'2 states', a movie inspired by novelist Chetan bhagat's life is a one time watch, especially for a time pass audience.The story about a south Indian girl falling in love with a Punjabi boy, takes you for a ride between Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. The movie lacks any kind of improvisation and leaves you disappointed, as always in the case of a book/novel made into a movie.
The movie is about the usual 2 people falling in love, but of different states and communities with some humor thrown in. Don't expect anything new ,as we already have seen the all time classics on similar themes like 'Ek duje ke liye' and 'Bombay' which were made by ace directors like
K.Balachander and Maniratnam. You can nowhere expect to see something of that stature from this movie.
Certain aspects are exaggerated when it comes to a south Indian culture(as always done).I don't feel girls down south(no offense to north girls..)are so outward and easy going as Alia has made to portray the character of 'Ananya Swaminathan'. Drinking beer, eating chicken, barging into a boy's hostels room with condoms!!! I feel its a little too much to digest (at least for me....)
Revathi's singing at the concert, or shall I say rather her getting an opportunity to sing on the stage looks rather silly, in comparison with the other great legends supposed to be in the same concert(which is not shown).There are scenes shown earlier where she gets rejected by many teachers for not following the basics of music.
And Alia's interaction with her parents is very little, be it 1-2 dialogues with her parents, and hardly any conversation with the little guy who has acted as her brother, which comes as a shocker where in fact girls are so attached to their mothers in south India(or anywhere else too).So as a tamilian also you hardly hear her speaking or even see her lip sync to Tamil dialogues.
Alia's attempt/dialogues to convince the obese groom in the Punjabi wedding against taking dowry seems very lame. And her dressing in a silk paavadai for a Punjabi wedding, when she is seen wearing Punjabi dresses throughout the movie also looks silly. I don't think anyone in south India will wear sarees /paavadai the way she is seen wearing with half her cleavage shown:-)They could have draped her in a saree in a more normal and elegant way.
Coming to Arjun kapoor's end, Ronit Roy being a drunkard father has acted well, but the story feels incomplete of what was the reason for his behavior, be it breaking glasses in every other scene, shouting on top of his nerves on his wife Amritha Singh whom he actually loved and married.
The whole logic goes catapult when it is shown as if Amritha Singh was the culprit all the way, when he goes and convinces the girl's parents(no scene shot for the same),where as she will be the one with her son throughout supporting him.
The first half of the movie goes fast with frequent songs and romance stuff, the second half is really slow and makes the viewer uneasy at times. As for the performances, Alia Bhatt is doing a good job as a newcomer to the industry, certainly way better than her half-sister Pooja Bhatt who was more plastic in her expressions. Still she has a long way to go to prove herself in the school of acting, though I know MOST of the men don't bother about performances of heroines, and they would rather ogle at them all the way.
However, I must mention that she is been excellently styled by Manish Malhotra in a fusion of a traditional and modern designs.
I would rather have opted for a heroine with a certain southern streak rather than Alia. Might be Trisha, shriya,or even Asin, Kareena would have suited better and done a better job.
Arjun Kapoor whom I was not expecting much, rather surprised me with his calm, controlled and mellow performance. He definitely has a bright future in Bollywood depending
on the roles he chooses.
A fine artiste like Revathi has been wasted, though she effortlessly makes her presence felt just by her amazing expressions.
Amritha Singh, has delivered a good performance as a Punjabi mother though she looks confused at times on whom she needs to support the way story is woven at the end.
Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is catchy with Benny Dayal crooning at his usual best for locahe-ulfat. Though hummable, songs will not last in memory for a long time,
unless heard in a loop on your phones or T.V.
People who have not read the novel might enjoy it more than the ones who have, as there is nothing new for the latter audience here. because, a book way of story telling always leaves the story and the characters to be imagined by the reader who travels along with the story into a whole new world of
the story itself. Being in there as an invisible source and watching the other characters perform, finally gives a feel of completeness after the read to the reader.
It takes a lot creativity to make a novel into a movie which conveys the same story but in a different angle and more surprises thrown in. For eg:Raju hirani created a
master piece with 3 idiots though inspired from the novel '5 point someone' which made people forget the novel and carved a remarkable niche for itself in audience's heart.
but as a director of this movie, Mr.Abhishek Varman has literally made no much efforts in making any changes and has retained every character, dialogue, situations cut-to-cut from the book which is disappointing.
For people who have not seen it and comprehending whether to watch it or not, better buy and read the book, maybe you will save on the extra bucks on the multiplex tickets, popcorn and coke. And if you can wait for a month or so, you can watch it on your idiot box.
Overall could have been much much better...!!!For me , '2 states' fails to make a STATEment ..
The movie is about the usual 2 people falling in love, but of different states and communities with some humor thrown in. Don't expect anything new ,as we already have seen the all time classics on similar themes like 'Ek duje ke liye' and 'Bombay' which were made by ace directors like
K.Balachander and Maniratnam. You can nowhere expect to see something of that stature from this movie.
Certain aspects are exaggerated when it comes to a south Indian culture(as always done).I don't feel girls down south(no offense to north girls..)are so outward and easy going as Alia has made to portray the character of 'Ananya Swaminathan'. Drinking beer, eating chicken, barging into a boy's hostels room with condoms!!! I feel its a little too much to digest (at least for me....)
Revathi's singing at the concert, or shall I say rather her getting an opportunity to sing on the stage looks rather silly, in comparison with the other great legends supposed to be in the same concert(which is not shown).There are scenes shown earlier where she gets rejected by many teachers for not following the basics of music.
And Alia's interaction with her parents is very little, be it 1-2 dialogues with her parents, and hardly any conversation with the little guy who has acted as her brother, which comes as a shocker where in fact girls are so attached to their mothers in south India(or anywhere else too).So as a tamilian also you hardly hear her speaking or even see her lip sync to Tamil dialogues.
Alia's attempt/dialogues to convince the obese groom in the Punjabi wedding against taking dowry seems very lame. And her dressing in a silk paavadai for a Punjabi wedding, when she is seen wearing Punjabi dresses throughout the movie also looks silly. I don't think anyone in south India will wear sarees /paavadai the way she is seen wearing with half her cleavage shown:-)They could have draped her in a saree in a more normal and elegant way.
Coming to Arjun kapoor's end, Ronit Roy being a drunkard father has acted well, but the story feels incomplete of what was the reason for his behavior, be it breaking glasses in every other scene, shouting on top of his nerves on his wife Amritha Singh whom he actually loved and married.
The whole logic goes catapult when it is shown as if Amritha Singh was the culprit all the way, when he goes and convinces the girl's parents(no scene shot for the same),where as she will be the one with her son throughout supporting him.
The first half of the movie goes fast with frequent songs and romance stuff, the second half is really slow and makes the viewer uneasy at times. As for the performances, Alia Bhatt is doing a good job as a newcomer to the industry, certainly way better than her half-sister Pooja Bhatt who was more plastic in her expressions. Still she has a long way to go to prove herself in the school of acting, though I know MOST of the men don't bother about performances of heroines, and they would rather ogle at them all the way.
However, I must mention that she is been excellently styled by Manish Malhotra in a fusion of a traditional and modern designs.
I would rather have opted for a heroine with a certain southern streak rather than Alia. Might be Trisha, shriya,or even Asin, Kareena would have suited better and done a better job.
Arjun Kapoor whom I was not expecting much, rather surprised me with his calm, controlled and mellow performance. He definitely has a bright future in Bollywood depending
on the roles he chooses.
A fine artiste like Revathi has been wasted, though she effortlessly makes her presence felt just by her amazing expressions.
Amritha Singh, has delivered a good performance as a Punjabi mother though she looks confused at times on whom she needs to support the way story is woven at the end.
Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is catchy with Benny Dayal crooning at his usual best for locahe-ulfat. Though hummable, songs will not last in memory for a long time,
unless heard in a loop on your phones or T.V.
People who have not read the novel might enjoy it more than the ones who have, as there is nothing new for the latter audience here. because, a book way of story telling always leaves the story and the characters to be imagined by the reader who travels along with the story into a whole new world of
the story itself. Being in there as an invisible source and watching the other characters perform, finally gives a feel of completeness after the read to the reader.
It takes a lot creativity to make a novel into a movie which conveys the same story but in a different angle and more surprises thrown in. For eg:Raju hirani created a
master piece with 3 idiots though inspired from the novel '5 point someone' which made people forget the novel and carved a remarkable niche for itself in audience's heart.
but as a director of this movie, Mr.Abhishek Varman has literally made no much efforts in making any changes and has retained every character, dialogue, situations cut-to-cut from the book which is disappointing.
For people who have not seen it and comprehending whether to watch it or not, better buy and read the book, maybe you will save on the extra bucks on the multiplex tickets, popcorn and coke. And if you can wait for a month or so, you can watch it on your idiot box.
Overall could have been much much better...!!!For me , '2 states' fails to make a STATEment ..
