Bollywood has always been searching for the exact definition of ‘love’ through its films. Every director has served love in front of the audience from his perspective. Through his film ‘Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat’, Anurag Kashyap has understood the love story of the youth of today’s generation and tried to put it on the screen.
story
Amrita (Alaya F), a 16-year-old school student living in Dalhousie, is in love with DJ Mohabbat’s words and songs. She wants to go to the concert to meet him. To fulfill this intention, she runs away with the help of 21-year-old Yakub (Karan Mehra). Both are innocent and their aim is only to see DJ Mohabbat perform in front of them. Both of them who ran away from home are not aware of the difficulties they have left for themselves behind their backs. Family members, media, police and society gave this motive the color of love jihad.
On the other hand, Ayesha (Alaya F) living in London falls in one-sided love with DJ Harmeet (Karan Mehra), who plays in a pub there. He doesn’t mind telling lies to get her. Their story is linked to each other by DJ Mohabbat (Vicky Kaushal). Now how does the revolution come from the love story of these two? Will Amrita and Yakub be able to meet DJ Mohabbat? What turn will Harmeet and Ayesha’s love story take? You will get the answers to all these questions in the theatre.
direction
Anurag Kashyap’s films may have been dark but the love stories running undercurrent in those films cannot be denied. Anurag has always served love in a different way. Such complex stories which may not fit within the confines of the society and especially those which challenge our Patriaki system. Where can that element of Anurag remain hidden even in DJ Mohabbat. Anurag has tried to thread serious issues like love jihad, bigotry, patriarchy system, homophobic. As a director, Anurag has tried to feel the pulse of today’s generation through this film. In this film, there is a glimpse of Anurag’s experience as a father in his personal life.
How is the story?
Talking about the story, the first half is spent in stabilizing the backdrop of the story. The first half of the film is a bit drawn out and due to parallel showing of two stories, the screenplay is scattered and a little confusion is clearly visible. But such confusion is not felt in the second half. And the turn of the story at which the film ends, you would not have expected it. In this film, Vicky Kaushal is seen bringing freshness as a DJ. The balance of Gulzar sahab’s experience and Anurag’s tone is clearly visible especially in Vicky’s dialogues about love.
Technical
The strong side of the film is that it is technically very beautiful and Amit Trivedi’s music has worked like icing on the cake. All the songs of the film have been written keeping in mind the taste and lifestyle of today’s youth. Whether it is about ‘Netflix and Chill’ or ‘Mohabbat Se Kranti Aayegi’, today’s lingo has been used very well in the lyrics of the songs. Which the youth will like a lot. Along with this, Amit has taken full care that it should not affect the soul of the song. The cinematography by Sylvester Fonseca captures the London, Dalhousie locations accurately. On the silver screen, the film has been painted in blue and pink color palette, which makes the film look a bit dark. Color has been an experiment with all Anurag’s films. Konark Saxena could have crisped the first half of the film by editing it a bit.
acting
If a perfect script does not get the support of a great actor, then the film seems incomplete. The weak side of the film is its actors. Of course, Alaya F has presented herself well from a school girl to a teenager in London, but she is irritating as Tingtong App Bunny Begum. Alaya has done justice to her character. On the other hand, Karan Mehra, the lead actor of the film who is going to debut, is in dire need of working on his expression. In Yakub’s character, he is seen giving an overdose of expression in some places, while in the form of DJ Harmeet, there is under-expression at some places. In the last fifteen minutes, his acting has balanced the flaws, but what is the use, the vehicle has left its platform long back. DJ Mohabbat is the spinoff of Vicky Kaushal’s Ishq loser character in Manmarziyaan. Whenever he has appeared on the screen, it is bound to fall in love with his effortless acting.
see why
The story is different. It has been written looking at a class, so obviously this film deserves a chance. But yes, if you are going in thinking that it is Vicky Kaushal’s film, then let us tell you that you will be disappointed.