Dil Bole Hadippa! - Yet another mediocre film from Yash Raj..

Movie - Dil Bole Hadippa! (Hindi)
Director - Anurag Singh
Producer - Aditya Chopra
Cast - Rani Mukherjee, Shahid Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil, Rakhi Sawant, Sherlyn Chopra
Music - Pritam
Cinematography - Sudeep Chatterjee
Editing - Ritesh Soni
Lyrics - Jaideep Sahni
Release Date - 18th September 2009.

Havent we all seen enough of Yash Raj films set in Punjab? This movie is yet another one set in Amritsar, which begins with 'Ik Onkar' and has the farms and fields, has people doing Bhangra at the slightest excuse and what not. In between all this, there is a girl/woman called Veera Kaur (Rani Mukherjee making her so-called comeback) who thinks she is a world class batsman. How this cricket-crazy girl, transforms herself and leads her pind to a victory in a prestigious cricket match is the basic story of this film. I never really had any expectations out of this movie. But somehow I was able to sit through the whole film. Now, coming to the review.  


Yash Raj films seriously have to think beyond themselves and Punjab. In each and every film of theirs they show Punjab in all its glory and also give references to most of the films they have made before. Here, we see Rakhi Sawant dancing to Aishwarya Rai's Crazy Kiya Re and Kajra Re on a nautanki stage in the first song of the movie. A lorry with Dhoom:2's poster painted on it, the Hinglish dialogues last heard in Tashan, the setting which is very similar to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and much more. And if you thought the Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge tributes ended with Bachna Ae Haseeno and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (even Roadside Romeo had a tribute to DDLJ), you're wrong. There's yet another tribute here to that superhit of yesteryears in this movie. Shahid Kapoor who is extremely good at mimicking Shah Rukh Khan (that was what he had been doing in the name of acting till Kaminey happened) does the Raj act this time in a nautanki scene. Aditya Chopra is so determined to make us hate that classic I guess. Why would he test our patience by including a tribute scene of that movie in every film produced by him otherwise? 
If the last sports movie from Yash Raj had Chak De! in its title, this time it is yet another Punjabi phrase, Hadippa!. Even Rani Mukherjee's male avtar is named after Shah Rukh Khan's character in Veer-Zaara, Veer Pratap Singh. GOD!! Please tell the people at Yash Raj to stop this self-obsession. All this nonsense in the name of paying tributes, that too in every film, would make the viewer hate these older movies which he/she once loved. 


In Chak De! India, we saw a bunch of girls bring the women's hockey world cup to India with the help of a great coach after going through a lot of humiliation and troubles. It was a brilliant film, completely different from usual Yash Raj films and was a success both critically and commercially. It had a solid story and a genuineness in it which made it work. But this film, has a very uninteresting theme itself. The theme, supposedly lifted from a Hollywood movie She's The Man (I havent seen that film. So I dont know much about it), is about a girl who dresses up as a boy just to fulfill her passion of playing cricket, because girls are not allowed to play cricket in her pind's team. And the justification for her not trying in any women's team is that there are no women's cricket teams in her village. Now, how interesting is that??


So, the girl Veera, a clone of Babli from Bunty Aur Babli becomes Veer and joins the team of Indian Tigers, who badly need to win a match against the Pakistani team, to get the Aman cup, which they have been losing for several years (I dont remember the exact number!!). Since the Indian Tigers, owned by Anupam Kher was going through a rough patch, Anupam Kher, the owner of the team, calls his son Rohan, played by Shahid Kapoor from London to help him out. Rohan plays county cricket in London and stays with his mother who is divorced from Anupam Kher. He comes to India, agrees to play in the team and lead it to victory. The rest of the movie goes on finally reaching the cricket match. Rani's true identity is also revealed, in the climax. In between all this, Shahid and Rani (the female) fall in love as well. To add to this, there are subplots about Shahid's parents' broken marriage and another one about Sherlyn Chopra's attempts to woo him. 


The film works to a certain extent only because of Rani Mukherjee's sincere performance. She was lovely when she did the role of Babli in 2005. She repeats the same kind of performance for Veera, which is okay. But the Hinglish gets too annoying at times. As Veer, the Punjabi boy, she is fun to watch. She was great as the guy in the dance number with Rakhi Sawant. But she could have at least made a difference to her voice modulation when she was playing the guy during the scenes. This film also has the major plot-hole similar to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Anybody can guess the fancy dress easily, but the people inside the film are unaware of it. A girl cannot turn into a guy just by sticking on a fake moustache and beard. She has to be convincing in her body language, voice modulation, etc, as well. Rani's performance as Veer keeps varying. In many scenes, she does a good job, and in certain other scenes, it is just like a girl acting or speaking. She does not take any effort to behave like a guy or a boy to her co-stars. Her make-up, especially the moustache and beard is so silly. Anyone with a proper eyesight can find out that it is fake. One thing I noticed is that Rani looked younger when she came as Veer compared to how she appears as Veera. She tries her best, but cannot do a fabulous job like she usually does. But in spite of all this, she is extremely lovable in the role. She is the one who makes this movie watchable, at least. I dont think this movie was a right choice for her to make a comeback. 


Shahid Kapoor is okay. He has definitely improved from the days he was just imitating Shah Rukh in the name of acting. He does not have much to do in this movie. He really tries hard to make some scenes interesting but cannot do so because of poor writing and direction. But his good screen-presence really helps this otherwise pathetic movie. The romantic pairing of Shahid and Rani doesnt work one bit. But their chemistry as 2 guys together was pretty good. Anupam Kher and Dalip Tahil as the friends from India and Pakistan respectively play the roles like they have done in a hundred other movies. Rakhi Sawant has exactly one sentence to speak in the film, apart from showing her cleavage and dancing to some silly songs. She could have done Veer's part easily, as she would look very convincing as a man. (:P) Sheryln Chopra shows much more than cleavage, and gets to say some more lines as well. But her character disappears somewhere in the second half. And when that happens, the background score actually has a voice singing 'Bye Bye Soniya!!' (Her name in the movie). Hahahaha!! That was funny!! There is Vrajesh Hirjee also in an insignificant role.


The director is confused whether to treat this movie as a love story between Shahid and Rani or as a sports film where a girl achieves her dream by dressing up as a guy. The film ends up being neither of these. It didnt work as a comedy. (I didnt even laugh for a single scene). It didnt work as a sports film either as the cricket match in the end was far from exciting. It was totally predictable and boring. The final speech by Rani, though performed well, was pretty funny and cliched. The patriotic angle trying to show friendship between India and Pakistan also doesnt work. (Dont these guys know about the not-so-good relation we have with Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks? Or that nobody has been going to Pakistan to play cricket after the attack on the Sri Lankan team?  But yea, in a Yash Raj film, anything can happen). Music by Pritam is boring. Not a single song is good. Cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee is strictly average. I wonder if it was the same Sudeep Chatterjee who did some extraordinary work in the sports scenes in Chak De! India. 


All in all, this movie didnt evoke any particular feeling in me. I just watched the entire movie because I had nothing else to do. It didnt make me laugh, it didnt make me excited and it didnt make me feel for any of the characters. But at the same time, it didnt make me go away without watching it too. I would say its plain mediocre. The only things that worked were Rani's and Shahid's performances (which were quite ordinary compared to other films, but made a big difference in this one). Watch it if you have nothing else to do. 


Rating - 2/5