Judwaa 2 Movie Review: It Is Better Than The Original!

Varun Dhawan Out-Salmans The Original

Judwaa 2

Starring: Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Tapsee Pannu,Anupam Kher

Directed by: David Dhawan

Rating: *** ½(3 and a half stars)

In our country we revere the dead  . And disrespect the urge to laugh and have fun. Judwaa too reminds  us how enjoyable frivolity  in cinema can be if packaged and executed expertly.

When a 20 year old film about identical twins caught in a rough hour traffic of endearing inanity is  rebooted we immediately start getting emotional about the  old film which incidentally, was trashed on release.We even begin to treat Anu Malik’s pedestrian tunes  in the original as classics.

There is news for all nostalgia addicts. Judwaa 2 is not only a more engaging ode to inanity than the original, Varun Dhawan even manages to outdistance Salman Khan’s considerable energy level in the original.Dhawan  conveys a certain innocence in  his body language that is the opposite if  sexual candour.

What works bigtime for  this sorted remake is its absolute honesty of  intention. David Dhawan  wants to entertain as  he has been doing for decades. There is  no socio-cultural political agenda(not counting a super-dumb reference to  Trump), no attempt to induce gravity into the binge of silliness.The point is the pointlessness. The prattle and the preening is all so frenetic , we get no time to think.We  just  go with the flow.And flow with the glow and sparkle that father-sonDhawan generate together.

On that perilous level of utter abandon Judwaa 2 hangs by a slender thread unwilling to let go even a stray moment of potentialpleasurability. The film’s obstinacy to win you over with a feast of fatuousness breaks down our defences  after a while. Judwaa  2 is the kind of massy rablerouser that  we don’t see in  mainstream cinema any more. We either have “realistic” romcoms  set  in  small towns or wannabe Hollywood spectacles which go nowhere  with their egoistic ambitions.

Judwaa 2 is never embarrassed about its aspirations. It aims  to be a lowbrow entertainer .Nothing  more  , nothing less. And it succeeds in being just that from the first frame to last. Everyone  on screen has a blast. The mood of an ongoing party  slithers down to the audience infecting us with a giggly sense of beholding guilty pleasures.

The  film is lavishly mounted. Cinematographer Ayananka Bose shoots London with the lipsmacking relish  of  a tourist who has been  there done  it all. There is the comfort of the familiar about the presentation which something quite  the opposite of nostalgia. Speaking of which I wish Salman’s cameo bit had been better written into the plot. It is disappointingly glib and lacking  magic.

Holding the  crunchy crisp  saga of mistaken identities together isVarun Dhawan . He is  so perky and on-the-ball, this film is bound to take  his stardom many steps ahead. Without making a song and dance about it….or, shall we say making a  LOT of song and dance  about it he manges to be an actor who connects with the child within himself and the audience.With two ladies more than willing to swoon croon and smooch with him Varun has himself a whale  of a time. WhileTapsee Pannu brings a kind of sobriety even to the wackiest incidents,  Jacqueline Fernandez’ giggly sexiness is becoming  tiresome and repetitive.A crash  course in restrain is serious recommended.

The rest of the cast comprises some outstanding actors like PavanMalhotra(playing an Indian cop in London out to ban illegal immigrants), Manoj Pahwa(delightful with his punjabi-propahalliterations) ,Rajpal Yadav(reduced to being Varun’s sidekick) andSachin Khedkar  who  leave a genial  impression in spite of their  brief parts.Everyone in the film  quickly cottons on to the impetuous insouciant mood  of the presentation.

So do we, actually. Don’t think about why and how the two VarunDhawans  end up where they do. There is a remarkable absence of apology or defence  about the David Dhawan of entertainment. It exists  for the sole purpose of  providing mass entertainment. ThatVarun Dhawan  proves  to be  such a chip off the  old block is providential for  David Dhawan.

We  just know we are in  it for fun.and to hell with gravity.