Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji

Madhur Bhandarkar's new venture, before he had directed serious movies and by this he had tried new genre. I would say first half is enjoyable as there is enough punches to make you laugh with the dose of some clumsy lines but its acceptable.

But in second half it loses its track and most of the scene looks to be imposed in movie. The Emraan Hashmi's track is half baked and also some scenes are not fitted nicely. But I would say for the some entertaining parts I enjoyed this. Although there are some of amateurish performance by supporting cast but it is leading male actors who done well also Tisca Chopra. And at last I liked the ending of the movie.

After watching Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, seeing an Ajay-Emraan duo was exhilarating only because of their stellar performances in the previous movie. If you are like me and watch this movie after that, you can notice the significant difference in the acting abilities of Ajay Devgan. With Emraan however, there is a common pattern in his character. He never plays a saint, and his reactions and playboyish charm is almost anticipated. The third guy was great too in his awkwardness and did remind me of the nerd from Three Idiots. Unfortunately, the women are overshadowed by the men in their performances. Still, you cannot detect any mistakes in their part.

Going to the storyline, it is a modern tale of three bachelors who look for love. Even though Ajay is a middle aged divorcée, Emraan is a playboy, and Omi is the naive salesman with no prospect for future, they all follow the same trends of luck and failures around the same time. This is evident as they celebrate together, mourn together, and share together. However, the saving grace of this movie is not the comedy which is barely existing, but rather the sweet day to day lives of average people without love who many can relate to.

Overall, it is a good watch if only you can watch it once. There are some sexual jokes, but nothing that might put you in a position of sheer embarrassment (unless your parents are really intolerant and strongly religious). There are no sex scenes even though there are implications. Emraan himself managed to stay away from any boldness even though he is wooing both mother and daughter at one point. Overall, it is a sweet movie for all the loveless bachelors, but could have benefited with a February 14th release day to really get the spirit flowing. It is a good watch for family too as it is not really as predictable as other Hindi movies. A good watch for a quiet night, but unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary.

In a departure from his regular fare of reality inspired films, Madhur Bhandarkar indulges in the comic world with Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi and Omi Vaidya in this light hearted, refreshing entertainer, that is 'Dil toh bachha hai ji'. Accompanied by Pritam's pleasant tunes and good performances by all three actors, the film narrates the love seeking journeys of the room-mates while revealing their idiosyncrasies. Unlike his previous works, this one is hardly bold or bitter and it doesn't even prove his versatility in story telling. However, it succeeds in providing those laughs that come out of genuinely funny dialogues if not innovative situations.

Naren (Ajay Devgan), a divorcée and an executive, finds his new room-mates in the form of Abhay (Emraan Hashmi) and Milind Kelkar (Omi Vaidya) who are two opposite individuals. While Abhay is the jobless playboy who lives on the favours of his one night stands, Milind, who works at a marriage bureau, believes in marriage only after love and sex only after marriage. Naren has an innocent crush on his new secretary who is 17 years younger but finds it difficult to blend into her lifestyle. While his age-gap challenges his feelings, Abhay's audacity with a rich model of yesteryears enriches his own life with the perks that come along. Then we have Milind, playing the sincere simpleton for whom, his love exceeds all limitations and his perseverance, all his budgets. Each of them have a love story in the making but they just cannot seem to make it come their way. Through their experiences, we get some giggles and some laughs while Bhandarkar refrains from adding any seriousness that would weigh the otherwise thin plot down.

Pritam's melodious score keeps the mood subtle and hummable. Tu khwab hai ya jaadugari comes a little too often but is melodious nevertheless. Tere Bin is a good come back for Sonu Nigam with some real singing while all the attention falls upon the beautiful Shruti Haasan on whom it is partly picturized. The film's outstanding song Abhi Kuch dino se is performed by Mohit Chauhan who continues his unstoppable run.

The actors do more justice than what the script and story asked for and Devgan leads the pack impressively with his innocent performance showing teenager like attributes while avoiding the over-the-top 'Golmaal' comic avatar. Omi Vaidya excels at his tailor-made role which he gets absorbed into. We would love to see more of him this year and hopefully, in more comedies. Emraan Hashmi has come a long way with his acting and after 'Once upon a time in Mumbai', he proves yet again, that it's not only the music in his films, but his performance too, deserves appreciation. Shazahn Padamsee has the cheesiest dialogues that are overdone. Tisca Chopra is good in her role but it is Shruti Haasan's beauty (credited to Sarika) and bold persona that captures one's attention.

Madhur Bhandarkar wasn't making a comedy like 3 idiots. It was not meant to be a didactic experience, nor was there any guidance to real living. But by avoiding ridiculous situations and corny dialogues that are the basis of most comedies, he ensures that there isn't a boring moment in the film, no matter the lack of nuance and originality.

7.63 on scale of 1-10.

Venturing into the comedy is a road less travelled for Mr. Bhandarkar, considering the fact that he bears a monopoly of a self-invented genre which involves cherry-picking a cross-section of the society and present a multi-dimensional view. Obviously more than the expectations, it was the curiosity on his faring that made me have a go at "Dil Toh Baccha Hain Ji". At the outset the outing seems to be on the lines of the classics we have witnessed from the house of Hrishikesh Mukherjee & Basu Chatterjee.

ʘ Ajay: The mid-life crisis of a banker battling a divorce on personal front is well depicted. Him falling heads-over-heels for a girl half his age and undergoing an image makeover is inspired from "American Beauty" (hold your horses don't expect the rose petals which I suppose could have flipped the Indian censor board). Mr. Devgan seems to be under a big misnomer that off-late his signature style constipated look qualifies for acting.

ʘ Rituparna Sengupta: As a news reporter undergoing a mutual consent divorce sans alimony I expected the role to have multiple facets. Sadly the character comes across very much linear and serves no purpose as the plot moves along. Editing to blame perhaps?

ʘ Omi Vaidya: Raju Hirani and Aamir Khan deserve being accredited to extract a fantabulous performance from "the silencer" in 3-Idiots. The same cannot be said in this movie (sad). His performance barely qualifies for an average. The script has been tweaked to incorporate the videsi singing "Mera Bharat Mahaan/ Aamchi Mumbai/ Jai Maharashtra" slogans. His poems/ poetry are worse I have heard in recent years and definitely warranted good some good writing on that front.

ʘ Shazahn Padamsee: Very promising. Her makeup, costumes and effervescence brighten up the Lolita character and make forty plus go head-over-heels.

ʘ Shraddha Das: Dangling between the head and heart she gives an honest performance.

ʘ Shruti K Hassan: Honestly she has got what it takes to give Kats & Sonam a real tough fight, should she give up her condescending attitude and lighten up a bit.

ʘ Shweta Salve attempts a la Rekha of "Parineeta" and croons a number on similar lines. Best not compared I say.

ʘ Mukesh Tiwari was wasted

ʘ Tisca Chopra: The role of trophy wife who has mastered the skill to achieve the best of both both worlds is effortlessly played by Tisca Chopra with a rare maturity.

ʘ Emraan Hashmi:: A believable character whom you would bump into everyday life. Practical, suave and slimy character to which the layers are well fleshed out. Some good tongue-in-cheek lines add icing to cake. Emraan's performance is very smooth and I guess he has a flair for these type of roles.

Tisca Chopra and Emraan Hashmi clearly stand out on the acting front and practically steal the thunder from the rest. Paresh Rawal intro, a novelty, hardly contributes. The screenplay could have been tighten up a bit in conjunction with some chopping on the editing table to chase away the predictability factor. A few songs are quite hummable and neatly blend with the storyline.

Madhur should stick to doing what he is best, the slice-and-dice genre.

PS: Though the title borrowed from the song in "Ishqiya" its my firm belief that the characters from the original (Naseeruddin & Arshad Warsi) aptly justified "Dil Toh Baccha Hain Ji" when it came to the matters of heart.

Madhur Bhandarkar, a national award winning director, is well know for his hard hitting movies such as "Fashion" and "Chandini Bar", and that's why you have to give him lots and lots of credit for going out of his comfort zone.

The performances by all 3 of the leading males (Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi and Omi Vadiya) are good. The character development makes up the story; hence, we get to know more about the personalities of the three characters as the film progresses. Their respective stories are all different so the theme of love, of course, is thoroughly explored.

The cinematography is good as you would expect, as is the screenplay.

Music has been nicely incorporated; there are no songs that don't 'fit in'.

Verdict: a nice, funny and romantic movie that shouldn't be missed. 8/10.