Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)

The good things:

• Visuals of Mediterranean cities, cruise, sea etc - Some good performances by Anil Kapoor, Shefali, Anushka and Priyanka

What didn't work:

• Story: When you make a film about the riches, the only to way to make it resonate with the not-so-riches is by showing primal, human limitations or challenges or problems. Not by highlighting the problems which are a function of them being rich at the first place - threat to status in the society, priority to money making over family etc. We have enough of our own problems to deal with, thank you!

• Lackluster screenplay: Narrating a film like this from a dog's point of view makes it look silly from the word go. Pushing in a song in the second half when you should be having the audience gripped in attention. Less than convincing character arcs.

• Too many characters: Adding more characters just for the sake of it does not compensate for a lame script. It just puts pressure on the audience to keep a track of who's who and how they even relate to the main story.

All in all, it looks and feels like a film made by the riches for the riches, with no clue about the real problems of the world. If you have money to throw, go with family. If you have just got a bonus, go as a couple. If you are not so well off, wait for it to hit the TV screen, and watch alone, with headphones on.

Fmovies: What has happened to Bollywood. It used to be better than this. Every day I wake up with this hope that one day Bollywood would become what it used to be but I am not sure of it anymore, and I don't think that would happen in the near future. We hardly get 4-5 good movies in a year.

I am a fan of Zoya Akhtar. I loved ZNMD and was eagerly waiting for this film as she is one of the few directors in India who can make good films. First Anurag Kashyap and now Zoya Akhtar has disappointed me.

This is a crappy film. It does not know what to do with itself. There are way to many unnecessary characters and subplots. The music is awful and the lyrics are out of the world. The songs do not fit the storyline well. I won't waste my time by writing a detailed review. Stay away from this film.

How many times you watch a movie for close to 3 hours and still don't feel much exhausted. Compared to recent flicks, this movie is a little long. (170 Mins.) But if you go back to 90's era, this much length of any movie was a common sight so considering those standards (where we used to say 9 se 12 type movies), this movie is a perfect treat for family.

To begin with the technicalities I would say Zoya has got her own unique way to make a movie and knows the best possible drills to keep you entertained. Selective cinematography, witty writing and breath taking screen play has always been her USP. Reema Kagti , Farhan & Javed has once again produced one of the finest set of writing on screen and if you have been their perennial lovers, you will not be disappointed at all, rather you would fall in love with it once again!

Acting has been great and all the actors have sufficient justice. Anil Kapoor is a veteran actor and as expected has outperformed everyone. Ranveer's on screen presence is absorbing and he's indeed talented. Priyanka , Anushkha & Shefali all three actresses have performed their roles to near perfection and each one of them have only contributed to the effectiveness of the movie.

Story & editing is the only area where the film could have improved itself , specially with the fact that the most of the audience would be coming with the backdrop of 2011 overwhelming experience of ZNMD and would surely draw comparisons and thus might end up being minutely disappointed with the pace and sluggishness of the movie. But the matured audience would be able to adapt to the theme & flavor of the movie and thus will not gather much annoyance as such.

Music is not that catchy but acceptable.

To sum up, DDD is surely a movie to watch in THEATRES to relish the visual treat and cinematic masterpiece it has under-beneath it. The flaws are edible and the otherwise good parts of the movie perfectly compensate for it.

Warning: PLEASE DO NOT COMPARE IT WITH ZNMD AND DO NOT ENTER WITH SIMILAR EXPECTATIONS. YOU WOULD SURELY LOVE IT.

RATING :10/10 (Movies like these don't happen so easily, its a good one!)

Dil Dhadakne Do fmovies. Dil Dhadakne Do is a 2015 Indian family drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and co-produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Co- written by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar, Dil Dhadakne Do features a star-studded ensemble cast led by Anil Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Rahul Bose, Shefali Shah, and Farhan Akhtar. The movie revolves around an upper class Punjabi family on a cruise trip. The father, Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor), is a self-made businessman who is married to Neelam (Shefali Shah), a housewife, and the couple has two children, Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra) who is married to Manav (Rahul Bose) and Kabir (Ranveer Singh) who is a bachelor. The cruise is planned by Ayesha and Kabir to celebrate their parents' 30th marriage anniversary. However, Kamal Mehra is facing bankruptcy, and, being a shrewd businessman, he sees the cruise as an opportunity to revive credibility by selling off 49 percent of his company's stake to a powerful adversary, by hook or by crook. Soon things begin to take an ugly shape as Kamal's ambitions once again come in the way of his children's happiness.

Dil Dhadakne Do is essentially about rich people, their extravagant lives, scandalous affairs, and the problems that surround them. Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar must have had the Indian diaspora in their minds while devising the movie's script. Since independence, the Hindi cinema had been instrumental role in highlighting the issues of national importance; time and again, it played a pivotal role in eliciting a strong feeling of patriotism that kept the nation together in the times of need: be it war or natural calamities. But, it all began to change around the 1990s as the Nehruvian socialism made way for liberalization, globalization, and privatization. As the Indian economy slowly opened up, the Hindi cinema began to experience an Anglicization of sorts with the growing influence of the Indian diaspora which is best demonstrated by films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Pardes, Namastey London, etc. Bollywood started catering more and more to the English speaking Indians as oppose to the whole of India as used to be the case earlier. While some recent films have shown a change in this trend, many major production houses are still sticking to the time- tested formula of making films that cater to the Anglophonic tastes of the ever expanding urban middle-class. It can be said with absolute certainty that Dil Dhadakne Do is targeted towards the very class of audience.

Dil Dhadakne Do brings to the fore the issue of marital incompatibility between partners. It's a topic that's seldom been touched upon in Hindi films. Even the modern Indian families haven't yet fully come to terms with the important issue of gender equality. Yes, the women certainly have greater liberty but they still don't enjoy the equality that's associated with the fairer sex in the western societies. For all important matters (like marriage, family planning, work, etc.) the females must seek permission from their fathers/husbands. And then there's this childish fascination for a male heir to take forward the family legacy. Why can't a daughter assume the mantle, if she has both the interest and the qualification? It is questions like these that lie at the heart of Dil Dhadakne Do. The movie also poses some important questions about life: Why we humans despite being gifted with the power of speech fail to propagate our innermost thoughts to the ones we love? Why we spent most of our time doing things t

Preserving wealth is a lot of hard work. When a man has labored life long to project enviable luxury, it's essential that he appears to relish it with his family and flaunt it among his friends. Footing in a large bill every single day for a group he requested to come along on a scenic Mediterranean cruise to celebrate his 30th

wedding anniversary, Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) feels the pinch of keeping appearances.

A self-made billionaire, he's still in touch with his middle-class values when it comes to matters of the money. Everything else is as superficial as it gets -- be it his jaded marriage to ace cupcake- chomper Neelam (Shefali Shah), his tediously old- fashioned expectations from kids Ayesha and Kabir (Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh) or his relationship of convenience around his equally catty tycoon friends.

Zoya Akhtar's breezy outlook and aversion for melodrama are something I've constantly appreciated in all her previous films.

Her latest Dil Dhadakne Do retains this virtue whilst exploring the woes of well-heeled lifestyles without turning them into caricatures of a dysfunctional family.

Farhan Akhtar's pat dialogs contribute significantly -- they're the best takeaway from this cruise confection. As is the spot-on timing they're delivered in.

In one fine scene, Ayesha is discussing incompatibility issues in her marriage with her mother. The latter brushes it off arguing how her husband (Rahul Bose) provides her with everything she needs. And there you have it -- "Aisa tha toh phir meri mall se shaadi kar dete (If that was the case, you should have married me to a mall ?"

In another, a hysterical Kabir goes on a spontaneous spree of puke-themed jokes ranging from 'Vomatino' to 'Louis Vomiton.'

One cannot say the same about the voice-over provided by Aamir Khan for Pluto Mehra, the darling mastiff pet of the Mehras. His sagacious captioning of scenes (in Javed Akhtar's words) robs Dil Dhadakne Do of much of its delicacy and caters to Bollywood's annoying tendency to 'see, what just happened there?'

For a script that's bold enough to sail without a plot, simply as a whimsical slice of freewheeling vacation and untapped impulses, Dil Dhadakne Do is surprisingly stale in fleshing the circumstances of its protagonists.

Bickering parents, daughter trapped in a loveless marriage, son whose heart is not in running the family business, progressive ex-flame around the corner, free-spirited Londoner facilitating a long- due coming-of-age, competitive uncles and their matchmaking-obsessed wives -- all these are lamentably one-note or familiar facets from her past work.

It's an eclectic group of impressive actors led by Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Shefali Shah, making sure they own their respective parts.

Right from the moment Kapoor delivers his first punch line clad in a pair of spiffy golf pants to the final scene seizing his vivacious, winsome grin, he crackles the screen with his portrayal of a deliciously calculating Punjabi patriarch.

Alternately refined, bumbling, rascally and vulnerable, Kapoor is the life of Zoya's opulent multistarrer. Though unfairly neglected to highpoint her live-wire co-star, Shefali bites into the part of his disenchanted sounding board just as avidly as her diet in the movie.

I've always found Ranveer Singh's excessive energy to be a major deterrent but here he contains it so deftly makin

Zoya Akhtar is an unusual film maker. In all her three films, she tells stories of the urban rich Indians. People who have all the money but have something missing in their lives which makes them incomplete.

She is not interested in telling the stories of the poor or middle class which is great because every second Indian film maker is telling us a story from there. And she is no Karan Johar who also makes films about the rich but in an Ekta Kapoor style, over the top melodramatic.

DDD is the story of the Mehras. From the outside, a very successful and happy family. But through the eyes of their dog, Pluto, its one huge dysfucntional family. Their business is running huge losses. Mr & Mrs Mehra don't get along because of Mr. Mehra affairs away from home. Their daughter, Ayesha is unhappy with her marriage and their son, Kabir is a pilot and not interested in the family business.

Mehra's 30th wedding anniversary is suppose to a happy reunion of friends and family but slowly turns into a disaster as the family falls apart when the cracks begin to appear on surface.

DDD is one of the best films in recent times I've seen which talks about the Indian family system and beautiful highlights the flaws as we are now in the 21st century. Men are suppose to work and women are suppose to take care of home and give birth to babies.

As my summary says the movies is good in parts because Zoya, Reema and Farhan create some very interesting & thought provoking premises in the film such as Ayesha's fight with herself and then with her family, Ayesha and Kabir's bounding, on women empowerment and selfishness of parents. Women will love this film because there's a lot spoken about the role of women today.

Somehow while connecting the dots, the three somehow fail to make a complete good film. The film slows down at times and then there is Pluto's commentary which starts to irritate because its spoils some good moments. Javed Akhtar is great writer and I loved his poems in the ZMD. But here is comes down as plain preaching at times.

And then the climax. Its hilarious but also stupid. Yes, we all love a happy ending but climax goes a bit over the top.

However, the music is nice, not many songs and some beautiful camera work by Carlos Catalan. However, the main strong point of the film is the performances.

The cast sink their teeth beautifully because the characters are so well written. Never such wonderful characters of screen.

Anil Kapoor as Sr. Mehra is at his best. Once a successful business man now in trouble, a scheming businessman, a man who shameless flirts in front of his wife and a man who fails to see that his heir is his daughter and not is son, Kapoor is superb and gives one fine performance after a very long time.

On the other hand, Ranveer Singh who plays Kabir put another wonderful performance. His comic timing is superb and is unapologetic about his family. He is a man who knows is limits and openly admits that his sister Ayesha is a heir to their father's empire and not him. Check out the scene in the clinic. He'll leave u in shock and splits as he confronts his parents.

Shefali Shah nicely plays the suffering wife and mother of two who cannot find her own identity and in somewhere a failure.

However its Priyanka who stands out. She lives and breathes Ayesha. A successful entrepreneur, somewhere neglected by her parents and cannot meet the expectations of her husband and in laws.