Break ke Baad is a seemingly ‘with it’ movie which starts with an innovative title sequence, where the viewer has to literally search for the credit names, which are cleverly hidden within the props and backdrops of the scene. Smart. Once the credits are over, the real film starts, and then the viewer spends the next two hours desperately looking for the story, but alas, there ain’t none. Instead there are a lot of songs, cutesy dialogues, starched scenes, cardboard cut-out characters and fancy locations, but the stilted, limited screenplay just keeps on repeating itself ad nauseum. Of late, instead of getting the lovers to woo each other, Bollywood romcoms have specialised in keeping the lovers apart for most of the movie, fighting and arguing, before they magically come together in the end. It almost seems our writer-directors have forgotten the language of romance, or maybe it’s a reflection of our clinical times. Then in a significant role reversal, long overdue, it’s the heroine who has become the ambitious, aggressive individual seeking fame and fortune, while the hero, barring Salman Khan of course, has become a shy, sensitive understanding metrosexual, content with becoming a chef and looking after the kids. Now, that’s progress for you. In Break ke Baad, Imran and Deepika have been childhood friends forever, growing up on a diet of K Jo films. Gulp. While Deepika is spunky and ambitious, with an actress for a mother [Sharmila Tagore], Imran is dull and boring, with a cinema owner businessman, Navin Nischol, as his father. It’s not clear whether the couple are dating or not, for while they hug and sit under tables cuddling and cooing, they also fight a lot. Then Deepika jazzes off to study to Australia, where she ends up staying in a fancy beach shack run by a bohemian brother sister duo, the tattooed scowling, Shahana Goswami, and the muscled, grinning Yuddhistra Urs. Then after lots of sponsored phone conversations set to sad music, Imran finally lands up, the couple immediately fight, then they break up, except I still don’t know if they are dating. Interval. “Kuchh bhi ho jaye, mai humme tootne nahin doonga”, earnestly uttered by Imran, sums up the artificial dialogues through the film, which though spoken in Hindi are clearly thought in English. This pidgin speak will find resonance only with a miniscule audience of youngsters, possibly the only group who may like this silly film, which, after interval goes completely haywire. The couple start staying separately in the same shack, avoiding each other. While Imran finds purpose in life, by becoming a driver, then a cook, then a restaurant owner, Deepika lands a part in an international film, which leads to more unnecessary drama with her mother. Finally, after much to-ing and fro-ing and many false starts, the couple get together, but by then you just don’t care. Imran and Deepika complement each other, as both remain single expression wonders as actors, but thankfully look pretty and dimpled enough to endure on screen. Its good to see Sharmila if briefly, Shahana looks plump while Yudi is endearing in his role. The music of the film is soulful in bits, but the shabby story never ever takes off, while the direction remains average. In the end Beak ke Baad stays a pretty but boring film. DIRECTOR Danish Aslam ACTORS Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shahana Goswami, Yuddhister Urs, Sharmila Tagore, Navin Nischol, Lilette Dubey RUN TIME 1 hr 20 mins CERTIFICATION U |
