Dolly Ki Doli

What the hell did I just watch? All throughout the movie I kept thinking, maybe the end climax will turn everything around. All the muddled puzzle pieces will suddenly fall into place. Something like 6th sense, or fight club, or Kahaani. Alas, this dumb movie never attempts to answer the most obvious flaws it contains. The ending is just like the rest of the movie- crappy.

Sonam Kapoor's acting was quite shallow. Unlike her previous movies. Rajkumar Rao was the only average character in the movie. He tried providing some comic relief with his witty dialogues. Unfortunately, the storyline was so bleak and thinly plastered, that even his dialogues could not support it. All others just tanked down.

Dolly Ki Doli's premise is simple and it has been executed with a sharp knife. No room for any flab. The director has a strong control over the narrative- the story moves at a pace that keeps one glued. It does not pretend to be two steps ahead of the viewer, instead it bobs along with him– just a little bit teasingly ahead. This makes the film viewing friendly and attractive.

The ensemble cast is another high point- great actors and super performances. Casting is indeed very very apt. Technically the film neither under nor overwhelms you. It works like a smooth ride.

Just like the telling of the film, Dolly is a woman with no pretensions. She and the film stand tall. Dolly as the person does not relent right till the climax when all heroes undergo transformation. The film, however, promises the transformation yet keeps the climax refreshing- its other beauty being its non-verbosity. Crisp and bang on. It does leave space for a sequel and that would be something to watch out for.

Overall, DKD is an honest attempt at a simple, crisp story telling with a smooth screenplay, some smart dialogs, a lovely cast and equally great performances.

Clearing the confusion over its inspired status first, yes the early half of the film (or the initial 20 minutes) are exactly similar to the Punjabi film RONDE SAARE VYAH PICHHON aka RSVP released in 2013. But since both the writers deny seeing each other's films and claim to have taken the idea from few real life instances featured in the daily newspapers, hence we are forced to consider this as possibly a rarest of rare exception of two unrelated minds writing and visualising exactly similar sequences in their individual films released at a gap of more than one year.

Next keeping in mind its fairly novel plot of a 'Looteri Dulhan' and a whole con-family involved it the cunning business, DOLLY KI DOLI does have an interesting premise to offer. But after making a fine, enjoyable beginning, what the writer and director do with the film post intermission (different from RSVP) is really sad and awful, completely ruining its winning potential altogether. For instance it straight away begins with an abrupt scene introducing the lead pair chatting casually followed by an item song by the producer (Malaika) herself and then displays several big loopholes in the con games being played by the 'Looteri family' with two young boys. Still few enjoyable performances, funny local lingo and double meaning dialogues thankfully steal the limelight and one doesn't really care about the flaws in its initial 45- 50 minutes to be honest.

However post intermission, the 100 minute film goes entirely off-track and starts moving in various weird directions involving betrayals, silly love angles, revenge and more. The writers come with such weird and forced ideas like the family fleeing fearing a police raid, but forgetting to take along their old age (fake) Dadi…….and then remembering about her while sitting in the train. Moreover here we have a young energetic inspector who is unable to find the con-girl but the other victim boy can find her so easily, reaching her new home too without any problem as such. Plus, I really couldn't understand what help did the film get from a lackluster cameo of Saif Ali Khan doing nothing.

In other words, in its second hour DOLLY KI DOLI simply fails to encash on its fresh con-plot leading towards an illogical climax and only three people give you something to enjoy in its short duration namely, Rajkummar Rao (with his excellent Haryanvi accent), Varun Sharma (reminding you of his 'Choocha' act in FUKREY) and Archna Puran Singh (as a loud Punjabi mother looking for a better girl for her boy). Strangely Sonam Kapoor is simply there in the lead role just to smile or look good and both Pulkit Samrat and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub are not able to deliver the expected due to their badly written roles. Brijendar Kala, Rajesh Sharma and Ishtiaq are entertaining in their small cameos, whereas debutant director Abhishek Dogra really could have delivered a much better enjoyable con-comedy with such a cast ensemble. The cinematography and background score remain average and so does its soundtrack having all mediocre unimpressive tracks (except "Mera Naina") with sick lyrics such as "Aaj Phatte Tak Nachhna" (now I really don't know what it means!) and "Launda Jawaan Banega Yahan Mere Passion Mein"…….great indeed!'

To conclude, as the film ends another song starts playing along the end- credits with the words,'Baba Ji Ka Thullu'. And one truly feels like having shown the signature sign while walking out of the theatre. In short, one might enjoy it partially while watching it (free of cost) during a channel telecast but sparing your precious time and money on a multiplex ticket is certainly not recommended.

'Dolly Ki Doli' is a Mediocre film, that's not high on pluses. Its an off-repeated tale, with not much newness or entertainment working on its favor.

'Dolly Ki Doli' Synopsis: Dolly marries men of different religion for their wealth. Until...A Cop gets on her trial.

'Dolly Ki Doli' at a crisp 100-minutes, has a breezy first-hour, but a soulless second. The "supposed" twist in the tale & the reason behind the protagonist's continuous conning, comes across as under-developed. The impact is missing!

Abhishek Dogra's Screenplay has a few moments, but overall, is plain mediocre. There's not a single new element in the Screenplay, which deserves a mention. Dogra's Direction is fine. Cinematotaphy & Editing are credible.

Performance-Wise: Sonam Kapoor is strictly okay. Despite being the protagonist, the actress doesn't perform up-to the mark. Rajkummar Rao is the silver lining of 'Dolly Ki Doli'. He's absolutely brilliant as the Jatt from Haryana. Varun Sharma is a cartoon, while Pulkit Samrat has a Salman Khan hang-up. Archana Puran Singh is hilarious in a bit role. Manoj Joshi & Brijendra Kala are dependable, as ever. Saif Ali Khan is stiff in a cameo.

On the whole, 'Dolly Ki Dolly' is, at best, an ordinary fare.

Dolly Ki Doli had an simple yet interesting premise. A con-woman Dolly (Sonam Kapoor) entraps and marries men only to run away with all valuables of the groom and his family. To setup and arrange these fake marriage she has a whole fake family along with her. Sonu (Rajkummar Rao) a jatt farmer who seems to be truly in love with her becomes one such victim. Then after an item number and couple of more fake marriages later is the turn of Manjot (Varun Sharma). There is very less light shed on why this con gang pull-of so many heists yet live a mediocre life. The characters seemed to have zero motivation towards whatever they were doing. Anyways, not all is well when finally after dozens of fake marriages the police comes to know about the gang and a cop (Pulkit Samrat) decides to take up the case because of a some evident personal reason. After few months thanks to Saif Ali Khan's cameo character, when the cop and the bride finally meet face-to- face we have all the clichéd melodrama and even more illogicality with the ending than what had already been portrayed. Anyways its always hard to pull of a credible ending for such con comedy premises.

On the positive side, Dolly Ki Doli is briskly based, it just flies off from the word go. Some times the editing felt too choppy but I will appreciate them for keeping it under 100 minutes. This is the basic thing most Bollywood films fail to get right and have overblown run time with very little substance. Debut director Abhishek Dogra keeps the atmosphere light, not to be taken seriously and even satirical at times until the last act. The script is full of illogical behaviors and plot holes, but if you can ignore that then the comedy might be enjoyable. But I myself did not find it hilarious. The comic timing was terrible plus the characters were interesting yet poorly written. Acting wise, all three males Rajkummar,Varun and Pulkit do a commendable job. Sonam Kapoor on the other hand was quite unbearable. Her acting was okayish, but it was the character of Dolly which was utter nonsense. The same old innocent-pretty girl is terribly overdone which made her look annoying plus it is highly unbelievable that so many men fell into her trap so easily. Also we annoying songs and an item number stuffed in just for the sake of it, which had nothing new.

Overall, I will say Dolly Ki Doli is a nice and non-formulaic attempt which is appreciable. But it is heavily flawed and has poor dialogues. This ride can be moderately enjoyable only if don't care much about the characters and keep your brains at home. Still, it is highly avoidable.

RATING: [1.5/5]