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.
