|
|
Friday, February 14, 2025
|
|
BOLLYWOOD DAAWAT-E-ISHQ
EDITOR'S PICK
There are two different films tucked away into this one big under-cooked biryani of a film.
"Daawat-e-Ishq" is not as inviting as the title or the film's promotional events suggested. Food is important to the plot, yes. And hats off to writer-director Habib Faisal for tempering the texture of the tale with a culinary flavour.
You wish food were the driving force in this freewheeling tale of love during the times of biryani. But no, this is not really a film about food. It's about a Muslim girl's search for a life beyond finding a suitable match... At least that is what the plot seems to suggest.
Faisal's special gift as a filmmaker is to portray the Indian middle-class in all its squalid glory. He doesn't sweep the murk under the threadbare carpet. He takes on the quirks guilt and the conflicts of the 'muddle class' headlong.
Till a certain point the narrative in "Daawat-e-Ishq" tells us some pungent home truths about the over-educated' unmarried middle-class girl's plight as she is forced to squeeze into an arranged marriage.
Anupam Kher and Parineeti Chopra are so convincing as father and daughter looking for a suitable groom that you tend to forgive the film's aggressive indiscretions that prop up prominently and intrusively in the second-half.
Yes, there are two films here. The 'Hyderabad' film in the first-half is charming effusive and endearing. The second movement takes us to Lucknow where father and daughter put up a big con show to trap an unsuspecting 'dulha' for Parineeti.
As the plot progresses, it is tragic to see the film's early excellence fall apart piece by piece to reveal a plot with little character accommodating characters with a big plot up their sleeve.
Everyone behaves as if he or she is part of a high school play based on H.S. Rawail's "Mere Mehboob". They run around exchanging giggle, kebabs and qawwalis.
Is Sajid-Wajid's music homage to the sound of Laxmikant-Pyarelal in the 1970s or a straight rip-off?
The purpose and intention of doing a film that involves dowry and deception cannot be doubted. Faisal means well. Alas, his storytelling doesn't convince us of his intentions.
Performance-wise Parineeti and Anupam are a delight. Parineeti again proves herself a natural-born scene-stealer. That's relatively easy when your co-star is hell bent on being a caricature.
Aditya Roy Kapoor with his kohl-laden eyes and pseudo-Lucknowi drawl is a disaster. His painfully self-conscious performance reduces the film to a pantomime of good intentions.
I came away with the 'baap-beti' relationship rather than the love story. As for food, I craved for more.
Burp re burp.
Parineeti Chopra got under the scanner for her drastic weight loss, with some praising her dedication and some criticising her for sending out a negative message on body image. But the actress says she doesn't always pay attention to what people are talking about to avoid getting caught in a "vicious circle".She feels no pressure to look a "certain way"."You can't always pay attention to what people are talking about you. If you do, you will get into a vicious circle. You have to feel good, you have to feel fit. Fitness is extremely subjective and that's the fun of it," Parineeti told IANS in an email interview. Read More
I'm a proud YRF girl: Parineeti Chopra
Actress Parineeti Chopra says she is proud of her association
with Yash Raj Films, under which she not only made her debut but also did movies
like "Ishaqzaade" and "Shuddh Desi Romance".
Parineeti on Friday attended
the Yash Chopra Memorial Award ceremony, where veteran singer Asha Bhosle was
feted an award in memory of late filmmaker Yash Chopra.
Since the actress
has worked in films like "Ladies vs Ricky Bahl", "Meri Pyaari Bindu", "Kill Dil"
and "Daawat-e-Ishq" -- all produced undRead More
In the clash of diametrically opposite but equally spicy cultures of Hyderabad and Lucknow, Gullu and Taru arrive at a 'tuning-setting', rewrite traditional recipes of love, crush old-fashioned world-view and make their own masaledaar albeli rangreli pichchar... Daawat-e-Ishq!
Produced by Aditya Chopra, the film is written and directed by Habib Faisal, music is by Sajid-Wajid andlyrics by Kausar Munir.
Daawat-e-Ishq Food Yatra Day 5 Amrik Sukhdev
Daawat-e-Ishq Food Yatra Day 5 Ambala
Aditya Roy Kapur And Parineeti Chopra On A Bike Yatra Madras cafe
Parineeti Chopra and Aditya Roy Kapur lunch at Parsi-da-Dhaba