London, Paris, New York: Movie Review

– Vinay

Express Love

Those who have read my review of Ekk Deewana Tha, would understand my choice of London, Paris, New York (LPNY) over the other release this week. Other than preferring the romantic genre, my choice was also aided by the desire to catch something light hearted and fun at the end of a work heavy week.  LPNY does not really deliver on the fun front but at the same time it will not give you a splitting head ache like, say the recent EK Main Aur Ek nonsense.

LPNY captures three days in the lives of Nikhil (Ali Zafar) and Lalitha (Aditi Rao Hydari) spent in each of the title cities (in that order) during which they meet, fall in love, separate, reunite, make love, fight and reunite again. The problem with the movie is that it never rises above being an average rom com. The first half is littered with forced songs and very unimaginative screenplay with the onscreen happenings not engaging the viewer enough. The movie only really picks up in the second half of the Paris stint but by then you have already been through more than half the length.

The other big problem is the variations in Aditi’s character post interval. Her transition from being a middle class fully clothed Brahmin to an excess lip stick, mini skirt wearing drunken chick on the streets of Parish is somewhat confusing and completely half baked. Her character goes further nutty post her love making to the goatie-painted version of Ali Zafar.

On the plus side, the movie does have a fresh new lead couple (two in two weeks!). Ali Zafar, after his horrendous act in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, delivers a decent performance here. It helps that there aren’t really a lot of heavy acting scenes in the movie. His jokes are mostly unfunny in the beginning but tend to get better towards the end.

Aditi Rao Hydari (a brave casting choice), on the other hand delivers an assured performance, looking cute when she has to look cute and ‘smoking hot’ when she has to look hot (‘smoking hot’ bit are the exact words of the man behind MusicAloud). Here is an actress who can look hot and act at the same time, hoping to see her more often on the big screen in lead roles.

Debutant Director Anu Menon dishes out a crisp (100 minutes!) – a little funny – a little romantic average-ish movie with good music (Ali Zafar again). Do not go with high expectations and you will not be disappointed. But then again, why go for a movie without expecting it to be good is different question altogether!

Dessert Note:

Hot beautiful girl meets random stranger at airport, goes around the city with him and falls in love. Happens all the time in real life, no?  <sob>