Movie Review - Badrinath Ki Dulhania by Suhel Johar

Badrinath Ki Dulhania is like a roller coaster ride of fun based on a very relevant theme.  

Badrinath Ki Dulhania is the second instalment of a franchise that began with the romcom Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), which was also directed by Shashank Khaitan, produced by Karan Johar for Dharma Productions, and starred Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt in the lead roles.

Badrinath Bansal (Varun Dhawan) from Jhansi and Vaidehi Trivedi (Alia Bhatt) from Kota belong to small towns but have diametrically opposite opinions on everything. This leads to a clash of ideologies, despite both of them recognizing the goodness in each other.

The film starts off as a simple small-town romance but it seems like the director understands the current tide of films that celebrate powerful and liberated woman, so he plays out to make pertinent points about the deathly dowry system, a woman’s natural right to follow a career after marriage and the prejudice against the birth of a girl child.

Badrinath Bansal is your typical upper middle boy. Slightly outspoken but mostly lovable, he may remind you of a young Salman or Govinda of the early ‘90s Scheming, harmless, quick-witted and conventional. He belongs to a family that suffocates under his dominating father Amarnath Bansal’s (Rituraj Singh) thumb. Badrinath’s prime duty is to collect debt on behalf of his wealthy, patronising father.

His heart skips a beat in a chance encounter with Vaidehi at a wedding. She is an ambitious, career-oriented woman who’s nursing a broken heart. Once bitten, twice shy, she isn’t looking for a healing touch, especially from another suitor.

The characterisation of the Dulhania aka Vaidehi seems very self-centred and hardly evokes your empathy, initially.  She cares two hoots about ditching love-struck groom Badri at the shaadi ka mandap even if he’s coughed up loads of cash to facilitate the shaadi of her sister. However, to Khaitan’s credit, he has carved out Vaidehi’s character really fine. She speaks her mind when needed, but the social pressure is too much for her to cope with. So she decides to opt out of the game when she was supposed to take a decisive step.

Bhatt tries to make up for what the screenplay fails to bring out with her dialogues and pauses. She emerges as a confident woman who chooses respect over love. She doesn’t mince her words and says it in as many words: That love is nothing without respect.

On the other hand, Dhawan can be an adorable Simple Simon and he can be a ghastly goon beating up guys quarter-his-size when he has to recover debts on loans advanced on interest. Too eager to flash his giddiness to the world, he's constantly being reined in by his photographer friend. Badri here laughs, cries, and alternately looks marshmallow-soft and tougher than premium-quality timber. Go check out.

The narrative is pretty formulaic but conceptually the romcom is definitely very progressive. Fortunately for the viewers, in keeping with the tone of the narrative, the film never gets preachy. But you do feel that the film was a little shorter, even though in order to keep up a fast pace, the story hops locations. Jhansi to Kota to Mumbai to Singapore then back to Jhansi. So sitting through two and a half hours to find out what you already know might get a little itchy but where you enjoy watching it unfold. The cheerful vibe of the movie and Badri’s enthusiasm to win over his dulahnia do keep you seated through the proceedings.

Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt with their beautiful effortlessness of their onscreen camaraderie bring a smile on your face. Their camaraderie is visible in the songs, especially in the new-age rendition of Tamma Tamma Loge, which for a change, sounds better than the original. Their vulnerability gives Khaitan's protagonists a certain depth.  In fact, between the first instalment and the second, Badrinath Ki Dulhania can be said to be a more complete film.

Khaitan constantly promises the familiar and delivers something else. Conceptually, this film says a lot, and even slips in a line about a man being a woman's groom rather than her being his bride - delivering more powerfully with a single line of dialogue than Ki & Ka managed to do with an entire film.

Alia Bhatt starts off cutesy and a tad too affected yet is charming enough to keep things bubbling over. Alia shows off some serious talent and proves once again she is as dependable in commercial cinema as she has been in the other more ‘serious’ roles, such as the ones in Udta Punjab and Dear Zindagi.

But it is Varun Dhawan, however, who really takes this film home. His Badri is sweeter than he is roguish, and when this film calls for sincerity, he doles it out impressively. He creates a character worth caring about, and his chemistry with Bhatt is quite endearing.

The supporting cast is very solid indeed -- special praise to Sahil Vaid, Badri’s English-fearing friend, grabs his chance here and shines. Yash Sinha, Shweta Basu, Swanand Kirkire, Aakanksha Singh, Aparshakti Khurrana and Gauahar Khan are good in their respective roles. Rituraj Singh’s character though is a little irritating.

The music for the film, composed by Amaal Mallik, Tanishk Bagchi and Akhil Sachdeva, works. Cinematography by Neha Parti Matiyani is good.

On the whole, Badrinath Ki Dulhania is a VFM film which has humour and social message, and can be described as a total entertainment package.