Film: Baar Baar Dekho
Starring: Katrina Kaif, Sidharth Malhotra, Sarika, Ram Kapoor, Rajit Kapoor and Sayani Gupta
Directed by: Nitya Mehra
What it's about:
Jai (Sidharth Malhotra) and Diya (Katrina Kaif) are childhood friends who grow up together; it's a given that they would end up together. Except that when the time comes, Jai chickens out. The night before his wedding, he feels suffocated by all the celebrations around, panics about his future, career, and the thought of being tied down. He breaks it off with Diya. The next morning he wakes up 10 days in the future on his honeymoon. He is lost and confused but it keeps happening. With each passing day, he moves ahead in the future by a number of years. He gets up in his later years and sees the terrible things that await him ahead in life. And it's all his own doing. Now he realizes that if he has to fix his future, he has to correct his present first. Jai, a math teacher, has to solve this one on his own.
What's good:
The plot is intriguing and unique. Time travel is not a concept ever attempted in Hindi cinema, leave alone in a romantic film. There is an easy chemistry between the lead couple and both Katrina and Sidharth manage to maintain sincerity in spite of the absurdity of their characters. The soundtrack is good, even though it pops up at inappropriate times.
What's not:
The problem with Baar Baar Dekho is that the story is frustrating and inane. And despite the fact that Hindi movie audiences are known to accept the most bizarre plots (like Rab Ne Bana De Jodi where a woman can't recognize her husband without glass and a moustache), this one is just not believable. What causes the time travel? Is it the thread? The pandit? Is it all a dream? You will be left grappling with these questions till half the film is over. All that going in the future, then past, then future again before finally coming back to the present makes BBD a repetitive bore. Director Nitya Mehra has put her focus on all the things inconsequential (futuristic gadgets, styling, time travel). The very simple and important idea of the story - cherish the ones you love - is lost in translation. Was the time travel gimmick really needed to relate a very simple message?
What to do:
It's an undercooked time travel tale. Ek baar dekhna is tough enough.
Rating: ** (Two stars)
