Finally! I know. I know.
On Sunday, I tweeted that I saw Dil Bole Hadippa in the theater and would blog about it.
It was really a last minute decision. Earlier that day, my friend and I headed to the Festival of Lights event. Afterwards, we went out to The Palace to eat some yummy Indian food. My friend's favorite Bollywood hottie is Shahid Kapur. Since the theater is next to the restaurant, I suggested for us to watch Dil Bole Hadippa. And that's what we did.
When we arrived at the theater, the movie wouldn't start until one more hour. We waited anyways. To kill time, we just chatted and looked at all the posters of the upcoming films. Fifteen minutes before the film started, we were allowed to go sit and wait.
Since Dil Bole Hadippa released several weeks ago on September 18th, we knew there wouldn't be a big crowd. And we were right. However, there were more people in the theater than I thought, probably around 30 people.
Some critics bashed Dil Bole Hadippa for copying Hollywood's movie, She's The Man. First of all, I absolutely loooooved She's The Man. It has Channing Tatum, one of my Hollywood hotties.
But I didn't want to just rely on what people said. I mean come on, I've watched "remakes" before and enjoyed the Bollywood verion more - ahem, Awarapan basically took the plot of the Korean movie, A Bittersweet Life, but I loved Awarapan more.
Dil Bole Hadippa means "heart says hurray," something like that, from what I got from the subtitles. Veera (Rani Mukherjee) lives and breathe cricket, worships Sachin Tendulkar, and is best player in her village. But she's a girl!! Only guys are permitted to play. What must she do? She ends up dressing up like a guy, Veer, in order to play on Rohan's (Shahid Kapur) team.
It is Rani's film all the way!!!!! Welcome back. Not saying she ever left but in the past few years, Rani's choices in films did not due justice to her. She slimmed down and toned her body and is looking even better than ever. I always thought Rani was a good actress but she has just confirmed why she is one of the best.
In a way, Rani had a double role to me because she had to pretend to be another person. Veer and Veera, how funny is that. I thought that was funny since they weren't twins. I guess some parents would name their kids with similar names.
You know, Rani is gorgeous but dressed up like a man, she is not attractive. My friend asked me who that guy was on the poster, I laughed and told her that was Rani dressed up. How funny is that?
My biggest problem with Veera playing cricket in she wore so much jewelry. I know she had to be beautified and show that she's a gorgeous girl. I'm okay with her outfit (okay, not really) and makeup, but too much jewelry!! Lots of bangles, big hoop earrings? Come on. I'm a volleyball player, I want to look cute sometimes. However, my outfits would still be athletic-looking but I would not wear any jewelry. As much as she loved the sport, she didn't have the look. That was just my nitpik. To me, she did have too much eyeliner but I had to let that sly because I know a few girl who plays volleyball and would always have lots of makeup.
Shahid is cute guy. He always looked so young. Funny to say that since the recent actors that I've been crushing on are young - Allu Arjun, Kunal Khemu, Ram, Sherwanand... I never thought about Shahid as hot until this film. Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness. Besides John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan, Shahid pulls off the long-haired look very well. I'm not exactly crushing on Shahid yet, but he is looking HOT!!
Acting-wise, any other actor could have played is role. Okay, maybe not any actor. Playing Rohan just didn't add on to Shahid's resume. But it did add on to the hotness factor. Shahid showed off his muscular body a few times and flirted with the camera a few times. He had more chemistry with the camera than with Rani, hahaha.
I'm not saying that Shahid and Rani were not a good jodi. I think they worked well, better than I would have though, but I think he loved smiling and winking at the camera more :)
Really liked the older woman, younger man approach. Even though it was not emphasize, but I was happy to see this. Since Bips has played the older woman in Bachna Ae Haseeno and Aa Dekha Zara, even most recently with Konkona with Wake Up Sid, I was happy to see that Bollywood is opening up to letting the actresses take that angle. Much better than seeing 40-years-old men romancing 18-years-old.
It saddens me that many actresses after marriage take a long hiatus from films. Many also stop playing the lead heroine and play the sister, aunt, or even mother! I remember Rakhee playing Amitabh's mother but she was seen romancing him in another film! Just not right.
Would like to see Bollywood have more films focus on females. I blogged about it when I did my wish film on 27 Dresses. One step at a time, I know.
Loved the Veer and Rohan's comical scenes, especially the cricket training parts.
The supporting cast for Dil Bole Hadippa was good too. Everyone but Sherlyn Chopra. She was just there mainly for skin show. The girl is not even pretty and looks like a waterdowned Priyanka Chopra (I don't think they are related though) She is too skinny and tries too hard. I'm not impress with her at all. Well, I know her role, Sonia, didn't have much scope though. Chasing Rohan around with little clothing flaunting her chicken legs.
Rakhi was a delight to see. She's a good dancer and has a nice figure. I'm not a fan of hers or anything but I do think she takes a lot of flak for her plastic surgery. Her character brought a bit of humor with dancing in similar clothing and songs to "Kajra Re" - Bunty Aur Bunti & "Crazy Kiya Re" - Dhoom 2.
Oh yeah! Poonam Dhillon!!!! I was so excited to see her! When I saw her name on the credit, I couldn't wait to see her. She's still as beautiful as ever. I wish I was able to find a movie still of her but wasn't able to. Her role was short but sweet. She played, Yamini, the mother of Rohan.
Let's not forget the two friendemies
India's cricket manager - Vicky (Anupam Kher) & Pakistan's cricket manager - Lucky (Dilip Tahil)
Vicky is Rohan's father and lives in India. He is separated from his wife, Yamini, and son Rohan. They live in England. His dream is to finally win a cricket match. Ironically, Rohan is one of the best cricket players in England. Vicky tricks Rohan to fly to India and be the captain of his cricket team.
What I liked about the India-Pakistan rivalry is it's just for fun, in a competitor way. There is no bashing on culture. When playing in a sport, there is always competition and a bit of cockiness from the team that always wins.
I absolutely love the film references. It seems like now in almost every Yaj Raj Production, there is some kind of reference, from Maine Pyar Kiya to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to Hum Aapke Hain Kaun to Veer Zara to Dhoom 2 to Jab We Met. Forget the million guest star appearances.
Overall, a good-fell film. It's not "mind blowing" but definitely worth a watch. Rani fans, you will not be disappointed! Shahid fans, extra yummy eye candy. Non Shahid fans, you will be impress with how hot he looks.
