 GMT
I recommend it! 8/10 I saw this last Saturday and really liked! From the unsubbed trailers I got the impression that it was more slapstick and with lots of sassy repartee but it was much more thoughtful and quirky than that. At the end part I was looking at anything but the screen to avoid bawling out loud. This was my first time seeing Siddharth and I thought he was completely adorable and charming and sexy. He and Parineeti had very good chemistry. She was really great, and to reiterate the comments about Parineeti's drawing power, during a quiet moment of the movie after she had had a meaningful scene one of the other theater goers stage whispered "she is such a natural". So, she is definitely cementing her mark. I am also going to piggy back on the other comments about the well developed and appealing secondary characters. The only one that jarred for me was Nikhil's fiancee. I couldn't believe that she was one minute yelling at him about getting rid of her sister and then turning around and saying where the hell were you. Another thing that stuck out was {Click to view!} when Meeta was in the airport bathroom 1) hysterically crying 2) upending a bottle of pills into her throat 3) then puking them up with a woman right behind obliviously talking on her mobile the whole time.
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Post by dancelover on Feb 15, 2014 16:08:40 GMT
Now BoxOfficeIndia says it earned 27.5 crore in the first week - more than they'd expected - and had a good Day 8, too.
D
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Post by karanjoharfan on Feb 16, 2014 8:07:03 GMT
Glad other people have liked it too! Good points, all!
carla, I love your point that Nikhil is not an arrogant Hindi film hero character and more of a genuinely sweet guy. I didn't think Sidharth was overshadowed by Parineeti but I'm glad you felt the balance worked. I didn't really detect similiarities to SRK mamnerisms as opposed to just natural acting, but I may have just missed them or they may have been incorporated into how I see Bollywood actors even though SRK isn't one of my faves. I also think it's insightful that you highlighted the uncle and how he harangued Meeta, and your extrapolation based on how the other family members reacted. I read your whole blog post too, and you have more great points there.
dreamygirl, I didn't blame the fiancee because it was a big night for her, with her whole family watching, and it was probably taking longer than she expected with the rain. Still, her volatility and her constant lashing out at Nikhil because she knew he would never leave her was one of her character flaws, and this was an example of that. I didn't notice that thing you hid in your post! LOL!
I'm not sure about the relative drawing power of Parineeti Chopra or Sidharth Malhotra, but I think the "Dharma Productions" banner, its reputation, and its promotional savvy also had something to do with the decent-enough opening. It's going to be true of almost any Dharma, Yash Raj, or UTV film that the movie will at least have a chance to succeed at the box office. Then I think the continued pick-up across the week and better-than-expected first week were because of good word of mouth from the content of the film. I still wish the movie was doing better though. It's safely profitable, but it doesn't look like it's going to be a big hit.
I saw the trailer subtitled when I was seeing "Dedh Ishqiya" in the theater, so I think I benefitted from the subtitles in having a different expectation from yours, odadune. There were already some good dialogue and emotional moments in there. With a name like Anurag Kashyap attached, I knew there'd be some depth, although the subtitled trailer conveyed the fun of the movie as well.
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carla
Junior artiste
Posts: 62
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Post by carla on Feb 16, 2014 15:30:38 GMT
I didn't really detect similiarities to SRK mamnerisms as opposed to just natural acting, but I may have just missed them or they may have been incorporated into how I see Bollywood actors even though SRK isn't one of my faves. I should have been clearer about this - I am really referring to how he is in songs, not his ordinary performance. You are absolutely right that Malhotra gives a much more natural, less hammy performance than Shah Rukh Khan has ever done. In the songs, though, Malhotra looks like he's imitating the heroes he grew up watching. And there is nothing wrong with that; but it seemed like a fun way to set up the contrast of the characters.
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madhu
Dancing in the chorus
Posts: 10
Favorite actor: Hrithik Roshan, Sidharth Malhotra
Favorite actress: Rani Mukherjee, Deepika Padukone, Vidya Balan
Upcoming release you're most excited about: Happy New Year/Bang Bang
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Post by madhu on Feb 17, 2014 16:57:51 GMT
Saw this on Friday. I really liked it. This movie confirmed for me that Sidharth is second only to Hrithik in my affections. That face, that voice, I died. Doesn't hurt that he has clearly worked on his dancing since SOTY. You don't see on his face that he's counting the steps anymore, it's more natural this time. And he did such a good job as Nikhil, you really feel for him. The story was fresh and interesting, and Parineeti was fantastic. I walked out absolutely in love with the music. The dance numbers are a blast, and Zehnaseeb and Ishq Bulava are really lovely. I am not ashamed to admit that I squealed like a teenager at the end when they kiss.
Not to say I didn't have issues with the movie, though. The uncle who felt he had free reign to go around slapping this girl who isn't even his daughter (not that her dad slapping Meeta would have been remotely okay either) really pissed me off. And then the movie's attitude toward depression and anti-depressants was very dismissive/condescending/etc. I realize expecting sensitivity from a Hindi movie on mental health issues is ridiculous, but it would have been nice. Also, I second the ridiculousness of having this woman yacking away on the phone and apparently not noticing Meeta's suicide attempt/cancellation at the end of the movie. Some people at my theater actually started laughing, it was just SO ridiculous.
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poornima
Dancing in the chorus
Posts: 37
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Post by poornima on Feb 19, 2014 12:04:05 GMT
I missed the first 5-10 minutes (up to the Shake It Like Shammi number) and I am left wondering how much that contributed to my ambivalence towards this movie. It has a nice, refreshing appeal and lots of fun moments but the screenplay just felt incoherent overall. One development I could predict from a mile off was the break-up of the Karishma-Nikhil jodi. She was just not around enough! Sidharth and Parineeti were superbly contrasted and played their roles to perfection.
Like others here, I thought the treatment of Meeta's addiction to anti-depressants was overly casual and jokey. And why, incidentally, would someone - that too, a retired guy - keep a packed bag in his luggage closet? There was no indication of an impending trip as far as I could see. Duh! Another thing that nagged at me all through was the Punjabification of this Gujarati family. Barring a few Gujarati words thrown in for an appearance of authenticity, and some stereotyped cultural markers, the K Jo-inspired stamp of the big,f at North Indian wedding was everywhere. I couldn't help thinking back to English Vinglish and that delightful Marathi song sung by Sridevi at her niece's wedding celebration. It would have been nice if Karan/Anurag had worked on on a more authentic cultural ethos.
I'm going to be generous and give this a 7/10, only for Sidharth and Parineeti's efforts.
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rainsongs
Dancing in the chorus
Putting on too much eyeliner and pretending to be Meena Kumari
Posts: 15
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Post by rainsongs on Feb 28, 2014 5:42:59 GMT
And then the movie's attitude toward depression and anti-depressants was very dismissive/condescending/etc. I realize expecting sensitivity from a Hindi movie on mental health issues is ridiculous, but it would have been nice. I wasn't expecting sensitivity either, but I feel confident in saying that anti-depressants do not make you eat toothpaste. I wish we could have seen a little more of competent Meeta-- she was able to make it on her own for 7 years, getting a PhD in a foreign country, being some sort of brilliant chemical engineer. I know that's not what the story was about, but I would have liked to see it. I enjoyed it overall, though. Siddharth and Parineeti are firmly in my favorite actors, and I love that Parineeti can pull off the ridiculous slapstick and the really emotional stuff all in the same take. It's hard for me to think of this movie working with any other actors.
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Post by dancelover on Mar 29, 2014 16:20:26 GMT
Box Office India has now rated Hasee Toh Phasee "AVERAGE" (That seems to be their way of saying "broke even.") BOI has now rated 26 of the 44 films released so far this year. HTPh is their fourth-rated film.
Koimoi has rated it "PLUS" = made a profit.
D
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Post by allshewrote on Mar 29, 2014 22:23:14 GMT
This film didn't do much for me. The characterizations were much too weak. Nikhil went from crafty, rule breaking youngster to a young adult living off of borrowed money to an aspiring cop. Meeta went from borderline autistic (with shades of Priyanka's Jamil from Barfi) to potential druggie, only to end up as the manic pixie girl. I just couldn't follow.
This was my first time watching Siddharth and I wasn't quite sure what to make of him. I think I will have to see him in another role before I make up my mind about his acting skills. Parineeti was decent, although I feel she is being type cast in manic pixie girl roles. I would really like to see her try a different type of role.
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Post by karanjoharfan on Apr 20, 2014 22:11:43 GMT
As in the real world, Nikhil is complex and all those things. Not everyone in real life has it all together and knows their path. I certainly don't.
It's not a flaw of the movie that he goes from one to the other as elements of each are present always. You knew all along to some degree his actions were a reaction to his dad being a cop. I believe he also actually explicitly voiced early on in the movie that he now wanted to be a cop but he was afraid to go to something else and not like it again, just as with his attitude toward another relationship. Nikhil speaks to the lost soul and drifter who is yet scared to take any more risks, as well as deeply responsible and loyal -- that's not a contradiction -- with an ambivalent feeling towards his dad's career, in me. But he wasn't living off of borrowed money, that was just the attitude of the other family toward his business.
There's a degree of flaw in Meeta's characterization, but she's not a manic pixie dream girl. The movie is about her. It's about her aspirations, her setting out to make a scientific discovery, about her relationship with her family, not about how her being a generic manic pixie dream girl affects the male character.
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