Review of Befikre

Befikre, by Aditya Chopra, is a romantic comedy. Befikre is one side of Indian Cinema which actually wants to convey that gone are those days of love and romance which had commitment from either of the parties, and used to be intense. Befikre wants us to believe that in today’s world, relationships are absolutely loveless, devoid of soul, driven by lust and fear of commitment. Carefree irresponsible approach is the way to live relationships. But is it actually true? Why should we as an audience even believe this when there are enough stories around us which convey beautiful sides of love, commitment and passion. I was even wondering while watching the film that does Befikre even care about love, life and relationships. Every emotion has been handled at such a superficial level.

The strange part of the screenplay is that every major action by the protagonists of the film is driven by ‘I dare you’ phrase. And when this ‘dare’ is given, the person can go to any extent to accept the challenge, be it slapping a traffic cop, walking into a party hall in just an underwear, dancing on a library table along with skin show, romancing in car by roadside, just jumping to bed etc. And to add to my dismay, they were able to get away from everything. Falling in and out of love seemed so ‘befikre’ and easy. The first one of this type of film of befikre love in Yash Raj Films’  banner was with Neal and Nikki. We have seen these again and again after that. What was the effort of Aditya Chopra through this film? Was he targeting today’s youth? Hasn’t he misunderstood the youths ?

The two protagonists of the film are Dharam (Ranveer Singh) and Shyra (Vaani Kapoor). Dharam is a Delhi boy, who reaches Paris for his work as stand-up comedian in an Indian Club. Shyra is a French girl of Indian origin, who is a travel guide and takes tourists around to show them Paris. Dharam and Shyra meet and there begins a reckless and irresponsible journey of lust, weirdly funny activities, singing, dancing, kissing, break-up, reconnecting as friend, going on double-dates etc. None of these scenes have emotions in the right place, doesn’t touch the hearts. I could not connect with the film.

Ranveer has lot of energy in him and his character Dharam displays it too, rather overplays it. Vaani Kapoor as Shyra is confident, walks with her head straight, but her body language is stiff, except during an impromptu dance sequence.

Paris has been beautifully captured. Soundtracks by Vishal-Shekhar are peppy, especially ‘Ude dil Befikre…’ sung by Benny Dayal.

Befikre adopts a complete carefree approach towards love, life and relationships. It doesn’t care about lust, smooches, weirdness dominating the relationships.

Rating: 1/5 (Poor)

 

---

Cast and Crew Details : Source – Wikipedia Page

Cast: Ranveer Singh (Dharam), Vaani Kappor (Shyra)

Direction: Aditya Chopra

Produced by: Aditya Chopra

Story by: Aditya Chopra, Sharat Katariya (dialogues)

Screenplay by: Aditya Chopra

Music: Vishal-Shekhar (Songs), Mikey McCleary (Background Score)

Cinematography: Kaname Onoyama

Edited by: Namrata Rao

Production Company: Yash Raj Films

Distribution by: Yash Ra Films

Release Date: 10^th December, 2016

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Language: Hindi

---