Movie Review: 2 States

If you've read the novel, you'll agree that 2 States is one of Chetan Bhagat's best bed-time stories written for 18-year-olds & above ever. It's a love story that connected with quite a number of darkness-meets-fairness couples in India. Also led to the contribution of fair&lovely creams' sales and trolling jokes on punjabis/northindians & southindians/tamilians/whateveryourbreediscalled.

So usually, the global trend is that a movie based on a novel can never be as good as the novel because duh, you cannot produce a 567803 pages novel into a 3 hours movie, even if you make an epic trilogy out of it like LOTR. Imagine the troubles Sooraj Barjatya & Karan Johar would have if they were given a task of converting such novels into movies. They would've joined Ekta Kapoor League (EKL) by now. But then Sanjay Leela Bhansali's already in it aur ek jungle mein 3 gadhe nahin ho sakte.

But if it's a novel as thick as 100 pages like Chetan Bhagat's, trend says movie is going to be 100x better than the novel, unless we are talking about One Night at the Call Centre. The movie was 100x worse than the novel. Oh well, I guess that's one of the same things. To no hallelujahs then, 2 States as a movie was spectacular. It's definitely going to be one of my all-time favourite romantic hindi movies.

2 States is paced rightly, capturing the timeline of the leading protagonists' life from college to  being married perfectly. Abhishek Varman has directed the movie almost-perfectly (minor flaws i.e. too much dramatisation here & there). Alia Bhatt & Arjun Kapoor should be applauded for their acting or I wouldn't be surprised if they were playing themselves. Except neither of them would ever qualify intellectually so perhaps they were acting for some part. Their stylist should be given an award for making them look like college kids though at times I felt Arjun's wardrobe was still too cool for an IIT graduate doing his MBA from IIM, but I'm willing to overlook that simply because he's eyegasm for Indian women.

I love the music except for Iski Uski. Shahid Mallya's voice on Arjun Kapoor was as bad as Rabbi Sheirgill's voice on SRK in Jab Tak Hai Jaan i.e. Level Mismatched Frog Croaking. On top of that, the song's not catchy nor was it a visual treat. This is perhaps one of the most disappointing music I've heard from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio. Amitabh Bhattacharya, what were you thinking penning down the lyrics for this? Was Siddhu sitting beside you? Were you watching a match? Was it KRK's influence? Was it? WAS it? WAS IT? THE NATION WANTS TO KNOW! INDIA NEEDS AN ANSWER!

Ronit Roy, in his guest appearance of a role, reprised his character from Udaan and gave it a delightful twist. Unlike in Udaan, his character in this movie lives in shades of grey and grows with the movie. Your faith in actors,humanity,beer,hotness,everything is restored when you watch him on screen. His on-screen wife played by Amrita Singh in the movie did an excellent job in portraying a typical Punjabi mom. You hate her in the movie not because her acting is irritating but her character makes you want to pull your hair strings in frustration.

Baaki sab toh sahi hai, but here's a couple of minor flaws:
1. Where Krish (Arjun) proposes Ananya(Alia). Too dramatic. We accept the singing and dancing drama but this was ridiculously chu-panti.
2. Without trying to give a spoiler, the thing Krish does when he has dinner with Ananya's family after Ananya's mother sings on-stage.
3. The counsellor in the movie was as redundant as Sonakshi Sinha's forehead in every movie she does.

Short mein kaho toh,
Hilarious,witty dialogues, Brilliant performances by leads & supporting cast,  Catchy music, Well-edited, Smartly directed & great cinematography.

My rating: 3.5/5 stars
It's definitely worth a watch in theatres! Especially if you're a south indian-north indian couple. Or any other mix couple. Or any couple. Anyone seriously.


P.S. - That awkward moment when you realise Amrita Singh is the same chick Saif Ali Khan was once married to while watching the movie. #wtfhappenedthere




Comments

  1. I had to scroll through my Twitter interaction page what you're talking about. Dude I don't stay irritated and that was eons ago. Chill maar. Enjoy the movie!

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  2. "Neither of them would qualify intellectually!" Hahaha.
    I did like the movie but yes at times I kind of felt it is slow. Perfectly rated by you though! ;)

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    1. Haha..yeah it did have its few moments of slips..but I'm willing to overlook them..it's a good movie. Thanks for liking this review Aki! (:

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  3. The acting by the both of them was really nicely done, I never expected Alia Bhat to pull it off. But both of them together kept making me smile throughout the movie on and off. On a rating I would give it a 3

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    1. Vatsal - Indeed, Alia Bhatt's shining! I love both of them together in the movie too..they look the age and their body language,mannerisms were befitting to the characters. Brought a smile to my face all throughout the movie too! (:

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