Break Ke Baad

"Break Ke Baad" is an ideal romcom catering to the segment of audience who bunk classes and chill out in the multiplexes. At the outset the plot might look "space issues" meets "coming of age". However the writers, Danish Aslam and Renuka Kunzru take the liberty of overloading layers for every character who makes an appearance on the silver screen. Imagine even the acid tongue landlady's brother has issues in life! On that note the overkill phenomena was last witnessed in "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na".

Imran Khan delivers a restraint and matured performance. Deepika gets a lion's share in terms of characterisation. Her spontaneity is a treat to watch to the extent that would seem she has mastered the art of impromptu acting. Sharmila Tagore and Naveen Nischol were under-utilised. Lillete Dubey and Shahana Goswami get a few fiery lines to mouth.

If you set aside the shortcomings on the writing front, the movie excels in other technical departments. Songs are noteworthy (Kunal Kohli is renowned for a good music taste, so there you go). Costumes deserve a mention. The DOP has a fine job. The tongue-in-cheek lines ensures audience stay with the proceedings. Editing is slick. Lastly there was no need shifting the storyline to Australia. IIM-Ahemadabad would have been done the job.

Verdict: Not too bad for one-time watch.

Danish Aslam's 'Break Ke Baad' is an average attempt, which tries to be super-cool, but falls flat. The characters appear confused after a certain point, the writing gets hyper, so hyper, that it even culminates unconvincingly.

'Break Ke Baad' is about a couple, who take a Break from their decade old relationship. It's the chick who decides to do so. From there on, it's just how the boy tries to bring back things properly.

The idea is fresh, and to give the writer-director his due, he even successfully starts the film. The first 30-35 minutes to hold your attention, and you expect the graph to just go upper. Sadly, the second hour, is a total mess. The writing isn't tight from there on, and even it's characters begin to bore. As far as the climax, it's the weakest link. It leaves no impact whatsoever!

Music by Vishal-Shekhar is cool, and so is Deepika Padukone's performance. Imran Khan, however, doesn't leave an impression. The supporting cast lend able support.

On the whole, An exciting idea gone wrong!

Good editing, and transitions, the song were quite lovely and Imran Khan as well. ;)

A bit unrealistic but a goooood watch nonetheless.

Okay good. Can watch it.

I watched Break Ke Baad without expectations and it neither surprised nor disappointed me. It was quite a watchable movie but way too ordinary to be memorable. The film follows the relationship of Abhay and Aaliya, their love, friendship and differences. At times the movie manages to work with its light nature and looks quite believable and fun, but at others it's also too subtle for the story it tells and lacks the power to convince and captivate. The story is very simple, and it could have been more interesting had the direction and the script been better handled. Here, the narrative style is a bit dark and plain, and it often seems like it was taken too seriously by the makers, which is odd considering the fact that it does not really have much substance. The film's music is quite okay although, like the film, it is nothing particularly special. The main lead Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone are well cast, and frankly enough they are not really challenged by some great roles to begin with, so don't expect much. Imran is okay. Deepika is better in a performance that is pretty nice and more impressive than his but never particularly impressive in and of itself. She is undeniably pretty and attractive and something about her in this film works and may improve her prospects in the film industry, but she is far from being a glowing talent (like Anushka Sharma, for example). To sum it up, Break Ke Baad is overall an ordinary feature which does have its moments but after all can be watched only once, at least according to me.

Debutant director Danish Aslam serves us disappointing fare in Break Ke Baad this weekend - a crisp first half followed by a damp and soggy second half. The teekha first half has Deepika's sizzling act as Aaliya - bringing some life & vitality to her usually expressionless face. Imran plays the chocolate boy lover Abhay – a role he has done admirably in the past and is the likable meethi chutney. Together, against my expectation, they both produce a very likable dish and have a crackling on screen chemistry. However, that spark between them is completely doused by the insipid writing in the second half.

The opening credits are a montage of two six year olds falling in love as they grow up, with a shared passion of Hindi movies. The girl grows up to be the impetuous Aaliya who is full of life, but sometimes does not care about anyone but herself. Abhay is the ultra-sweet guy who tolerates all her tantrums and still adores her. Maybe because he realizes he needs her more than she does. However, when Aaliya decides to fly off to Australia to study, the relationship cant take the strain and the 'break' happens.

This is where the movie goes to dogs – as it starts focussing more on other characters and side-plots more than the lead pair. Sharmila Tagore as Aaliya's mother heads a useless track about the ills of the world of showbiz. She also seals my belief that yesteryear's charming heroines lose their expressive faces in the process of ageing (maybe to botox). And hence are better staying alive in old movie reruns rather than acting in newer movies. Jaya Bhaduri, Hema Malini and now Sharmila Tagore – their faces struggle to convey different emotions – and end up looking almost similar in all scenes.

The movie meanders along for quite a while before becoming a coming-of- age movie for both Aaliya and Abhay. And this is the movie's biggest failure – since the scriptwriter clearly doesn't have the maturity to handle this topic as much as he has a handle on romance. The climax is stupid even by the low standards of rom-coms – and which is where you write the movie off as a failure

PS - Something struck me a couple of days after I watched the movie – when you watch the movie, you can tell me if I was wrong or right. I thought Aaliya's character and idiosyncrasies were heavily based on Jab We Met's Geet . None of the Bhatinda Punjabi madness, but a calculated effort by the makers to use that quirkiness and happy-go-lucky nature. But then again, Geet was a million times better than Aaliya would ever be.

You can read more of my reviews at http://bombaycinephile.blogspot.com