Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji

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.

It's been a while since I've seen something as boring as Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji'. With this movie, the director has attempted to do something different from what he's usually comfortable with and he steals the title from one of last year's most popular soundtracks 'Ishqiya'. Anyway, the movie focuses on the lovelife of three housemates that include a divorcée banker, a promiscuous gym instructor and a virgin who works at a wedding agency.

It tries to be bold by addressing themes about the relationship between an older man and younger woman, an older women and a younger man etc etc. The script lacks spice and slow. Most of the jokes fall flat despite desperately trying to be witty and clever. The characters do little to hold interest and I could hardly care whether they would get the girl or not. Moreover, the movie moves at an incredibly slow pace.

Where acting is concerned, Ajay Devgan is passable in a dull role. Emraan Hashmi is irritating. Tisca Chopra stands out as the trophy wife/ cougar. Shruti Hassan is adequate. Shradha Das has poor diction. Shazahn Padamsee is competent. Rituparna Sengupta is wasted. Omi Vaidya steals the show.

In the end it's film toh boring hai ji.

Having so many strong, bold and issue based movies in his kitty, Madhur trying his skills in a comedy actually had me in doubts initially. But with DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI, the talented director surprises the industry as well as the viewers, revealing a new undisclosed dimension of his personality, which is light, fresh and enjoyable. Thankfully following the comedy genre of Hrishikesh Mukherjee or Basu Chatterjee and not Aneez Bazmee, Priyadarshan or Rohit Shetty, Madhur comes up with a nice, feel good realistic comedy which also tackles the mid life crisis problem of men in a delightful manner.

Revolving around the three one sided love stories of Ajay, Emraan and Omi, the film has an entertaining first half and a realistic second one with some regular comic touches inserted smartly to keep the viewer smiling. Plus DTBHJ also has the Madhur Bhandarkar we all are familiar with, evidently visible in few sequences dealing with the rich socialites and office colleagues. In its first hour the film keeps on moving at a pleasant pace introducing all its characters in no time and moving into their individual love stories effectively. And just before the intermission, Madhur brings on a surprising twist in the script which further adds a new dimension in the movie and one expects to see a much more exciting second half coming up.

But post intermission, as usual the pace drops a little with all the emotional drama coming in and that does make you feel restless for a while. However, Madhur hits back again in the last half an hour and gives you a completely unpredictable climax which makes the viewer feel light and refreshing with a smile on his face. Still, as I see it, the post interval part of the movie could be much better with a faster edit and a better selection of supporting actors. In fact the choice of actors by Madhur Bhandarkar in DTBHJ remains quite strange and questionable keeping in mind the fact that he could easily have roped in much better and known actors for some important roles in the script.

The merits of the movie include its fresh and cool, story-telling style which is very close to the one seen in Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee movies. So for that Madhur indeed deserves his praises considering the fact that he has never ever tried this genre before in his career. The other major merit is the way the film tackles the issue of mid life crisis in both men and women. At one side Ajay Devgan is shown fighting with his divorce and new one sided love life together in a hilarious manner and on the other is Tisca Chopra dealing with her middle age after having a successful career as a famous model and former Miss India. Along with that the film has a very soothing presence of Shazahn Padamsee, who looks very pretty, bubbly and ravishing on the screen.

The weaker points of the movie include the same old or monotonous kind of role given to Emraan Hashmi who plays a Casanova in the film as seen several times before in his previous films. And second is the not so great kind of character given to Omi Vaidya who is now hugely famous after 3 Idiots. Though both Emraan and Omi have done full justice to their assigned roles but their fans may feel disappointed as there are no specifically enjoyable scenes featuring both the actors. In addition to this, I found the casting of Shruti Hassan not up to the mark as she looked very heavily over confident in her role of a rich socialite. In other words I found Tisca Chopra much better and impactful in comparison.

Actually it's the main story of Ajay - Shazahn and the scenes of all the three friends Ajay, Emraan and Omi together, which keeps the ball rolling and you don't mind the other minor hiccups in the second half. Ajay Devgan once again proves his versatility with a brilliant performance which simply shows that he can equally perform well in both Hrishi Da style and Rohit Shetty kind of comedies made in Bollywood. Emraan Hashmi has got nothing new to do but still he looks charming and inviting in his lover boy role. Omi Vaidya underplays his part well and impresses but his fans may not find what they were looking for in his shy character of a poet. Shazahn as stated before looks great and acts well too but Rituparna Sengupta and Shraddha Das are just OK. Shruti Hassan overacts whereas Tisca Chopra is simply superb in her scenes with Emraan.

Musically I liked the track "Abhi Kucch Dino Se" instantly after a long time and also "Tu Khwaab Hai Ya Koi Jaadugari" playing in the background. So Pritam once again gives you something to cheer about in his soundtrack. But I couldn't understand why 'Abhi Kuchh Dino Se" was not used and promoted in the film's promotions. Cinematography is pretty descent with an eye catching art direction along with some enjoyable dialogs from Sanjay Chhel. But after watching DTBHJ I really wondered why the Censors gave the movie an 'A' certificate. May be they just gave the rating by only seeing the name of Madhur Bhandarkar in the credits without even seeing the movie entirely.

Summing up, if you want to have a good time in the theater with nothing loud or over the top, keeping your comedy expectations on hold, then the chances are that you might like the movie on the whole and would enjoy it with a smiling face. In all its a nice, welcome changeover from the serious and bold director.

Madhur Bandharkar has recently brought us great movies to watch such as Fashion, Jail, etc. Now he has stepped into the romantic comedy genre with Dil To Baccha Hai Ji.

It isn't the best movie or the best comedy in recent times, however its definitely 2 hours well spent. There has been some criticism that the movie's foundation resides on sexual jokes. Sure, i agree that there are quite a few of them but there aren't as vulgar as seen in other movies for example Masti. The 3 male actors, Tisca Chopra performed really well however the other 3 actresses did not shine in my opinion. Especially, Shruti since her role only lasts 15-20mins. The love stories for Ajay and Omi are well structured but i found Emraan's story to be kind of random. It is never clear when he falls in love. The music in the movie is quite good and i really liked the use of 'Jadugari' in the BGM.

Ajay is already set but this movie is a stepping stone for both Emraan and Omi. Emraan in the past has stuck to Mahesh Bhatt movies and this could be his introduction to more commercial movies - he is very talented and deserves a chance to shine. Omi's acting even though was very similar to his character in 3 idiots but the context was different and maybe we will see him in other comedies soon.

As far as 2011 is considered, after No one killed Jessica, this is my favorite movie of the year so far. I recommend that everyone (adults) should go and give this one a shot.

There are three parallel running stories in movie dil toh baccha hai ji. Of the three stories I liked Ajay Devgan's story the most. It may be because of my ethics. Only thing I would like to tell about the two other stories is yes it happens and its not my cup of tea. My rating(7.5/10) is only for Ajay Devgans story.

Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography: It was good.

Tone: Love life of three pairs has been captured well.

Music: It was above average.

Acting: It was good, especially June Pinto.