Dil Bole Hadippa – Not sure how many of you are interested in knowing more about the film, but if you are, do read on.
In short, DBH = Chak De India + Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi! Thats what it looks like from this post. Produced by Aditya Chopra (Yashraj Films), its directed by Anurag Singh and stars Rani Mukherjee and Shahid Kapoor.
The film had its premiere at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival. And a blogger Wasabigirl, who saw the film at TIFF has given out all the details about the film on her blog. Every small twist and every plot point of the story. Am sure Yashraj guys will not be too happy to read it. You can read the full post here (including premiere details) or scroll down, after the pics.
The film starts out with Veera Kaur (Rani Mukherjee), a hardcore typical Punjabi kudi who is completely obsessed with cricket. She’s so confident of her abilities that she boldly claims that she can hit six sixers in a row, even when a pro pitcher takes her up on the bet. Not only does she succeed in putting the big strong man in his place by hitting all six sixers in a row, she even does so while switching from right-handed batting to left-handed batting! Clearly she is skilled, and as the first song montage Dil Bole Hadippa shows, she is a carefree spirit with very big dreams.
Veera also works alongside Shanno (Rakhi Sawant) and others in a dance troupe that performs regularly. Of course, while they perform, she’s backstage playing cricket with the kids, which is extremely endearing. Most of the time her elders tell her she’s dreaming way too big, but she doesn’t seem to care. She knows that dreams can come true, and for her, they will!
Enter into the story Rohan Kapoor (Shahid Kapoor) and his father Vikram Kapoor (Anupam Kher). Rohan is an accomplished cricket player in England who has lived there for many many years. His mother (Rati Agnihotri) stayed in England while Rohan’s father chose to stay in India and they have remained estranged for all of these years. In this way, Rohan has not returned to India. To get his son back to the land of Punjab, Vikram pretends he’s had a heart attack. Rohan rushes to India, but realizes that his father just wants to spend time with him, since they have been apart for so long. And besides spending quality time, Vikram also has other plans…
You see, Vikram’s close childhood friend, Liyaqat Ali Khan (Dilip Tahil) is from Lahore, Pakistan. To foster peace between the two nations, the friends have set up an annual Peace Cup where a team from Amritsar plays a team from Lahore in a cricket match. It’s all in the spirit of camaraderie, but Vikram and Amritsar have lost 9 times in a row! And now Vikram’s dream is to finally see the Indian team beat the Pakistani team, once and for all. He wants to feel proud again. That’s where Rohan comes in. Vikram asks Rohan to captain the Amritsar team and lead them to victory.
Rohan’s return to India leaves him mostly amused. When he comes across Veera for the first time, her adorably bad English and her defensive patriotism catch him completely off guard. She’s most definitely like no one he’s met before. The scenes between Rani and Shahid are amazing. These two have GREAT chemistry together. I could go ahead and describe their first meeting in more detail, but it’s something you have to see to really appreciate. 🙂
So, as time goes on, Veera finds out that the Amritsar cricket team is holding tryouts for selection. She gets EXTREMELY EXCITED and runs off to become the town’s new batting star. Unfortunately, when she goes to the tryout the security guards and the rest of the men in line scoff at the notion that a woman could play cricket with them. Rani is heartbroken and chastises them for their hypocrisy of revering Goddess Durga yet being unable to respect the women around them.
Veera returns to the dance troupe and is forced to replace the main male dancer in the show, because he’s drunk. In doing so she not only has a spiffy dance number, Bhangra Bistar, with Rakhi Sawant, but she also realizes that she can dress up as a man and possibly fool the cricketers into letting her onto the team! It’s worth a shot, na?
Rani freaks out when she sees that the same foreign jerk who annoyed her, Rohan, is the captain. He’ll figure out it’s her, won’t he?! She stumbles and lies and tells him her name is Veer Pratap Singh. She makes all sorts of bold claims and states that she has never been bowled out in her life. There’s not a man alive who can bowl her out! Vikram doesn’t like her attitude, so he challenges her, ends up bowling her out, and tells Veer to leave. She begs and pleads for a second chance, and Rohan’s father convinces him to give Veer another shot. Veer succeeds in impressing Rohan and is accepted into the team.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to Rohan’s friend from England who has a serious crush on him, Soniya (Sherlyn Chopra). She’s basically there to show off her body in short-shorts and make passes at Shahid’s character, most of which he ignores. 😛
Veer trains with the cricket team and isn’t all that great. Can you blame her? Veer aka Veera is really a girl, so of course she can’t always keep up physically. But Rohan pushes her hard. This pretty much increases Veera’s dislike for Rohan. She sees him as a bossy know-it-all. Anyway, throughout the initial training, we get to see lots of Veer-related hijinks to the song Gym Shim. Rani is pretty adorable as the bizarre Punjabi guy. You just have to see her crazy facial expressions to know what I mean. 🙂
We also get to see some cute flirting and dancing from Rani and Shahid in the song Discowale Khisko. They both can dance so well, yay! And it’s the typical fun Yash Raj number with the gorgeous outfits and tons of background dancers. Oh! And we get to see that Rohan has a thing for Veera. Veera still seems annoyed with him, but Rohan is quite fond of her.
During cricket team practice, Soniya shows up, hoping to ogle Rohan while he’s hard at work (lol, it’s what we were all doing XD). Unfortunately, due to some happenings on the field, Veer ends up tumbling over Soniya and falling on top of her. Soniya thinks that Veer’s trying to get fresh with her, but Veer scoffs at the notion that she would ever want to touch Soniya. Soniya gets pissed and throws her drink on Veer’s face. Veer runs away and Soniya complains about him to Rohan, who runs off to find Veer and talk to him.
Rohan heads off into the change room, calling for Veer. He opens the change room door only to find…a naked Veera?!! O_O (Lol, this part was SO HILARIOUS!!!) Rohan and Veera try desperately and awkwardly to salvage the situation. When Rohan asks what the hell Veera is doing there, she lies and says that Veer is her brother. More insanity and arguing ensues; Rani and Shahid perform brilliantly in a great comedic scene. Seriously, the change room scene is amazing. It’s another one that I can’t really describe, because you have to see it for yourself.
Veera quickly changes back into her Veer avatar, and when Rohan finally finds her, he is all forgiving and sweet. Of course, his reason for suddenly being so nice to Veer is because he just found out that Veera is Veer’s sister, and he wants to make amends. Naughty boy! 😉 Veer lies and says that Veera is probably back at the dance troupe, so they head off together. Veer tries to do whatever she can to get away from Rohan and change back into her regular Veera clothes. She uses the dance troupe show as a diversion and changes back into Veera.
Rohan wants badly to apologize for the things he said to Veera in the change room. She is not willing to relent. But Rohan is not one to give up! As Veera gets on stage and starts performing the show, she gets a big surprise. I don’t really think I can give it away, but suffice it to say that if you’re a fan of filmi references in movies, you’ll love this bit. Shahid and Rani are too cute together! 🙂 So, Veera finally forgives him and all is well in the world again.
The next day during cricket training, Rohan asks Veer if Veera said anything about him the night before (aww!). Veer is confused and asks why Veera would talk about Rohan. Veer then realizes that Rohan is interested in her. It doesn’t sit well with her, so she goes over to talk to Soniya and convinces her to try harder with Rohan. Veer tells Soniya to be more desi and traditional to get her man.
Soniya tries to do just that, wearing a sari and taking Rohan and his father around Punjab for a tour. She kinda fails at being desi, though. 😛 Along the way they run across Veera and the dance troupe truck. Rohan’s father takes a liking to Veera and tells her that if she shows Rohan around Punjab that he might see just how great it really is. Veera is completely fine with showing off the nation that she loves and we are given the very sweet song Ishq Hi Hai Rab. Veera and Rohan spend a lot more time with each other and Rohan becomes more and more comfortable in India.
Veer goes back the next day and tells Soniya to find someone besides Rohan, because, obviously, Veera kinda likes Rohan now. Rohan asks to speak with Veer and says that he wants permission from Veera’s brother to ask her out on a date (double aww!). In another ridiculously hilarious and adorable scene, Veer accepts the proposition and says that Rohan is allowed to ask Veera out.
Time for a cute date with Rani Mukherjee and Shahid Kapoor! Veera shows up looking hip, modern and GORGEOUS, which Rohan loves, but he also tells her that she should just be herself. They share an Indian dinner together and they laugh and generally have a good time. Rohan even goes so far to say that he wants a girlfriend just like Veera and that he has fallen in love with her. After I melted at how freaking GUUUUHHH Shahid is and re-solidified with hearts in my eyes, I got to see Rani’s sweet expression to his confession. Rohan leans in to kiss Veera and although she’s shocked at first, she leans in too…only to be interrupted by the honking horn of the dance troupe truck. Her ride is there to pick her up and the date is over. Their romancing will have to wait until the cricket match is over!!
Now, describing the cricket match is hard for me. I understood exactly what was happening while I watched it, but I’m not so well-versed in cricket that I could explain it in retrospect. So you’re going to have to bear with my vagueness.
Rohan’s mother comes down from England to see the match. This also allows her and Vikram to reconcile a bit. You know, it’s a Yash Raj Film, tied up loose ends and all that. The game starts off with India fielding and Pakistan bowling. Rohan is an excellent bowler and the Indian team is hitting wickets left right and centre. Not to mention that Veer catches a ball before it can reach the outer field. The rest of the cricket team is rejoicing at the auspicious start that they have and the boys dog pile Veer. In the process, Rohan ends up with one of Veer’s contacts in his hand and realizes that Veer was actually Veera all along. He hands her back the contact, but the look in his eyes says it all. He’s furious.
After this point, the Indian team falls apart. They had been doing excellently, but suddenly Rohan can’t bowl at ALL anymore. He’s completely distracted and the batsmen take full advantage. Even Veer is unable to catch the balls while fielding. After 10 overs Pakistan ends with a score of 213, which is pretty un-freaking-believable. The announcers admit that, once again, India is pretty much screwed.
Back in the change room, Veer attempts to explain to Rohan why she lied, but Rohan will have none of it. He’s angry and hurt and honestly thinks that Veera used him, in the romantic sense, so that she would stay in his good graces and on the team. Veera is shocked and upset but Rohan just won’t listen. Rohan dismisses her from the team and India starts off batting without their star batsman.
The first few overs of batting are a complete mess. Rohan is basically keeping the team alive, because the rest of his team are pretty terrible at batting. The whole game seems hopeless and Veera sits solemnly, neither watching the game nor leaving the stadium. Rohan’s father, who walked in on the argument Veer and Rohan had in the change rooms, knows that Veera was actually Veer. He convinces Rohan to let her back onto the team, as she is the only hope.
Veer gets back on the field and the duo of Rohan and Veer get into the groove. Rohan claims that he only called Veer back for his father’s sake, and not for her sake. Veera understands and admits to herself that she is not batting for herself, but for Rohan’s sake. They continue on triumphantly, closing the impossible gap between India and Pakistan.
One of the Pakistan players accidentally trips Veer during a run and she ends up injuring her arm badly. Rohan rushes to her side and quickly calls the medical team. They say that her arm is broken and that she cannot bat, but Veer is adamant that she will keep going, regardless. Rohan gives her an appreciative nod.
The Pakistani bowlers are shocked when Veer switches over from right-handed batting to left-handed batting and is still able to bat reasonably well. We are given many a dramatic moment after that (seriously how am I supposed to explain this? ;)) and finally the Indian team wins! Not that any of us was surprised.
They are all freaking ecstatic and Rohan is about to be awarded Man of the Match. He’s happy too, but he knows there’s still something left for him to do. He grabs Veer’s hand and brings her to the stage with him. Rohan announces that he was not the Man of the Match and that, really, the man of the match wasn’t a man at all! He takes off Veer’s turban, facial hair and contacts to reveal that Veer is actually Veera. People are pretty pissed off.
Veera sees that everyone is angry with her and that they can’t believe a *gasp* WOMAN has beaten them. Or played with them. Deceived them! So she steps up to the microphone to knock some sense into everyone. In the usual dramatic flair of Bollywood movies, we get an emotional speech about equality, ambitions, perseverance and dreams. The women watch with a knowing look on their faces while the men look on in shock. But Veera’s words are strong and true. By the end, they are left standing silently until the captain of the Pakistani team starts to clap. One by one the crowd begins to cheer for Veera Kaur and her amazing achievement. She not only kept up with the men, she surpassed them!
We are left with a very happy ending with the team lifting the trophy and Veera and Rohan reuniting. Your typical Yash Raj film, but just as satisfying as you would expect. To top it all off, we get to see an extremely hot Shahid and Rani in the video Hadippa The Remix as the credits roll by.
Remember those good ol’ days of pen friendship ? And if you were born before the internet era and ever experienced the joy of pen friendship, then you must read Kunal Basu’s story The Japanese Wife. Its one of the most beautiful love stories I have read in recent times. Simple, serene, heartfelt and fascinating. The book is a collection of 12 short stories.Snehmoy (Rahul Bose) and Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) are pen friends who exchange wedding vows through letters. Fifteen years pass but they never meet. Yet the bond of marriage is strong between them. This unusual relationship comes under a cloud when a young widow, Sandhya (Raima Sen), comes to stay with Snehmoy along with her eight-year-old son. Snehmoy and the little boy bond and the arithmetic teacher discovers the joy of palpable bonds and fatherhood. There develops an inexplicable thread of understanding with Sandhya too. But what happens to the love story of Senhmoy and Miyage ? Will not spoil it for you. Read the book or wait for the film.
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The Man Beyond the Bridge is a story about Vinayak, a forest guard, who lives a lonely life, with just the memories of his dead wife in a Government house in the dense forests of Goa-Karnataka border. His repeatedly rejected pleas for a transfer by his superiors in the Department of Forests have left him bitter. One night, he comes across a filthy, unkempt mentally challenged woman lying in the compound outside his house. He drives her away but she keeps returning. From his initial irritation with her filthy appearance and irate behavior, he slowly gets used to her daily visits looking for food and sleeping in the courtyard. With time, he begins to derive comfort from her presence.
Marathi film Harishchandrachi Factory is India’s official entry to this year’s Oscars in the Foreign Film Category. The film is directed by Paresh Mokashi who has been doing theatre since last twenty years. Harishchandrachi Factory is Mokashi’s debut film.
The first review of Whats Your Raashee is out! This one is from Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where the film had its premiere. And as we told you in 
AKAAAK ? It’s Aadmi Ki Aurat Aur Anya Kahaniyaan! In english, its The Man’s Woman and Other Stories.
Finally, here comes Desi Cinema Paradiso. No, make that Cinema Para-desi!
If you like Chetan Bhagat or if you think he is the best thing to happen to desi writing or if you are desperately waiting for his next book Two States, then this place is injurious to you health. Kindly move on to next blog!
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 