Hum Do Hamare Do On Disney Plus Hotstar is a Vapid and Unoriginal Social Comedy – FilmyVoice
Directed by: Abhishek Jain
Author: Abhishek Jain, Prashant Jha, Deepak Venkateshan
Solid: Kriti Sanon, Rajkummar Rao, Paresh Rawal, Aparshakti Khurana, Ratna Pathak Shah, Manu Rishi Chadha, Prachi Shah
Cinematography: Amalendu Chaudhary
Edited by: Dev Rao Jadhav
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
I believed 14 Phere – a 2021 caste-based dramedy that includes a classy live-in couple who rent pretend units of oldsters to trick one another’s regressive households into a marriage every – was a tonal mess of a film. However Hum Do Hamare Do – a 2021 social dramedy that includes a classy orphan who hires pretend dad and mom to trick his orphaned girlfriend into believing he’s sanskaari like that – is a tone-deaf mess of a film. Vikrant Massey and Kriti Kharbanda star in a single, whereas Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon star within the different. Nevertheless it’s inconceivable to inform the distinction. It’s one large shared universe of individuals pretending to be folks they’re not, and previous folks processing emoticons and Whatsapp lingo. If I look again ten years later, I would erroneously recall Ayushmann Khurrana in each. (Brother Aparshakti performs the very best buddy in one of many two; I already can’t bear in mind the place). You get the gist. This style is well beyond its saturation level. All of it merges to type a single cookiecutter-North-Indian blob of cross-cultural set items. Actually, the family-for-hire trope has gone up to now that it’s solely a matter of time earlier than Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters screams: Am I a joke to you? (To which We’re The Millers replies: Sure).
We’ve reached a stage in Hindi movie discourse the place if a film is dated and formulaic, baffled viewers like myself are inclined to surprise if it’s maybe a deliberate ode to old-school Bollywood pulp. However I’ve no such conflicts about Hum Do Hamare Do, which is gratingly fundamental on many ranges. Someplace inside, there’s a pleasant story concerning the core concept of household and familyhood – however it’s buried so deep that not even the drilling staff from Armageddon can attain it. I don’t thoughts the unlikely premise…really wait, I do. Boy meets lady at a elaborate occasion, he’s impolite, however the two fairly Chandigarh natives stumble upon one another twice extra as a result of this can be a film. She notices him educating street-kids on the footpath (‘70s Bollywood possibly? No? Okay) and all is forgiven. Unnecessary to say, montages happen to save lots of these characters the difficulty of talking, feeling or conversing – or every time time is at risk of passing.
Hero Dhruv (Rao), a rags-to-riches orphan who usually recollects his days as a helper at a freeway dhaba, is rattled when girl love Anya declares that her dad and mom died in a cinema corridor (I’m wondering which movie) – and that she goals of marrying a person with a great household and a canine. It’s the politically appropriate equal of rising up poor and desirous to marry a rich prince. For some purpose, her sob story makes Dhruv conjure his circle of relatives out of skinny air to impress her uncle and aunt – a call that’s handed off as humorous however can also be borderline serial-killer-ish. I say this as a result of each time Dhruv spots a household in a public area, he stares at them emptily and a sad-violin rating emerges. When he does persuade an previous couple – who’ve some sad-violin historical past of their very own – to be his makeshift dad and mom, it feels just like the makers are relentlessly milking 4 damaged souls who want remedy. The previous man (Paresh Rawal) and girl (Ratna Pathak Shah) had been as soon as in love, however now he’s a lonely alcoholic and she or he’s a widow with an estranged son. But, the movie turns his pining right into a flimsy comedic machine – symbolized by a scene the place he will get drunk and makes a scene at a restaurant.
That they start to consider Dhruv as their actual son makes for a strong psychological drama, however the writing merely goes with it, with out as soon as probing the delusions of everybody concerned. I’m satisfied that the actual movie ought to have been about these two – positive actors, poignant characters – however they’re lowered to narrative pawns within the lives of twisted orphans. When their battle is resolved, the movie strikes onto the ‘important’ battle. We all know Anya and her household will be taught of Dhruv’s lies in probably the most dramatic style. Sue me if I’m mistaken, however the echoes of Dil Toh Pagal Hai – from Anya’s noble uncle-aunt upbringing to a climax that includes the reality being ‘broadcast’ on a public stage – are unmistakable. Glad track after unhappy track, the movie appears to be going by the motions, extra targeted on following bullet-point buildings than being trustworthy about its themes. The performances barely matter, which isn’t one thing I imagined writing for a Rajkummar Rao movie again in 2017.
Even when one had been to just accept the silliness of all of it, we have to discuss the best way trendy Hindi movies depict new-age professions. Dhruv is the Bollywood model of a Silicon Valley whizzkid – the inventor of a Digital Actuality app known as “Jaadugar”. So he confesses his like to her by exhibiting up in a VR video of her late dad and mom’ marriage ceremony – a superbly creepy proposal that may have been a purple flag to any lady on this planet besides Anya. At one level, his app is just not promoting, so he comes up with the questionable brainwave of restructuring it to assist households take unique holidays from their residing rooms. “That method, no one must journey once more,” he exclaims, like a person who genuinely believes he’s making the world a greater place. The writing is so determined to attach his occupation to the movie’s theme that this is what it comes up with.
Anya, alternatively, is a contract blogger who has 1.6 million Instagram followers for the heck of it. Her introduction apart, we by no means hear of her job once more. She isn’t seen staging images, endorsing merchandise or running a blog. Worse, her alleged fame has completely no bearing on the result or dressing of the plot. This tokenistic nod to the web technology is an issue that extends past by-product films like Hum Do Hamare Do. It’s seemingly the least of its points, although I saved hoping in opposition to hope for the movie to change genres and reveal that all the expertise was a brand new VR demo all alongside. Perhaps Dhruv was solely testing his sociopathic concept on Anya earlier than executing it. Title: Black Mirror – it’s all about duping your loved ones.
