Luv Ka The End (2011)

Girl power is a force to be reckoned with and that’s precisely what Luv Ka The End, Yash Raj’s latest flick is all about. It displays a different side of Bollywood, one that shows young girls moving on after breaking up instead of shedding tears for rest of their lives. It shows that today’s girls are loyal but not hopelessly romantic and will break your bones (quite literally) if you break their heart!

Luv Ka The End also takes a break from endless melodramatic stories, dance sequences in Switzerland, chiffon saris, promises of eternal love. In case you are still wondering if this is a Bollywood movie, it indeed is. But it just shows that the world is moving on or at least Bollywood is.

The plot of Luv Ka The End revolves around teenagers and college students. It’s about Rhea Dialdas (Shraddha Kapoor), a typical girl next door who is going out with Luv Nanda (Taaha Shah),the richest, extremely spoilt and the most popular boy in college. Ten minutes into the movie Rhea discovers Luv’s two-timing ways and decides to script his end. Assisted by her two friends, Gollu (Errol Marks) and Sonia (Sreejita De), Rhea makes a master plan to kick Luv’s butt. And what spans out over the night before Rhea’s 18th birthday, takes us on a hilarious journey of misadventures that Luv Nanda is made to put up with. Some of the fun pranks include sprinkling itching powder in his undies and super gluing it to ensure permanency and drugging him enough to go all out at a cross-dressing bar. This and the rest that happens carve the story of Luv Ka The End. And just when you think you know how the story will end, it takes you by surprise once again.

Yash Raj Films have launched a banner called Y Films specifically for the youth and this is their first movie under that banner. The story of Luv Ka The End is indeed inspiring and different, which is something rare in Bollywood now. Had it been executed in a slightly better way, it would have been a massive hit! However, we aren’t complaining as long as it is fun to watch which it sure is.

The opening scenes of Luv Ka The End give you a strong sense of déjà vu and are reminiscent of Wake Up Sid. As you move on, it also reminds you of John Tucker Must Die but it still works and here’s why. The concept of Luv Ka The End is fresh and snazzy for Bollywood. The film engages you from scene one but the real fun starts when Rhea decides to take Luv down. Also, she doesn’t take too long to realize he’s cheating, which keeps the movie from becoming boring. The fact that the movie winds up within two hours keeps it engrossing.

While some might argue that the tricks the girls use against Luv are childish and not really convincing, they are fun to watch! And after all what else can you expect eighteen-year-old girls to come up within a night’s time? Though I must agree I wasn’t really convinced by the fact that the girls could smash Luv’s Jaguar worth five million within seconds with mere baseball bats and hockey sticks. That said, despite Rhea’s childish tricks you want to join hands with her.

The characters are perfectly sketched out and not only are they well defined but the actors have done a good job portraying them too. Shraddha Kapoor, the newcomer and protagonist of Luv Ka The End stands out and completely steals the show. She is immensely confident, youthful, vibrant, convincing and just plain perfect for her role and clearly has a bright future after this film. Taaha Shah has done a good job but his performance could have been much better. Sadly he just looks like a side actor because the film revolves around Rhea. Rhea’s best friends - Jugs (Pushtie Shaktie) as the plump supporter induces laughs and Sonia has done a fair job too. Here I might add, Rhea’s sister, the child star is a very interesting character. The young one has done a pretty confident job too and delivers some dialogues which definitely surprise you.

Oh and how can we forget our very own Ali Zafar! Yes, Ali makes a cameo in the film towards the end as Freddy Kapoor. He looks amazing to say the least and nothing less than a rockstar! He lights the screen with his presence and his track – ‘F.U.N Fun Funaa’. The overall music is good and the title track stands out. You might find yourself humming the tunes as the end credits roll down the screen.

To sum up, Luv Ka The End might not be a five star film but it’s fun to watch and different for a change. It’s high on girl power and advocates ‘sisters before misters’. If the girls are going to watch it boys need to be afraid, very afraid!

So all you girls out there get together with your girlfriends and watch this at a girls’ night in. Rest assured, you will have a fun time! It’s strictly a young people’s movie so don’t bother watching it if you don’t remember your teen years anymore – Hafsah Sarfraz

Rating – 3 out of 5

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2011, Genre – Comedy/Romance, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Ashish Patil, Director – Bumpy, Music Director – Ram Sampath, Cast – Taaha Shah, Shraddha Kapoor, Shehnaz Treasurywala, Jannat Zubair Rahmani, Archana Puran Singh, Pushti, Ali Zafar (Guest Appearance)

De Dana Dan (2009)

Infused with wickedly funny dialogues, naughty one liners and hilarious situations, director Priyadarshan’s De Dana Dan is a rip-roaring comedy which requires one to put aside his/her sense of logic to let the laughter sink in for the next three hours.

Shot entirely in Singapore, the film starts slow but soon the real fun begins as the characters unfold and situations gets wacky.

Buddies Kasha Kumar and Sunil Shetty are living off their girlfriends Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy, respectively. Akshay (Nitin Bankar) plays an arduous driver-cum-housekeeper who is treated like a dog by his strident lady boss Archana Puran Singh. Sunil (Ram Mishra) is a courier boy, and in order to repay the loan that Nitin’s late father once took, he accepted the odd job where even the pet pooch of the lady boss enjoys a better status and the indiscrimination ultimately leads to jealously against the poor canine.

Enters conman and money broker Paresh Rawal who is being chased by a cop close to retirement from service. Paresh is guilty of issuing fake cheques. Akshay and Sunil plan a shortcut to quick money and kidnap the dog for ransom. But the dog escapes and returns home safely. However upon discovering Akshay missing from home, the lady boss and police think it is Akshay who has been kidnapped.

The rest of the story is based on funny incidents, mistaken identities and finally discovering who is who. Handling so many situations with so many characters seemed like a tough job but the director didn’t lose his grip on the subject. The roles of Shakti Kapoor and Neha Dhupia along with those of Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever and Asrani flare up the comedy index and make the scenes more exhilarating.

Akshay’s comedic talents are quite subdued in the film yet quite effective at eliciting humour. Sunil Shetty also seems to be working hard on his comedic drive these days. Katrina couldn’t offer much as her role felt like it was chopped off during editing. Besides, her voice has been dubbed in the film.

The dialogue is the highlight of the movie. The music courtesy Pritam is average, however cinematography is competent. The film’s major pluses include slick characterization, intelligent execution and awesome performances. The care put into direction is equally praiseworthy. The only minus in the film were the post-hotel scenes where the director stretches the comedy scene too long and too thin.

De Dana Dan appears to have a massive budget, boasts of a stellar cast and contains good special effects – Asif Khan

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Comedy, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Ganesh Jain, Girish Jain, Ratan Jain, Director – Priyadarshan, Music Director – Pritam, Rdb, Ad Boyz, Cast – Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Sameera Reddy, Johny Lever, Archana Puran Singh, Manoj Joshi, Tinu Anand, Chunkey Pandey, Asrani, Vikram Gokhale, Rajpal Yadav, Aditi Govitrikar, Supriya Karnik