It starts with a girl named Rinku (Sara Ali Khan) trying to
run away with her lover. She gets caught at the railway station by the goons
her grandmother keeps, and then she walks back home with a well-rehearsed,
who-gives-a-damn gait for this is supposed to have happened for not the second or
third, but 21st time!
We come to know that she has inherited this daring from her
mother who too had run away with her father and since then her maternal grandmom
had lost it. And lost it so badly that she beats her up like nobody’s business.
Rinku puts up with this as if it were a normal routine and moves on with her
day only with the feeling that she couldn’t escape with him – Sajjan (Akshay
Kumar), whose name she hasn't ever revealed to anyone.
Anyway, this time around, her wicked grandma has another plan.
She is done with playing such catch-me-if-you-can dares with such uncontrollable Rinku.
She orders her chaps to go fetch a random, suitable-looking boy from outside to
forcibly marry her off. They set out for a literal groom-hunt and come back with a
bag filled with a human body. Out comes a mouth and hand-tied Tamilian boy,
Vishu (Dhanush) who is visibly boiling as he doesn’t know what the heck just
happened with him. Both of them get married in no time!
This boy has had a fine life before being kidnapped and was
to have his engagement in a few days, but to his horror, he is now married to an absolute stranger! Both irate newly-weds decide to break it up. Exactly then, Bollywood steps in. In the process of going for divorce, they start developing
feelings for each other! Anyway, how they are faced with their emotions, how Sajjan plays a role, and how the story
ends up is something I refrain from spelling out.
Specifically, three things stood while I watched: Sara’s acting abilities are for everyone to see. She exudes confidence of a veteran and it is sheer pleasure to watch her play Rinku. Among at least a few scenes, one shows her dash of rebellion when she requests and then threatens her grandmom against her forced marriage. Your heart would reach out to her vulnerabilities. Secondly, Dhanush whose acting is as effortless as Akshay’s iconic smile. His performance while being forcibly married under the influence of Nitrous oxide, his guilt-ridden confession in Tamil to Rinku when he realizes he is falling for her, and whenever he breaks into spurts of dance, is a pure joy to watch. Lastly, the continued magic of AR, especially – Rait zara si and its extremely evocative instrumental interlude.
With all this, you can sail through the movie which has picked up a very important topic of mental illness with multiple layers including a dilemma to choose the "caring" love. For the director, fitting of Akshay's role could have been as challenging as speaking Hindi for Dhanush. Speaking of Akshay, he would take up as much space both in the movie and on your mind as he has in this review.
Though this well-intentioned story of Anand L Rai seems to emerge from a faltering plot during the execution, he deserves a pat on his back for picking up things that only a few can imagine.
