Movie: 'Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge';
Star Cast: Saqib Saleem, Saba Azad, Tara D'Souza, Nishant Dahiya and Prabal Panjabi; Director: Nupur Aastana;
After Luv Ka The End, Y-Films’s another film is off-beat, yet enjoyable comes along. And for a first timer on the big screen, director Nupur Asthana, with a formula that combines some very humorous writing with some deliberately fresh faces, hits it out of the park with Y-Films' Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge.
Asthana brings the same sort of youth appeal to Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, as she did to her TV series, backing up Pooja Desai and Ashish Patil's story with relevant characterisations and drawing pleasant performances from her actors. Desai and Patil, along with Anvita Dutt Gupta deserve kudos for crafting a narrative and screenplay that, though not actually path-breaking, does have a refreshing one.
Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge depicts a college romance, a rom-com, full of cross connections. The lead players here are the humorous Vishal, a writer, and the sort of shrewish Preity, a photographer with an aversion to boys, having been burnt in love before. Vishal's best mate is Rahul, the college rockstar, who Preity has the hots for, while Preity's best friend is the bubbly Malvika, an aspiring fashion designer, who Vishal lusts after. Their paths cross when Vishal contacts Malvika on a social networking site, pretending to be Rahul, only to have Preity respond pretending to be Malvika. And so begins a twisted romance, as the duo woo each other pretending to be someone else on the whole. In between, as two try to keep up their pretence by getting Rahul and Malvika involved in the charade as well, Vishal and Preity find a connection developing between themselves too. The bewilderment is eventually resolved in a rather expected way, though the story is crafted well enough for one to keep enjoying it till the end.
The strength of Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge comes from its core characterizations, none of which seem to be strident or unrealistic. The slow burning romance between Vishal and Preity that begins with the two being unable to stand each other, only for them to eventually start connecting develops very naturally, without being forced. It's also nice to see a movie come along, once in a while, with no negative or even grey characters, for that matter. The way Rahul and Malvika support their friends along, is quite appealing.
The movie also deserves praise for the sort of humor it espouses. Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge is possibly the first proper teen comedy to come out of Bollywood, and it's nice to see it not delve into gross-out jokes or puerile humor. In that, the writing stays edgy enough to pull the laughs in without overt effort. Vishal and his friend Hacky with their shayaris and hijinks keep the comedy coming through out.
The only point where the writing takes a bit of a dip, is in the climactic moments of the movie, where the final disclose is brought in a bit too quickly and handled without force. The confrontation and resolution between Vishal and Preity is happened a bit too easily for it to sink in, and seems to be a rather hurried work.
Though she's working with rank newcomers, Nupur manages to draw great performances from all her actors. Saqib Saleem, as Vishal, is the star of this set, putting in a great act as Vishal, completely witty and pleasant throughout. The actor has great looks about him too, and could turn into the next big thing if positioned right. Speaking of looks, the female lead, Saba Azad, as Preity, is quite a find too, delivering a solid performance in her role, starting off slow, but picking up the pep as the film goes along, playing impish and commanding with equal confidence.
Nishant Dahiya is rightly cast in the rockstar mould as Rahul, with his looks and demeanor, though he has lesser screen time and few punch lines to deliver, compared to Saqib. Tara D'Souza, who was last seen in another YRF venture, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, finds a meatier role as Malvika, and dives into it. She plays her role as the dear friend well, and it is certainly nice to follow a storyline where the hot girl in class doesn't happen to be a vamp.
However, the one person apart from Saqib andSaba who truly earns praise is actor Prabal Panjabi, who is superbly whacky and crazy as Vishal's buddy Hacky. Prabal lights up the screen with his comedy every time he's on screen and makes the most of his scenes here.
Apart from the humor and the performances, the film's other big strength is the music, delivered by Raghu Dixit. The Southie indie star puts together an excellent set of tunes for the movie, with not a note out of order. The film's title track, dheaon dheaon, is pure, unadulterated fun, while Dixit's old classic from his concert performances, har saans mein, is used fabulously in the film's outro.
On the whole, Nupur Asthana's directorial debut, Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, is a comedy that is lifted beyond the routine by a variety of factors. For actors like Saqib andSaba , for Dixit's music, and for some real fun, Y-Films' newest creation is a must watch.
Asthana brings the same sort of youth appeal to Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, as she did to her TV series, backing up Pooja Desai and Ashish Patil's story with relevant characterisations and drawing pleasant performances from her actors. Desai and Patil, along with Anvita Dutt Gupta deserve kudos for crafting a narrative and screenplay that, though not actually path-breaking, does have a refreshing one.
Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge depicts a college romance, a rom-com, full of cross connections. The lead players here are the humorous Vishal, a writer, and the sort of shrewish Preity, a photographer with an aversion to boys, having been burnt in love before. Vishal's best mate is Rahul, the college rockstar, who Preity has the hots for, while Preity's best friend is the bubbly Malvika, an aspiring fashion designer, who Vishal lusts after. Their paths cross when Vishal contacts Malvika on a social networking site, pretending to be Rahul, only to have Preity respond pretending to be Malvika. And so begins a twisted romance, as the duo woo each other pretending to be someone else on the whole. In between, as two try to keep up their pretence by getting Rahul and Malvika involved in the charade as well, Vishal and Preity find a connection developing between themselves too. The bewilderment is eventually resolved in a rather expected way, though the story is crafted well enough for one to keep enjoying it till the end.
The strength of Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge comes from its core characterizations, none of which seem to be strident or unrealistic. The slow burning romance between Vishal and Preity that begins with the two being unable to stand each other, only for them to eventually start connecting develops very naturally, without being forced. It's also nice to see a movie come along, once in a while, with no negative or even grey characters, for that matter. The way Rahul and Malvika support their friends along, is quite appealing.
The movie also deserves praise for the sort of humor it espouses. Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge is possibly the first proper teen comedy to come out of Bollywood, and it's nice to see it not delve into gross-out jokes or puerile humor. In that, the writing stays edgy enough to pull the laughs in without overt effort. Vishal and his friend Hacky with their shayaris and hijinks keep the comedy coming through out.
The only point where the writing takes a bit of a dip, is in the climactic moments of the movie, where the final disclose is brought in a bit too quickly and handled without force. The confrontation and resolution between Vishal and Preity is happened a bit too easily for it to sink in, and seems to be a rather hurried work.
Though she's working with rank newcomers, Nupur manages to draw great performances from all her actors. Saqib Saleem, as Vishal, is the star of this set, putting in a great act as Vishal, completely witty and pleasant throughout. The actor has great looks about him too, and could turn into the next big thing if positioned right. Speaking of looks, the female lead, Saba Azad, as Preity, is quite a find too, delivering a solid performance in her role, starting off slow, but picking up the pep as the film goes along, playing impish and commanding with equal confidence.
Nishant Dahiya is rightly cast in the rockstar mould as Rahul, with his looks and demeanor, though he has lesser screen time and few punch lines to deliver, compared to Saqib. Tara D'Souza, who was last seen in another YRF venture, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, finds a meatier role as Malvika, and dives into it. She plays her role as the dear friend well, and it is certainly nice to follow a storyline where the hot girl in class doesn't happen to be a vamp.
However, the one person apart from Saqib and
Apart from the humor and the performances, the film's other big strength is the music, delivered by Raghu Dixit. The Southie indie star puts together an excellent set of tunes for the movie, with not a note out of order. The film's title track, dheaon dheaon, is pure, unadulterated fun, while Dixit's old classic from his concert performances, har saans mein, is used fabulously in the film's outro.
On the whole, Nupur Asthana's directorial debut, Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, is a comedy that is lifted beyond the routine by a variety of factors. For actors like Saqib and
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