By Nikita Madan
Hasee To Phasee (mind you the title has no relevance to the film!) is a refreshing take on the clichéd boy meet girl story. The film directed by Vinil Mathew and produced by Karan Johar‘s Dharma Productions and Phantom Productions, which is run by four filmmakers Anurag Kashyap , Vikramaditya Motwane, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena is a simple charming romcom which works mostly because of the solid performance by its lead pair.
The story by Vinil Mathew and Harshvardhan Kulkarni has nothing new to offer. 7 days before his wedding, Nikhil played by Siddharth Malhotra is entrusted the duty of handling Meeta, played by Parineeti Chopra, the cracked but brilliant sister of his fiancé (Adah Sharma) , who ran away from her house 7 years back. Set against the wedding backdrop, Meeta and Nikhil are drawn to each other on the account of being misfit and lonely.
What adds life to the proceedings is the refreshing characterization and the situational comedy. But the story is not free of problems. Meeta’s back-story is not entirely convincing and her addiction to pills is never explored properly. The film with a running time of 141 minutes could have been shorter.
The music of the film by Vishal-Shekhar is catchy and hummable but it lacks a chartbuster song that a film like this requires. ‘Shake It like Shammi’’ and ‘Drama Queen’ are peppy and fun while the ‘Punjabi wedding song’ is sure to be a hit in wedding circles. Amongst the slow tracks, it’s only ‘Zehnaseeb’ which leaves a lasting impression
Any romcom rests majorly on the chemistry between its lead actors, fortunately for Hasee to Phasee, the lead pair is not only good looking but also they complement each other well. Parineeti Chopra once again proves in this film that she is one of the most talented actresses we have today. She is in superb form as the druggie eccentric brainy Meeta. She makes the character believable and endearing. Siddharth Malhotra has taken a leap forward from his ‘student of the year’ days. He looks good and brings a certain amount of sincerity to the confused and conflicted Nikhil. Together their chemistry is like double hydrogen and oxygen, perfectly matched.
The lead pair is superbly supported by a talented cast. Manoj Joshi as the doting father of Meeta and Sharat Saxena as Nikhil’s overzealous always suspecting ex-IPS father, are superb. So is Anil Mange as Nikhil’s wannabe Indian idol cousin. Watch him and Parineeti sing ‘ek garam chai ki pyaali ho’, they are hilarious.
The film reflects the confluence of its producers, so while on one hand we have the melodious music and the ‘feel good’ factor which is a trademark of Dharma productions and on the other hand we have the quirkiness and a different take on storytelling which we associate with phantom productions. This modern day romance is refreshing, goofy and for most parts entertaining. Definitely worth a watch.
