There’s a golden rule in film-making that behind every great and blockbuster movie there’s a relatable character in it. Most of the cases its the protagonist himself but not always. Be it Harry Potter (Titular character himself), Lord of the Rings (Frodo or Samwise Gangee and many others), Star Wars (Luke Skywalker) and closer still, 3 idiots (Madhavan). Many a times Bollywood tends to forget this rule. But the newbie director knew this very well and gave the character of Krish (Arjun Kapoor) a very relatable, everyday look. And it helped the movie to do things that Screenwriting couldn’t. In fact, 2 states is the best book written by Chetan Bhagat and Abhishek Varman did justice to that with his direction.
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| A Rightful adaptation |
As far as actors are concerned,
Arjun Kapoor gave an impeccable performance. He was never over-dramatic and
never too dull to lose interest in. Playing a guy that you would root for till
the end is very difficult, but he does it easily. He gave us a glimpse of the
performer he could be in a very serious role. All he needs is a movie like
Kaminey or Rockstar. In fact, he also carried on the whole film in a
be-spectacled version, a first for Hindi movies as far as I remember!!
Alia Bhatt, reveling from a power-packed
performance in Highway, was simply good. I always thought of her as one of
those dumb actresses who stuck gold, in the category of Katrina Kaif and Sunny
Leone after Student of the Year, but this movie has totally changed my
perspective. Her chemistry with Arjun Kapoor is very interesting and keeps you
on edge(if you don't know the story). She is pretty & talented; with hands
of Mahesh Bhatt on her she has a long way to go.
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| Ronit Roy.. was angry in whole movie for his career choices in 90s. |
Ronit Roy and Amrita Singh as
Krish’s parents were perfect and supplied their talents well to the story.
Amrita Singh as Punjabi mother(in-law) was totally over-the-top yet believable.
And Ronit Roy is one of those what-could-have-beens of the Indian Film
Industry. In his second innings in Bollywood he is doing some great job.
Alia’s parents were played by
Revathy and S Subramanian, and were good enough in their respective role. There
was a subtle and excellent throwback to Revathy’s earlier work with song Saathiya Ye
Tune Kya Kia appearing in between a Tamil Song.
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| Could have easily been '2 Corporates' instead of 2 States |
The movie had a lot lesser humor
quotient than the book and lot more not-so-subtle advertisements. It becomes
too much in some scenes. I can’t understand need to pitch in bank names and
shampoos when you have 2 of the biggest production houses attached with the movie.
Although life in IIM-A was pleasant.
Being the son of great art director
R Varman, Abhishek Varman had given a nice touch to the scenes and it feels
refreshing.
The second half was turning out to
be slapstick-melodrama before it picked itself again. The movie touched the
clashes of culture beautifully, but could have done without some offensive
statements about South Indians. The movie is a family entertainer depending on
level of awkwardness you feel while watching explicit kissing scenes with parents
:).
7/10- 3 for Arjun, 2 for Alia, 1 for
Amrita & Ronit, 1 for being loyal to the story.
