The fault in their stars

Jasmine Singh

A fresh story, catchy dialogues, balanced comedy, amazingly fine actors, good music...if everything is apt and so good, what could possibly be wrong with Punjabi film Vekh Baraatan Challiyan (VBC). Maybe, some fault in the stars, or maybe the team did not show its kundali to a pandit before doing the film!  Jokes apart, this week’s Punjabi release Vekh Baraatan Challiyan has everything going right for it, despite that you end up with a feeling of ‘something missing.’

Director Ksshitij Chaudhary has tried to keep the story, actors and dialogues, everything on track; nevertheless, the film can be seen slipping from his hands many times. The film has no definite rhythm, it moves, it slows down, it drags, and it moves again, and then ends abruptly.

Vekh Baraatan Challiyan is based on a different and new plot that deals with superstitions in our country, which worthy of appreciation. The film also makes an effort to establish a friendly atmosphere between Punjab and Haryana, given the SYL tension and this is definitely something fresh and new for Punjabi cinema. 

But, it is only during the film that one realises that it is heavily impregnated with too many Haryanavi dialogues. In fact, it stops feeling like a Punjabi film after sometime, it looks like another Haryanavi film. The spoken Haryanavi however, is chaste and neat but wasn’t this supposed to be a Punjabi film? 

It gets slow and almost drags itself 15 minutes into the second half. Neat edits would have made the film more enjoyable. The other thing that kills the joy of the film is its predictable climax and abrupt ending! 

The film has the best cast one can imagine; Bollywood actor Govind Namdev and television actress, Kavita Kaushik make their Punjabi film debut with VBC. Both the actors in their Haryanavi roles and accent have nailed their respective characters. Once again actor Karamjit Anmol lifts the humour meter of the film; he is too good in his short and sweet character.

Actor comedian Jaswinder Bhalla does justice to his character minus the overloaded pitch and dialogues! Next up are actors in special appearance, Ranjit Bawa and Amrinder Gill. One could imagine Ranjit Bawa in a comic role, in VBC, Ranjit is totally loveable. His fans will get to see his unexplored comic timing, as for singer-actor Amrinder Gill, he fits in his Haryanavi character like hand in glove.

Now for the lead actor of the film, Binnu Dhillon. Binnu needs no introduction when it comes to his impeccable comic timing. This is one of his few films as a lead actor, the first being Dulla Bhatti. Since it is not a comic character that he plays, we find him holding back in comedy as well. Surprisingly, despite being the lead actor of the film, the director has failed to establish his character well. The film’s music is nice. 

But despite most of the things working in its favour, it does not make the desired impact, well, kundali main koi dosh lage seh!