Out of sync with the times

Mona

Three yaars, actually siblings, cousins to be precise, navigate life and relationships in ‘Yaariyan 2’, a standalone sequel of Divya Khosla Kumar-directed ‘Yaariyan’. Divya chucks the director’s hat this time to play the leading lady.

The three — Laadli Chibber (Divya), Shikhar Randhawa (Meezaan Jafri) and Bajrang Das Khatri (Pearl V Puri) — are extremely close and are still paying ‘nappy badalane wale ka karz’, as they like to say it.

Laadli tosses up her dream of kissing a hundred frogs before finding her prince to settle in an arranged match. Bajrang aka Bajju is leading a lonely life in Mumbai and Shikhar is living on his own terms before his escapades turn him into a delivery boy. The three get together in Mumbai, trying to make sense of their personal and professional lives.

Directed by Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, it’s a T-Series film, which obviously means that the production value is high. It paints a beautiful picture of the scenic Shimla and the massy Mumbai. Hindi version of the 2014 Malayalam film ‘Bangalore Days’ by Anjali Menon, ‘Yaariyan 2’ has a lot going on: a single mom, troubled father-son relationship, biking, cultural clash, a wheelchair-bound yet aspirational girl, misunderstanding in couples… Yet, none gets to meet its full arc. In the 148-minute film, the heroine meets her hero well in time but her two brothers have to find their made-in-heaven matches, too. So, one has to sit through.

Full-on Bollywood clichés are aided with some memorable songs from the treasure trove of T-Series. Appearing at opportune moments, these songs, including ‘Mahi Ve’, ‘Simroon Tera Naam’, ‘Suit Patiala’ and ‘Saure Ghar’, make this outing bearable.

The film sees the Hindi cinema debut of Yash Dasgupta, Pearl V Puri and Anaswara Rajan. Yash as an introvert and heartbroken Abhay, Pearl as a religious Bajrang and Anaswara as an aspiring Ikrooh do decently well. Divya isn’t new to acting. She looks lovely on screen and does a fair job at playing a good-hearted bimbo. Meezaan Jafri as Shikhar stands out in this crowd in his intense role. However, it’s actually Murali Sharma as a grieving father and Lillete Dubey as a single mom pushing her daughter into matrimony that fare better than the others.

Murli’s track with his daughter manages to tug at your heartstrings.

The half-baked subplots and the length of the film ruin the experience. The film that faintly reminds one of ‘Tum Bin’ barely manages to touch its musical merit. Young romantics can go for this one, but those looking for cinema of class can easily give it a miss. Full of superficial characters, childish women and immature men — essential Bollywood formula — the film isn’t in tune with the times.