The movie adaptation of 2 States reiterates why Chetan Bhagat is so successful. His books are like the first draft of screenplays — with a lot of stuff that can be edited out and rewritten — the reason why he is among the most criticised author of our times.
But then, his books also tell us stories of a middle class India and its values — a country on the cusp of change and dealing with it in a way we can relate to — the reason why he is among the most popular storytellers of our times.
Like
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Chetan Bhagat was a product of those times and that showed in
And to ensure no fragile egos are hurt, at least a couple of references from the book have been left out. How can a line like “From Hema Malini to Sridevi, all of them trying to catch Punjabi men” make it to a film starring Sridevi’s stepson, anyway?
With details omitted for pace, some for period and some to play safe,
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
We know Chetan Bhagat’s stories clean up well for the screen and they do here as well, especially with this exciting fresh cast. While Arjun Kapoor lets his glasses take on the burden of looking the part, Alia Bhatt more than makes up for her Tamil pronunciation with her presence and spunk. She has a tremendous range; she’s Bollywood’s Carey Mulligan — a picture of vulnerability, great beauty and the promise of youth.
Veterans Amrita Singh, Revathy, Ronit Roy and Shiv Kumar Subramaniam have meaty author-backed roles to play and they make the most of it, giving the performances the right amount of restraint. Exactly what a film about stereotypes needed.
Otherwise, every other line from the book finds its way into the film, literally translated rather than improved and there has been absolutely no effort to stray from the author’s words.
Which puts this in the safe zone. It is a pretty decent translation that will work for fans of the book and those who haven’t read it but given the potential of the material, it falls a little short.
Director Abhishek Varman fails to milk it for impact. A Rajkumar Hirani or a Karan Johar at the helm would have made you reach for your hankies, but Varman is just happy to make fans of the book smile.
Genre : Romance
Director : Abhishek Varman
Cast : Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh, Revathy, Ronit Roy and Shiv Subramaniam
Storyline : A Punjabi boy and a TamBram girl need to convince their families to get married
Bottomline : A faithful translation of the book where the director is invisible