Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd. – Film Review
This review contains spoilers.
HTPL is a delightful film for more reasons than one. It is a glowing proof to how well-worked stories can still work even with not so revolutionary treatment or setting.
GOA. How lame can you get?
A bus full of quirky characters, each theatrically distinct in mannerisms and hair-do’s. lame.
A driver-conductor crew trying to mouth dehati abuses and laughing at the tourist-crew’s back. Still doesn’t get better.
If you try finding out why this film works you might literally miss the ‘bus’. Liril fresh faces, designer clothes, cardboard characters, postcard images, and you will have fun. The screen is always populated with these 10-12 faces who display a wide contrasting range of antics. If you look closely, all of the characters have two faces to them, and the difference comes more prominently in the case of Sandhya Mridul’s character. A fearless direction breaks and re-breaks moulds to give a no-holds barred look to the film.
It is not trying to be different and that’s whats fun about it. The winner is the well worked and nuanced characters. They stay with you. With constant references to the 70’s Bollywood of Gulzar. Panchamda & Hrishida, Reema Kagti gives her own little tribute to her (guessing) formative years. Vishal Shekhar do a funtoo job on the soundtrack laden with jhankaar. The narrative moves effortlessly from comic to confrontational to emotional to really really wacky. Amisha Patel couldn’t have asked for a better role, she is a painful delight in every frame she occupies, just like a constant reminder of Indian ‘bridal-loudmouth’ sentimentalities in a cosmo-crowd increasingly trying to disregard its bearings. After this one and Celina’s Sania Badnaam in apna sapna money money, we just might have a blonde movement started on screen in Bollywood.
‘the guy who plays Vicky’ is a nice change from the regular sohail khans and aftabs and their ilk.
Boman Irani keeps the viewer glued to the screen with his electric presence and vista of expressions, he needs no lines for emoting, that’s his strength, he includes you in his pain and self-depracation, much like Ranveer, who connects to the Upper Stall as well as the Balcony with razor sharp precision and interest levels.
It would be a credit to a director if she manages to underplay a Shabana Azmi, she is an absolute joy to watch any day any film. The sequence at the party (we are Mr & Mrs 55) is very ably handled, so would be the scenes between KK and Raima Sen(what a find!). Not even a single story sticks out like a sore thumb, you feel like a part of the journey.
Watch KK in the portions building up to the ‘Sajnaji’ song and you will know why he is considered one of the best actors out there.
The best kept secret is the story involving Abhay Deol & Minissha Lamba, something which doesn’t go down quite smoothly with the Indian cine-sensibilities(too many why’s and how’s and so-dumb’s), but this is a film Kevin Smith(Clerks) would approve of. The ultracool RJ narration also deserves a mention; I took it as a take on many other forms of cinema and soaps, that’s how it worked for me I guess. The take homes could highly differ.
Anurag Kashyap uses toned down dialogues, something which comes between slapstick (seety-worthy) and multiplex-friendly. Ranveer and KK’s portions and the Aspy-Zara RJ voice over (Hailey’s comet) are downright hilarious.
Vikram Chatwal plays himself, a confused desi, with ease. Sandhya Mridul is full of verve and latino charm (god knows what that means!).
Apart from the regular views on the film, what I found interesting is how the film is a reviewer’s delight, there is so many characters to write about. All the departments might not be top league, the story might not be convincing enough(why would a shy Dia Mirza turn into a ‘main bhaag jaaoongi’ types, planning to spend the rest of her life with a man on run in a quite ‘nadiya-kinare’ cottage), the colors might not be consistent, the overall genre might not be uniform(it moves from a road trip flick to an emotional quest into the characters to slapstick to urban humor to stereotyped Dil Chahta Hai sequences), but THAT’S THE FUN! That’s why it’s a reviewer’s delight.
Go for the ride!
Tushar Shukla
Tags: Direction, Medium, Teaching Film-making
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I totally loved the movie…for its PAisa vasool quality..
Its nt a gr8, to be nominated for Oscar kinda movie bt its simply a cute, sweet n creatiive movie with sucha a simple storyline..
Yes, I agree, the typical
‘popcorn & pepsi with pals’
kinda movie…
I was really surprised the way
KK danced to Sajna … rockin’ it was.
I din like the movie…
The narrative of the movie is very tiring..
Aspy-Zara episode and their cat-dog nuances are thoroughly irritating,not to mention tiring..
I didn’t understand what the movie-maker wanted to say…
A thorough bore..
KayKay Menon was the only saving grace
yucky film it is !!!
and few things (spoilers begin) ——
is it actually considerd to be a ‘progressive / good director’ if u unnecessarily throw in a couple of confused gay characters ???
That part disgusted me more than a Brokeback mountain.
Why was Ranvir shorey thrown away after the first 15 mins of the film ???
What is the point of the Aspi-Zaara dog/cat things …and not to mentiion the superhero thingy. I mean WTF ????
(spoilers end) ——
What is so cute in the film ??? Why did Anurag sign this film ???? (He better say he did it for money/DVDS)
Is this the quality of movies to come out from Excel entertainment (DCH,Lakshya) ??
Sad .. really sad ..
“Why did Anurag sign this film ???? (He better say he did it for money/DVDS)”….what logic is this ? So u mean to say that for good money he writes bad things. Or whenever he writes anything bad(something that u dont like),u conclude its for money only ? Dont forget he is putting his name their as well. Why would he do that ?KK yaar ? I think he did a decent job. This movie is one watch only for KK’s rocking sajnaji song.
Hey Tushar, nice one!!
Totaly with you on this!
But Karthik, did you really dislike it ‘that’ much???
To be honest, the whole confused gay/married angle to the story had a sense of realism.
Do you know how many people that has happened to??
Very common…..So i wouldn’t really say the director is trying to shock, its more a case of showing reality.
Just as much as the other stories (barring Aspi-Zaara) were relatable and real, so was this one.
Anyways, i guess not all will like the same film…
Arre i can’t wait for the dvd!!
Cheers Tushar bhai!!
“is it actually considerd to be a
thanks, Steve bhai!
:(( i wasted 100 bucks for this crap… I want a refund!!