Genre : Romance
Year : 2010
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Maneesh Sharma
Cast : Anushka Sharma, Ranveer Singh
Kid rating : PG-13
BAND BAAJA BAARAT : A CHARMER OF A ROMANCE !
Finally ! A film from YashRaj which displays the heart that made YR succesfull ! Written and directed by Maneesh Sharma, starring newcomer Ranveer Singh, and 2-films-old Anushka Sharma, BBB is an almost believable Delhi based love-story.
Bittoo Sharma (Singh) is our lovable lafanga .i.e.; he who does not study (as he is supposed to, being a student), work or have any plans to. He is content to fritter away time and the family money, until things come to a head; his father turns up to cart him away to the family sugarcane business in Saharanpur. Unwilling to leave the bright city lights, Bittoo in desperation concocts up an imaginary business partnership, with Shruti Kakkad, a girl whom he has met just once before.
Bittu’s father leaves in a huff, but Bittoo realizes that it is in his interest to turn the “imaginary” partnership into a real one. But therein lies the problem. Ambitious Shruti is intent on setting up her own wedding planning business. Shrewd and vociferous, she is the no-nonsense kinds. The kinds that dismiss lazy loafers like Bittoo, right off the bat.
Will Bittoo be able to convince her of his sincerity ?
That’s the bare bones folks. Of course you know that they will meet, and complications will arise. The story itself is OK, not outstanding, but is sketched out so well, that it makes for an interesting film. Habib Faisal, director of “Do dooni char” writes the screenplay and dialogues, because of which this film glides along smoothly, carrying with it the sounds of sights of Delhi. The realistic sounding dialogues have subtle humor and feature a lot of the vernacular Hindi and Punjabi prevalent in Delhi-speak; words like “syapa” (trouble), “dhinchak” (loud/blingy), “kaand”(trouble/scandal) and others make an appearance.
Ranveer Singh, debuting in this film, is fabulous. He looks like a rustic version of Ranbir Kapoor, but emotes, dances and delivers his dialogues far better. I can’t quite see him in the urbane, city-boy type of role, but as unsophisticated Bittoo Sharma he is just perfect. You can’t quite help but root for him. And Anushka Sharma finally comes into her own as an actress, displaying to great advantage her till-now-hidden acting chops. As the middle-class rebel Shruti, teetering between her own ambitions and her family’s wishes for her to settle down, Sharma is wonderful and gives her character depth and spirit.
This movie also features some strong actors in supporting roles – there’s Shruti’s understanding Mom (Nirupama Verma), the flower supplier Maqsood (Neeraj Sood) and the caterer Rajender (Manmeet Singh). This film is shot in Delhi, and is full of its color, life and gaiety. BBB features some very energetic song-and-dance numbers, like “Ainvayi Ainvayi”, situated where else but at The Great Indian Wedding, and some light love ballads like “Aadha Ishq”. In short BBB is great good fun. One of the best Hindi films of the year, I highly recommend this one.
Kidwise : YashRaj films generally are a G-rating, since they are clean and free of innuendoes/cheap vulgarity. Even when they do get amorous, the scenes are so tepid, timorous and short that YR movies are pretty kid-safe. Not so this one. BBB is 90% kid-safe. However smack dab in the middle of the film is an intense kissy-kissy, love-making scene which goes on for a good 5-6 minutes, vaulting this movie right into the PG-13 zone.There’s some smooching towards the end of the film also, so be prepared if you’re taking kids along.
