What could one expect from Siddharth Anand after a forgetful Salaam Namaste (I refuse to believe that the jokes were genuine ones…they were downright corny) and an even more forgetful Tara Rum Pum (emotional car racing? hello?)?

The big question as it were is ‘Kya haseeno ko bachna chahiye?’ ya fir ‘Kya audience ko bachna chahiye?’… read on to find out…

Raj Sharma(Ranbir Kapoor), your usual cool, urban lad who is a game developer with Microsoft. Three women is his life; Mahi (Minissha Lamba), Radhika (Bipisha Basu) and Gayatri (Deepika) between 1996-2008. Two of them whom he dumps and one who dumps him. The sudden realisation mode….the guilt….the apologies…..the climax. End of story. Or is it?

Ranbir plays the Yup (young urban professional), who is a huge flirt, with elan. He’s cool, he’s stylish, he’s funny and dances really well……did I miss ’sexy’? Must say Kapoor junior didn’t get charm from his dad but does have sex appeal. Infact i’d say he’s in Hritik and Shahid’s league, far as dancing is concerned. As far the acting goes…..ummm….needs a lot of improvement in the ‘emotional scenes’. Can’t cry naturally and looks wooden. Minissha enacts her ‘innocent girl next door’ part with a lot of conviction….her handling of the emotional scenes(both at the airport and at the wedding scene) are marvellous. Would’ve liked more of her on screen. Bipisha plays the sexy model role well. Suits her body language and being originally a model she knows the temper tantrums that models have…….uses that to her advantage. Deepika is strictly alright. She not got much to do or say. Her scene at the intermission point is good but not because she delivers it well……but because the screenplay is well written here. Kunal Kapoor was effective in a small role. Hiten Paintal was a revelation….he supports Ranbir with ease and holds his own.

Technicals and locations (in true Yashraj style) are worth multiple claps. Pan shots, low angles, high angles, close ups, mid shots….all have been liberally used to perfection. The usual Switzerland and Bombay are there as always. The surprise package, Italy has possible never looked so gorgeous on the Indian motion picture front till date. If choosing Italy was Siddharth’s idea the kudos to him for the same. Wonderful ‘mini tour’ of Italy if I may say so.

Wah kya baat hai!!!

1) Ranbir’s entry couldn’t have been better……..introduced right in the titles with him dancing effortlessly to ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’…….slim and sexy body and all with 3 hot girls and some cool SFX….way to go.

2) The first half of the movie is truly a good watch…..its fast, its funny and has some moments which leave you spellbound. All the emotional scenes in the first half are brilliantly written, sadly not executed that well except by Minissha. But Siddharth’s vision can be felt rather than just seen. The airport sequence or the marriage day sequence or even the proposal sequence are damn good climax material to the individual tales.

3) Technicals and locales as mentioned earlier are wonderful. Mark the single song picturised in the interiors of Italy with Ranbir and Deepika…….wonderful eye therapy. Makes me want to pack my bags and go there tomorrow!

4) Ranbir’s eyewear……the guy has 3 sunglasses and 4 spectacle frames to show off in the film. And they’re so cool, that I wanted to get my spectacle frames changed(even though I wear lenses ) If there is something Ranbir showed more than his lean physique in the film, its super cool eyewear.

Kya bakwaas!

1) Ranbir has Minissha’s residence number after 12 years of meeting her. And that too after him changing 2 homes(Bombay and Sydney). I thought he never was serious about her….number kaise yaad raha 12 saal baad?

2) How the hell does Ranbir find out Bipisha’s holiday home in Italy?

3) Deepika studies at a B-School, works at a grocery store and drives a taxi in Sydney…..when does she study, entertain herself or simply breathe? Does Siddharth expect urban Indians(who are the target audience for the film) to believe that doing an MBA is that easy?

4) Pathetic climax scene. So cheesy, so typical and so bollywood. Kya yaar Sid…..kamse kam ek decent climax scene direct karte…..poor climax in Salaam Namaste, poor climax in Tara Rum Pum and now again….poor climax in Bachna Ae Haseeno.

5) Every problem mentioned above is in the second half of the film. The first half was extremely likeable and the second is extremely forgettable. Be it Ranbir trying to do his prayaschit or Bipisha’s methodology to make him feel unimportant or even Deepika’s sudden change of heart. Kuch bhi believable nahi hai. I know its a film, lekin kuch toh ho jo real lage. The first half would have 85% of the guys in the hall guilty in their minds because it looks real. The second half is just as sore.

By and large Bachna Ae Haseeno had the potential to be a good film but it sticks to being mediocre due to a poor second half, hopeless characterisation for Deepika and multiple loopholes in the story. Can be watched for Ranbir Kapoor’s eyewear, dance,acting(barring emotional scenes) and a truly funny first half.