Review of "2 States"

While reading Chetan Bhagat's novel "2 States - Story Of My Marriage" everyone must have thought at least once that they are actually reading the script of a commercial Bollywood movie. It has a Hero, a Heroine, romance, comedy, emotion , drama, song and dance all masala ingredients(though the action part is missing but it can be overlooked) of a successful Bollywood movie. So when debutante director Abhishek Varman decided to adapt the book as a movie, he does not feel the need to do any modification and choose to stick with the original story for almost every scene, even he has used the same title as of the book.

Who have already read the book, already knows the story but for the minorities who have

not read it at least once , the story is of two IIMA students Krish Malhotra (Arjun Kapoor) and Ananya Swaminathan (Alia Bhatt) who met with each other as batch-mates then soon became friends and sooner becomes lovers. But the main problem is that Krish is a Punjabi and Ananya is a Tamilian  so obviously their parents will not accept this cross cultural marriage, so they decide to win the heart of each other's family members one by one so that their family can happily accept their relationship. First Krish tries his luck too convince Ananya's family and then Ananya tries the same with Krish's family. And finally what happened , does their families accept this marriage or not that answer comes in the climax of the film.

Although the film is a true adaptation of the novel by same name but still similarities can be found from movies like "Ek Dujey Ke Liye" or "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" as the book itself has taken inspirations from those movies. While writing the screenplay Abhishek Varman has not tried to give any new twist to the original story but still he has to do a tough job to cut down some irrelevant portions from the book so that it can be wrapped up in at least 150 minutes length. Even to cut down the length of the film some portions which were even in the promos has been excluded from the final version. The screenplay is written in such way that the interest of the audiences never goes down. Although the climax is

very predictable (even for the people who have not read the book) still whatever is happening on the screen looks interesting. There are lots of funny moments and some emotional moments too. In the second half though before the climax there is a phase of over melodrama which may bore the audience and this is the time when the script looses its grip and the length factor starts knocking on the audiences mind. Another problem of the screenplay or the book itself is that the characters of the parents are too cliche.
The concept of Krish narrating his story to a psychiatrist had worked well for the book and could have worked well too for the movie if it would have used smartly but unfortunately here it has been used in a confusing way as Krish goes to the psychiatrist twice that too in a gap of more than years to tell his story in two halves. 
Still there are moments which are likable , like the romantic track of Krish and Ananya in IIM campus, The meetings of Krish and Anayna's parents first on the convocation day at IIM campus and later in a trip to Mumbai. The love hate relationship between Krish and his father is also heart touching.

As a director Abhishek Varman has shown lots of promise in his debut venture. Though he has not tried to go on any experimental way and has played it more safe with already tried and tested characters and situations but it has to be said that whatever he has done his earnest effort is showing.

As the leading man Krish , Arjun Kapoor has got a good opportunity to change his bad boy image. This character is much different than the arrogant characters he has played earlier and he has tried a lot to look convincing as the IIM graduate Krish who is sandwiched between his girlfriend and his mother, for most of the part. But it has to be said there is a lot of scope for improvement in Arjun Kapoor's acting. He can act very well in dramatic and emotional sequence but while doing romance or comedy he looks a bit awkward.

As Ananya , Alia Bhatt has given yet another winning performance. She fits perfectly in her character of a bubbly young girl who can turn into a strong woman too when required. She has looked very pretty and acted very well.Surely Alia Bhatt is the future super star of Bollywood.
Together Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have looked very well , their chemistry is nice and they have complemented each other as a romantic couple on screen.


Apart from this two youngsters there is solid supporting cast consisting of some truly good actors as Krish and Ananya's parents. Ronit Roy has acted superb as Krish's drunk and

abusive father, though his character has some resemblance with the charcater he has played in "Udaan" but still he has not looked like repeating himself. Amrita Singh has done fantastic job as the loud Punjabi mother of Krish. She has various shades to her character at one point she is trying to act as a dominating mother-in-law on the other point she is a helpless woman who is suffering from a bad marriage. She has managed to portray the character with so much conviction that even after being the cause of Krish and Ananya's separation she never looked as a negative character. Another yesteryear actress Revathy has acted brilliantly as Ananya's Tamilian mother. She has managed to play her character with her expressions very well as she has very few dialogues to say. As Ananya's soft spoken reserved father Shiv Subramanium has done full justice with his character.

The music has been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and the songs are good and situational. Though the songs are not chartbuster hits but they have contributed to the movie very well. Except for the Punjabi wedding song "Iski Uski" all other songs have been used as a narrative to move the story forward. After watching the film people will like the songs more. The lyrics are very well written by Amitabh Bhattacharya specially for the songs like "Locha-E-Ulfat", "Mast Magan" and "Chandaniyaa".

Among the technical team the persons who should be given credit are cinematographer Vinod Pradhan, its for his brilliant camera work that the film has got a rich feel good look. Then there is the Editor Namrata Rao. With her sharp editing she has has managed to wrap up so many events in such short time, specially in the first half her work is superb. Though in the last 20-30 minutes she looses her grip. Dialogue writer Husain Dalal has done a good job too, though his dialogues are very much inspired from the book itself but still it is funny and interesting.
Choreographer Remo D'souza could have have choregraphed the song in a better way, the lack of dancing skills of the leading actors is visible in the songs picturisation. The costumes designed by manish Malhotra (For Alia Bhatt) and Shiraz Shiddiqui (For Arjun Kapoor) are very good , trendy and are going well with the characters.

Overall it is a good adaptation of a bestselling novel. It is entertaining. Though there is nothing new to offer but the but the rocking chemistry of the leading couple and a solid support of seniors actors makes it watchable movie. Just like Chetan Bhagat's novels it may not work well for the critics but it will be loved by the masses.