Happy Ending (2014)

Don't Believe the Hype

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Oh No Saif..not again. Till when are you going to portray the man child character on screen. It started with Yeh Dillagi way back in the 90s to Dil Chahta Hai to Hum Tum to Cocktail and now this film. Dude, I'm bored of these characters you play. You have the talent in you but you're wasting it. Hope Phantom will bring some reprieve. (Phantom got released a week ago and the reviews are not great, so its not a good time for Saif). When can we see you play again Langda Tyagi or Cyrus Mistry, roles which gave life to your career ??Speaking of Saif, there are two Saif's which includes one who is his inner voice. Oh Saif, why ??The movie is very slow and worse boring. And thats a pity considering it is written and directed by Raj & DK who gave us the excellent Shor in the City and the enjoyable Go Goa Gone. Looks like a case of lost in translation.Ileana D'Cruz in a meaty role doesn't disappoint. However, her character is poorly written like the film. Its the supporting casts that saves the film a bit. Ranvir Shorey and Kalki Kochelin are top notch and when they're on screen, you'll have a laugh. However, its Govinda who steals the show. In a short cameo playing a Bollywood star, he is fun to watch and his hilarious. Wish Saif, Raj & DK had given more screen time to Govinda's character. This would have been a far better film.

For a director duo's first film, Happy Ending is a well packaged product. In fact one can describe the movie as a male version on a chic flick. Saif Khan again repeats his act of an over grown child coming of age in love and life. Ileana is good but Kalki towers upon her with a sublime performance. Priety Zinta is good and seeing her with Saif in a shot one might believe its Salaam Namaste 2. But Happy Ending really belongs to Govinda who plays the act of an ageing superstar who wants to move from single screen to multi screen. His dance moves, comic timing, and now the 6 pack abs steal the scene from the rest in less than 20 minutes of screen time. Watch it if you want to see a rehash of 4-5 Saif Khan movies and especially the class of Govinda.

Happy Ending does just what the doctor ordered, providing a sweet romantic comedy at the end of 2014. The story is as fundamental as it can be, still the events playing out on the screen are as refreshing as tangy orange after a exhaustive workout, makes you smile more often than not.You get to see what you want, with Ileana stealing away the heartbeat with each of her grace and timely dialogues. The dialogues are wittingly written, Saif and Ileane did justice to it. The romance develops fittingly with this generation, direction is simple yet meticulous.Govinda seems getting close to his old times best, Ranvir is apt in the supporting role, with Kalki also doing reasonably well.Some lively music and Rekha Bhardwaj's unique voice has filled in the silent voids well.Overall one would have a hard time finding a dull moment, with the audience asking for more.Ileana deserves a special mention for having brought me to the the theater, rest all the review is objective.

1st things 1st - Saif plays Hugh Grant from 'Music & Lyrics'. To what extent that was 'inspired' is anyone's guess.Forget about a 'happy' ending. For any kind of an ending, there should first be a beginning, followed by gradual, or rapid, as the case may be, progression. Sad to note, all this one wants to do is to rush towards the end as rapidly, or, as the lead would love to note, since he's all about men being dogs, rabidly possible, and even so, overstays its welcome.To me, this has to be one of the most disappointing efforts, and there have been quite a few this year, so that probably not saying much.The technical aspects are all there, and someone might claim this flick had its heart in the right place, at least on paper. I wish it had been better though, since what there is, is something so totally inconsequential that its perhaps not even qualified for TV viewing. Having said that, I wish I could at say it was awful. But its just meh. The target is clear, both from the marketing material and the entire intent, being drummed into us from the beginning of the flick, that this is a send-up of the rom-com/romedy genre that has been a major money spinner in Bollywood.They break the 4th wall down, and perhaps that's meant to go somewhere, but what happens next is neither smart nor entertaining. And that IS sad, since Raj and DK had my respect right since 'Flavors', and esp. with 'Shor in the city', that I was willing to overlook misfires like '99' and a half-misfire like 'Go, Goa, gone' (it could've been soooo much more). But this one kinda removed all the goodwill they've gleaned, since it is neither smart nor entertaining.A few examples of things that start out with the intent to transport us to an area Bollywood has never even tried taking its audiences to:The segments with Zinta - start strong, and you're waiting for something new, something surprising, but they ultimately go nowhere. Punch-points with Koechlin - it's like talking to someone who's just searching for that comeback line, and not getting it, even after the curtain's come down. All the 4th wall sequences, and talking to himself - nada. 1 particular sequence where one of the leads, for no reason whatsoever, becomes needy, and a certain pre-scheduled appointment needs to be broken for something else to happen - it begins confusingly, progresses even more weirdly and ultimately ends with one character getting what they want, but that moment doesn't feel earned at all, and things just go downhill from there. Lazy, sloppy, pretentious writing, IMHO, and it's not surprise that the characterization on display here is remarkably inconsistent (except for Shorey's).Many mentions are made of Bollywood, with the twists and roadblocks that occur in rom-coms, that never come. Maybe the makers thought they did, but decided not to film them? 1/2 mentions are made of songs interrupting/enhancing the narrative flow in a Bollywood flick, and the irony there? This has speed-breaker songs in abundance, and the score, like the flick, is DOA as well. I thought they'd (Raj/DK) had a good ear in 'Shor...', but their tastes have soured with the passage of time.The parallel track with an actor is so unfunny, that its dead-on-arrival even though it's strung better than the rest, and has an actor who's making fun of the caricature that each of his peer celebrities are, along with himself, and self-aware humour is always appreciated, esp. since it is in short supply all the time.A key character, used for some lazy but welcome 'smart' comic relief, vanishes without a trace after 2 scenes. And that character was quite strong too.The only saving grace, both in terms of characterization, writing and performance is wrt Ranvir Shorey, but an actor of his calibre surely knew he was acting in a dud. And we know that the title is a pun, so having it depicted as such, and once again described as such, shows subtlety (which they seemed to have in spades when it came to 'Shor...') of the sledgehammer variety, and I do understand that messages have to be obvious when catering to the mainstream (and in this case, young, as well) audiences, but that was warning enough when it occurred. No point watching this, even on TV, in my humble opinion, but that won't stop many for sure.