Madhur Bhandarkar, a name associated with stark issues which he cleverly weaves around female oriented subjects. Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate, Fashion & Jail, of which Jail was the only one where the protagonist was a male. All his films are slice of life tales, wherein he has highlighted the dark reality of the candy floss covered lies of our society. When he announced Dil toh Baccha hai Ji, with 3 male protagonists, that too a comedy, I was a little, to be honest, skeptical. Nothing to doubt the directorial abilities of Madhur, but just, one rarely sees directors who specialize in a particular genre, be able to dabble in other genres, successfully. RGV, till date, is best at gangster movies, Rangeela being the only exception, but that too was before he became a master of gangsta flicks. Karan Johar is known for his larger than life ‘family’ films. Sanjay Bhansali is into opulent, broadway style cinema. Not that any of the above mentioned mavericks cannot do other genres, but the fact that they don’t, one cannot say. Coming back to DTBHJ, inspired somehow from the Gulzar written song of the same name for the film which released exactly a year ago, Ishqiya, is a slice of life inspired, light hearted comedy set in the backdrop of the city of dreams, Mumbai.

Naren Ahuja (Ajay Devgn) is a 38 year old loan manager, just going through a divorce with his wife of 8 years, Madhu (Rituparna Sengupta) and moves into his parents’ home. Villar Ville, for the uninitiated, is just a building away from where yours truly stays in Colaba. Abhay a.k.a. Abby (Emraan Hashmi) a gym trainer by profession and Casanova by nature, has to leave his society due to his philandering ways. Milind Kelkar (Omi Vaidya) is an honest, principled wedding counselor at a matrimonial website, who again has to leave his residence due to the normal methods used by landlords to get rid of their unwanted tenants, a leaking roof. Abhay & Milind, answer a PG ad placed by Naren and hence land up as his paying guests. So we have got the 3 protagonists under one roof.

Enter June (Shahzahan Padamsee), the new, sexy intern in Naren’s team. Milind wins a radio fm sponsored poetry event to come live with RJ Gungun (Shraddha Das) and Abhay, now jobless due to a failed attempt with a Don’s wife, tries to woo Anushka Narang (Tisca Chopra), an ex-model and now a high profile socialite, married to a rich industrialist, but with a penchant for toy-boys. (Madhur just doesn’t stop taking a dig at the Page 3 types, just love him for that!)

So there are 3 boys, 3 girls… pyaar to hona hi tha. And it does. But like all good things in Madhur’s films, they have to come with a twist. So in Naren’s case it is the huge age difference, which leads to a generation clash between the 38 year old and his 21 year old infatuation. Milind is just being used by Gungun, a fact all around him know and realize, but Milind believes in the cliché that if it is meant to be, it will be yours. Abhay on the other hand, has a different issue at his hands, he is falling in love, for the first time in his life, with Nikki (Shruti Hassan) and is torn between the choice that he has to make, money (Anu) or love (Nikki). Nikki is a US return socialite kid, who wants to give back to charity and the down trodden.

The script of the film is fantastic. It will remind one of the Basu Chatterjee adult comedy, Shaukeen. The film does go drab in pieces wherein one feels that the editing by Deven Murdeshwar (Jail, Fashion, Traffic Signal) could have been tighter. Especially post interval. But in an attempt to showcase the various issues, the editor seems to have been too lenient, or else the police station scene of Chris, Naren & June, the disco scene between Gungun & the Director could have and should have been easily chopped off. They would have had the same impact had they just been used as reference points. Also the portions where  Naren feels out of place with June’s jingbang, will remind one of Anil Kapoor’s character from Salaam-e-Ishq.

Cinematography by Ravi Walia is decent. No great shakes, but wonder why they had to keep showing the stock shots of Naren’s office repeatedly. Dialogues by Sanjay Chel are witty, realistic and funny. The silicone jokes at the funeral, the gay rip off on a popular soap, ‘agle janam mohe…’ or the ‘wholesale main bad luck’ are true gems. Even the ‘facebook’ usage by Abhay, is so much like the times that we live in. Do not miss his cameo as the wannabe poet.

Rituparna Sengupta and Daisy Irani are cute in their cameos. Aditya Raj Kapoor as the industrialist husband fits the character.

Shahzahan as the nubile, bubbly new recruit is cute. Her character has the most screen presence, being paired with Ajay (but obvious) and she lives it up to the tee.  Shraddha Das is spunky and sexy in her own right as the manipulative, ambitious Kolkatta girl with Bollywood dreams in her eyes. Shruti Hassan, though comes on the screen pretty late, but brings the main hard hitting twist, Madhur style in the film. Her no nonsense, too mature for her age act is convincing. The metaphorical slap, that she gives Emraan is brilliant and she carries it off very well. Tisca Chopra as the aging model is good. Her reaction to her lover’s confession is to watch out for.

Omi Vaidya, as the naïve poet, does a good follow up to 3 Idiots. Be it his initial flirting with Gungun over the radio show, his proposal, his first kiss, his breakdown at Nariman Point or be it the poetry recital in the climax or the book store episode in the end. All of them first rate. His constant Marathi mumblings are cute.

Emraan Hashmi, as the eternal loverboy, a role that he seems to have perfected by now is natural. Be it his romance with Tisca or with Shruti. Be it his ragging of Omi or advising Ajay. He brings spice to the otherwise sweet happenings in the film. His expression at his rejection is again heart breaking. One cannot imagine his character being treated in this fashion so it brings out the emotions what others might have felt at his hand, especially Anushka. He is brilliant in all the scenes when the trio are discussing their love lives.

Ajay, as always, speaks volumes through his eyes in this performance too. Be it his contempt at his colleagues for letching at June, or his bewilderment while entering the pub with her. His restrained anger when with his wife and daughter, or his embarrassment while rendering Kishore’s ‘Koi hota’ from Mere Apne at the karaoke party, all these and many more especially again, when he realizes granny’s plans and his reactions then, show the versatility of the actor. It is sheer pleasure watching him on screen.

That brings us to the crime master here, the Director, Madhur Bhandarkar. Madhur has his heart in the right place and it shows in the film. But there are certain places where, keeping in mind with today’s exposure of the audiences to various forms of cinema, there are quite a few places where he needed to raise the bar. The music by Pritam for example is soothing at times, but not in the league of Once Upon A Time in Mumbai. The ‘Jaadu’ interludes by Kunal Ganjawala in the film are perfect though. Even the ‘Tere Bin’ by Sonu Nigam & Mohit Chauhan’s ‘Abhi kuch dino se’ are easy on the years. Even the comedy at times, does not come across as matured as the characters have been portrayed to be. Wonder why the film is rated ‘A’.  The kids are exposed to much more obscene and vulgar matter, being dished out in the name of television nowadays. A wake up call for the censors in India, maybe. But all in all, you do leave the film with a smile.

Rating: 7/10

By Yusuf Poonawala

YusuF Poonawala, is an independent writer, who authors The Y Factor. Explore his passion for movies with reviews and everything around them.