Directors: Amit Joshi & Aradhana Sah
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kriti Sanon. Dimple Kapadia. Dharmendra, Rakesh Bedi and others
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 2.5 stars
AI is the future and co-directors Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah bring forth a tale of an impossible love story of a man and a female robot, who is fondly known as Sifra with Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. But, where does it go wrong? Lack of humour in the first half and a plot line that ends up going nowhere but to a stereotypical climax that too of a love triangle.
The makers, who have always believed in creating stories with social messaging, back a visionary and futuristic story this time that might stand out in the clutter but it just refuses to be a compulsory watch.
Sifra (Kriti Sanon), a human-like-female robot flies off to meet a robotic engineer Aaryan aka Aaru (Shahid Kapoor) to Delhi. Aaryan falls in love with Sifra but his aunt Dimple Kapadia doesn’t approve of it at all, who generated her for human trials. Will Aaru get his lady love Sifra in the end?
The first half is too exhausting. It only has humour in parts and a funny take on an unpopular subject that might look interesting in lot of ways than expected. The interval point is predictable but second half is gullible enough. The highlight of the film is the concluding twenty minutes — Kriti’s tribute to Madhuri Dixit Nene with Dhak Dhak Karne Laga is probably the only moment that compels to laugh out loud amidst chaos and the core conflict.
Although, Joshi and Sah’s attempt to make a love story like this is genuinely commendable but there’s absolutely nothing much to look out for except for a couple of scenes that may lift your mood organically. The first half demands a tad bit trimming to suit the atmosphere of the film in totality.
With the runtime of 143 minutes, TBMAUJ is a one time watch. The beauty of the film is its ensemble cast — Dharmendra, Rakesh Bedi, Dimple Kapadia etc. but the makers had always done a fabulous job with their secondary and tertiary casting, be it in Hindi Medium or Luka Chhupi in the past.
Jahnvi Kapoor’s cameo is refreshing and is a good sign of hinting at the sequel. Also, Sifra’s rekindled love for Aaru despite being relaunched is equally intriguing. TBMAUJ is strictly an easygoing affair with no soul. The album that comprises of three groovy numbers — title track, Laal Peeli Akhiyaan, Akhiyan Gulab are quite the saviour to the not-so-engaging ride.
Shahid is a great match for a film like this and so does his performance, Kriti manages to impress especially in the second half since she has a bigger playground than the rest — courtesy producer Dinesh Vijan. The rest of the cast including Ashish Verma are bang on.
TBMAUJ is a coming of age rom-com that is flawed upto large extent but somehow bounds to sustain your imagination of a light-hearted family drama entertainer. But, what if Sifra, Roohi and Stree meet in the alternate universe? Explosion!!!
