Touted as a family outing for this Deepavali, director Abhishek Jain has cobbled up an unusual plot and competent actors, only to churn out a pretentious mess that tests your wits and patience.
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In this new version of ‘family planning’, an industrious orphan Dhruv (Rajkummar Rao) is keen to ‘adopt’ parents so that his marriage with a cutesy blogger Anya (Kriti Sanon) could materialise. The candidates (Paresh Rawal and Ratna Pathak Shah) he chooses, share an amorous past and the situation allows the sparks to fly all over again. Not entirely original, as we had recently seen a similar situation in 14 Phere, it does provide a fertile ground for a social commentary laced with comic situations. Unfortunately, the writers fumble in welding the two together, leaving the narrative disjointed. Perhaps, a few more drafts would have helped in ironing out the crimps in the social dramedy.
There is no compelling reason for the self-made man to look for fake parents, and the writers don’t care to share his journey from an orphaned child working at a Dhaba to a gutsy start-up professional. In the name of the script, there is a series of average skits, relying on the potential of the ensemble to deliver the goods.
Rawal and Shah, with their acting chops, do add vigour to the lame proceedings. In fact, after a point, one feels that the story of this garrulous man — who develops cold feet when it comes to the crunch — and the graceful widow, who has packed her past, would have made a more cogent, believable film. But the makers keep moving in circles to justify a dumb thought.
It seems when he is free from playing persuasive characters, Rajkummar Rao loves to part-time as a salesman of half-baked ideas that need to be salvaged by his acting skills. He puts in his best and his improvisations do perk up the atmosphere, but they are not enough to keep this bloated boat afloat. With little meat in the character, it seems Kriti Sannon’s brief was to bring in a bit of Bitti Mishra and Rashmi Trivedi to the sets to create Anya Mishra. If screen presence were enough, ad films would have become the benchmark for acting.
Aparshakti Khurana repeats his friend-of-the-hero part, but here the colour scheme of his turbans is more vibrant than his character.
Overall, the film is a great example of how the right ingredients don’t guarantee a wholesome meal.
Hum Do Hamare Do is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar
