Ladies vs Aditya Chopra

[1]

Usually, Yash Raj films are not upsetting. Barring the odd Fanaa and the noxious fumes that Uday Chopra sends up every time he decides to prance about with a pretty young thing, films from the House of The Chopras may be same-old, soppy, even dull, but hardly ever infuriating.

That changes with Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl.
Up until now, the world of the Chopras was spinning nicely on the comforting power of family, love, good values and a moral balance that, in the end, a few hurdles later, tilted in favour of what was good and he who was right.
Whether sons ventured West or fell into bad company, at the core, it was all straight and simple — bad people went to hell if they could not be tamed to say “sorry bauji”, and good people got love, mummy and a big hug.
Every time the Chopras took family out of the equation, they misfired. But they always got the moral of the story right. Not this time. Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl seriously believes that while girls may be cool, it’s the boys who rule.

Riding on the gaudy and gold dupattas of the loud and lovely Band Baaja Baaraat, Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl arrives with gusto and confidence. We first encounter Ricky Bahl (Ranveer Singh) posing as Sunny, a gym instructor focused on the silly but sweet Delhi girl, Dimple (Parineeti Chopra). Sunny is pataoing Dimple, daughter of a big property dealer, with an eye on her daddyji’s monies. Ricky has a plan which involves a bungalow on Delhi’s Barakhamba Road and his father's dying wish.
Daughter and daddy both fall for it, and as soon as Ricky is handed a briefcase full of Rs 20 lakh, he disappears, with his fridge and clothes, leaving his SIM card in his phone for that one last call from a weeping Dimple. She calls and Shah Rukh Khan tells her: “Jeetne ke liye kuch haarna parta hai, aur haar ke jeetne wale ko baazigar kehte hain”.
SIM is flushed, phone smashed and Ricky is in a new getup and on to his next female victim. Though there were 30 girls in 15 years, we get to meet three — Dimple, Raina Parulekar (Dipannita Sharma) and Saira Rashid (Aditi Sharma). All lose money, confidence, and one even her heart.
But Raina, an independent, corporate chic, decides to speak up and into the TV cameras. The other two victims perk up when they hear her story. A photo is SMSed and a conference call later they all are joined in their anger and loathing for Sunny, Deven Shah, Iqbal, aka Ricky.
They decide to get together, trace him and con him to get their money back. Their plan rests on the enthusiasm and competence of Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma), a charming and fast-talking sales executive in a mall. They offer Ishika Rs 5 lakh and she says yes.
When these three girls plus one come together — adorable, cute and ready to rumble — it’s a lovely moment. Our loyalties and sympathies are with them. We want to join this gang and see them bring Ricky down, screaming, sobbing and saying sorry. They are our Powerpuff Girls and he, Ricky Bahl, is Mojo Jojo.
The girls trace him to Goa and set up a trap, just as he did: An attractive bait, a tantalising opportunity.
But just as the girls are inching towards a cathartic high-five, Aditya Chopra drops his cool jeans to reveal his Punjabi dhaaree-walla kachcha. Heinous horribilis.
In his world, girls are stupid and senti and they always get conned. And the boy who thought nothing of taking a widow’s hard-earned money, doesn’t just get to con the girls once again, but also gets to snog one and live happily ever after, without even having to say sorry.
I know Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl is not real; it’s make-believe. But that’s precisely why I am pissed off. At least in this make-believe world the verdict should be fair. If even here things don’t work right, then what’s the point, really?

I have too many problems with Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, and for most of them the blame rests with Aditya Chopra’s story and Maneesh Sharma’s direction. Apart from the soulless gyrations choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant & Co., and seriously tacky production and camera work, my objection is that Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl poses to be a cool flick, but is a conservative, trite piece of nonsense which exists for no other reason except to make some money off the blessed BBB couple.
BBB had two things going for it. One, Shruti Kakkar and Bittoo Sharma were incredibly real and appealing. They belonged to the world they inhabited and had, as Punjabis say, pursnalty. And then there was chemistry. The lead pair, whether they were fighting or making out, rocked their LIG world.
Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl keeps Anushka and Ranveer apart for the longest time possible. And when it brings them together, it’s too little and too late. Also, Anushka and, especially, Ranveer, have been put through the standard stencil of the Chopras. Toned, plucked, bleached and clear of all blemishes, Ricky and Ishika are soulless, airbrushed apparitions in slo-mo. But because both are inhabited by decent actors, they get their expressions and lines right.
Of the three surprisingly efficient girls — Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma, Delhi’s Dimple stands out, mainly because she gets the best of Habib Faisal’s smart Hinglish dialogue.
I laughed a little, especially with Dimple, but the more I think about the film, the more I dislike it. Really, Mr Aditya Chopra, I am not asking for political correctness here. But the balance of your world is skewed. If a boy takes away a girl’s toys and breaks her heart, it’s wrong to let him kiss her as well. It’s just plain wrong.