Gori Tere Pyaar Mein!

Half of the Gori Tere Pyaar Mein!’s battle against me was already lost when I realized a couple of minutes into the movie that it has been set significantly in THE VILLAGE.  Now, now people, don’t get me wrong.  I have nothing against villages.  But I have a lot against one particular village.  For those who know me, this particular village is also known as – BENGALURU.  I call it the largest village in the world.

So it only seemed apt that the word Gaon (Village) was in the title of the movie itself. Jokes apart, with stories form Mumbai and Delhi and rural India getting stale, Bollywood has slowly but surely migrated towards the south of the country.  A trend that I see, will only get stronger by the day.  There are of course several nuances down south that can be exploited to our benefit right?

What I don’t get is, why does a B. Ed. Honours who studied under Bombay Sisters, have to show a hint of cleavage when a boy comes to meet her in an arranged marriage set up? Just some of the minor gaffes in Gori Tere Pyaar Mein! Punit Malhotra’s style of directing has changed little from I Hate Love Stories and more importantly, he hasn’t stopped those small errors that stop him from moving to “Good” from “Average”.

Vasudhan (Shraddha Kapoor) is the B.Ed. Honours I was talking about who is trying her level best to get out of an arranged marriage scenario with Sriram Venkat (Imran Khan) because she is in love with Kamaljeet Singh (Tanvir Singh).  But when doesn’t “reject” her, she tries to understand our hero’s back story.  One that moves from 19^th November 2011 to 16^th March 2012 to the current date.

Sriram is your spoilt rich boy (very few South Indian Aiyers who qualify) who has studied architecture in the US and returned.  He is outrageously flirtatious and listens to his family jewels more than anything else.  Enough to skip an aunt’s funeral. He cannot speak a word of Tamil and is the Kaala Thhabba (Black Mark) on the family.  But on the said former date, lightning strikes first in the form of Diya Sharma (Kareena Kapoor).

Sriram’s inability to keep it in his pants gets him insulted and thrown out of a wedding.  The victim? No points for guessing.  On the said 2^nd date, lighting strikes again but this time apparently the said victim has had a change of heart and wants to be friends.  Apparently 4 odd months change you from a kid to a grown up.  One more to add to the gaffes galore.

Anyways, eventually a love story develops and breaks off because of a screw up @ Sriram’s end (now why don’t I find that surprising) and Diya leaves? Where does she go? To a remote village on the Gujarat MP border called Jhimli.  To get there, you have to use 4 methods of transportation.  Our hero sets off on the unenviable task of winning his love back.

Attention to detail sorely missing in this one.  Kareena is always shown with superb make up and ironed hair so much that at times she looks more dressed up as a village belle as compared to when she is at a wedding.  Imran Khan has improved his expression list from 1.5 to 2 and to me is the casting debacle of the year.  Even a half baked Abhay Deol from Shanghai would have done a better job.

The music is worth listening to but not something that you will remember for eternity.  At the end of it all, the story keeps the movie alive.  Some interesting moments also like when Diya and Sriram break up, all she says is, “My flight is at 8, pick me up at 6”.  A simple moment that epitomizes a lot that we see in people these days.

20-30 minutes could have been cut but to Malhotra’s credit he keeps the story moving and it rarely loses pace.  Overall, worth a dekko I say but not on the big screen.  Wait for Television premiere which I believe will be around the New Year.  5 on 10.  And yes, you can shoot me for this, for the 3^rd time I thought, Kareena acted well.  Controlled, restrained – something that I think she should do more often.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg-t4Wsa6LU