Chand Mera Dil

On the flipside, the family track is weak and underutilized. A lot happens in the lives of Aarav and Chand and yet, they don’t make it a point to establish contact with each other. They do try, but by then, it’s too late. Moreover, the scene where Aarav’s parents discover the truth in the first half seems to have been abruptly cut. The confrontation scene with the coaching student also seems forced. These and a few other scenes slow down the narrative. Lastly, though the ending is sweet, it is also predictable.

But wait. There is a film here. A genuinely interesting one, buried somewhere between the cringe-filled beginning and the exhausting end. Whenever Chand Mera Dil shifts its focus to life after the honeymoon phase, it comes alive. The moment the conflict kicks in, the film pulls you in and surprises you with genuinely solid drama. The second half thus begins on a promising note. And then the makers get carried away, seemingly unaware that the film is entering its climax with an almost empty fuel tank. Lakshya delivers a genuinely sincere performance in a role that demands a great deal emotionally. When he breaks down on screen, the anguish seems real. But what’s a love story without chemistry? Locking lips, unfortunately, is not enough. Ananya Panday emerges as the weaker link here.

However, the Dharma Production is too squeamish about getting the hands of its lead pair dirty – from diapers to dishes to that big ‘d’ word, divorce. So just when they are hovering on the brink, Chand Mera Dil pulls back to bung in a soulful song that is as soulless as that next Insta picture – of which there are several – or takes another of its quicksilver diversions. Trains and SRK’s arms-wide-open, Dharma’s other fallbacks, are also invoked. So promising in his previous outings (Kill, Ba*ds of Bollywood), Lakshya sheds a copious amount of tears and screams his heart out here, but never really connects as either hopelessly in love or in despair, not the least because of an unclear dialogue delivery and the lacklustre chemistry between him and Panday.