Hum Do Hamare Do

HUM DO HAMARE DO begins on a very sweet note. Dhruv and Anya’s first meeting is a bit awkward but works. The scenes of Dhruv and Anya’s romance are decent and set the base for the film. After a point, one does get restless as one has already seen the trailers and how the story is going to pan out next. It’s only when Purshottam and Deepti agree to be Dhruv’s parents that the film gets interesting once again. The scene where both the families meet is funny. Post-interval, the scenes of Anya staying with Dhruv’s ‘family’ make for a nice watch. The scene where Deepti speaks to Dhruv about her strained relations with her son is very touching. One expects the film to get even better from here on. However, the pre-climax and climax both fail to make the desired impact.

Hum Do Hamare Do is made with the right intent, however, the premise had the potential of more humour through the narrative and required a rather nuanced approach in terms of emotions in the last 25 minutes. Debutant Abhishek Jain shows some spark in getting the tone and vibe of the film right in the first half, and will certainly get better with every passing film in the emotional and dramatic front. It’s an average film that can be watched by the families with a tub of popcorn on a lazy Sunday afternoon primarily for some smartly written one-liners alongside the charming Ratna Pathak Shah and her chemistry with a rather witty Paresh Rawal.

If it means to debate over the virtues of a traditional family versus the one a man chooses for himself, it shouldn't be as flimsy as picking custom topping pizza over frozen pizza. Except it is the kind of rush job rom-com that cuts to the chase after so much dillydallying and in such a dull manner, it completely misses the point.

But ‘Hum Do Hamare Do’ isn’t interested in any kind of complexity. Everything is explained out loud, and placed on the surface with a thud, and all is relentlessly banal. Here’s a bunch of actors who can, given the right material, could easily have made something of it. But that needs good writing, of which there is no evidence in the entirety of this film. Dhruv, as the self-made start-up entrepreneur, wants to do exciting things with virtual reality. What he gets are mothballed situations: Manu Rishi as the father of the bride who raves and rants about family ‘izzat’, Aparshakti Khurana as the Hero’s BFF whose only job is to prop him, the hero up; even his dearly beloved Anya, today’s girl, looks like she’s from day before yesterday, floating about jobless.

There is nothing in Hum Do Hamare Do we haven't seen or expected. In fact, even the actors have played similar roles in the past. No wonder Rajkummar sleeps-walks through the film. There isn’t a single stand-out moment for him. But Ratna Pathak shah and Paresh Rawal bring in so much credible potency to their roles that one can’t help but be invested despite the fact that they have precious little to work with. Kriti Sanon makes it hard to take our eyes off her, and honestly her screen presence makes up for her sparse character sketch. Manu Rishi Chadha, Prachee Shah Pandya and Aparshakti try to do the best they can, but Hum Do Hamare Do remains pretty forgettable. Why do we have to dumb down everything so much just to be able to make a story about love and family?