Bad book, decent film

Let me make one thing very clear from the beginning. I don’t like Chetan Bhagat’s books. And if Krish (from 2 States) was created to reflect Bhagat in IIM – then I don’t like him either. I could live through Five Point Someone, I wanted to smack him for One Night at the Call Center, that changed to slightly more murderous feelings by The Three Mistakes of My Life and 2 States made me pray that he never wrote again. I didn’t even bother to pick up Revolution 2020 – I deserved some mercy.

Now, talking about the films – 3 Idiots, Kai Po Che were quite magical in their own ways and all credit goes to Raju Hirani and Abhishek Kapoor. And I was hoping (and praying) that Abhishek Verman would do

2 States some good. Let’s just say I was half disappointed.

I won’t waste my time on the story because half you have read the book and the other half has figured the plot out through the trailer. Why would Bhagat write a book about his insipid love story (that sadly, people did buy) and then have a movie made (that sadly, people will watch) when frankly all that actually sums up the whole hoop-la are some clichéd bad jokes on North Indians (Punjus) and South Indians (Madrasis) and heap loads of melodrama. Seen that, disliked that. But then Bhagat is a better business man than an author and a huge chunk of India’s population cannot pick a good book to save their life. So cheers to the BO ringing in some hefty figures.

However, what is good about 2 States – the actors, the chemistry and yes some great scenes. Bollywood deals in excesses and makes no qualms about it – Ananya and Krish get to cavort through some great songs and (Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor) have great chemistry, which makes it all fun to watch. The mothers – Amrita Singh and Revathy are incredible. The veterans ace their roles, you will adore them. With actors so easy on the eye and very good on screen, could watching this flick be a bad thing? No.

The friction between Ronit Roy (Krish’s father) and Arjun Kapoor are beautifully crafted and feel very real. The years of strain that the father-son relationship flow out like magic. Bhagat said in an interview that writing 2 States helped him deal with the issues he had with his father, in which case I must say that those issues seem more real (as translated on screen) than his luv shuv with his girlfriend (and later wife).

I give this a two and a half because I enjoyed the movie, I hated the story. I always have.