critic's rating: 4.0/5

Director: Mohit Suri

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Shaad Randhawa and Mahesh Thakur
 

Aashiqui 2 may be billed as a sequel but it’s more like a reprised version of the 1990 hit, of course with minor changes here and there. The main theme remains the same. A musician falls for a girl, together they go through a whole jingbang of career, heartbreak and existential crisis etc. It all seems fine on paper; there are a few scenes which escalate into powerful drama as well. But the movie rolls in so many clichés that it becomes hard to give it any serious credit. Mohit Suri’s film is an honest effort but it’s also a lacklustre affair.

The movie has a big ’90s hangover a la the melody and instrument driven music. The kind that made Nadeem-Sharavan famous. In age of techno beats and radio edits this sort of music feels a little out of place. But make no mistake, the music has quality and songs like Tum hi ho and Chahun main ya na are more than pleasant compositions. But they don’t gel with the dramatic themes of the narrative. On one hand you have your lead pair making out in public (with a jacket over the head) and a mother being concerned about her daughter’s live-in status. And on the other hand you have old school romantic music trying to amp up gen x emotions.

The actors do well to shadow the disparity between the music and story. Aditya Roy Kapur and Shraddha Kapoor are near perfect casts for their roles. Shraddha excels in scenes behind the microphone and recording studios. She also gets the nervous disposition of her character perfect to a T. Aditya is a little inconsistent; he loses impact in a few scenes. But in scenes of drunken slur and madness he’s quite the show stealer. Together their chemistry is perfect. It’s a pity the director and writer didn’t do enough to capture what could’ve been untamed romantic passion.

Aashiqui 2 is written by Shagufta Rafique and she’s got the gist of the story bang on. What the writer doesn’t get right is key scenes that help the whole narrative gel together. The career insecurity versus love angle is quite good. There’s a great scene when Aditya leaves Shraddha behind in a cloud of media personnel only to step back and realise at the fame she’s amassed. But Shraddha looks distraught not having her emotional anchor by her side. Such moments are near poetic but then there are also clichés like Aditya stealing Shraddha’s wallet because he doesn’t have any money left.

Right through the film you feel like it’s trying to borrow the best parts of Abhimaan (1973) and Rockstar (2011). But Mohit Suri keeps committing cinematic sins and killing the spirit of his film. There’s a showdown scene between Aditya and Shaad Randhawa. They’re BFFs and business partners and they’re about to have a Deewaar-like clash of the brothers. But it happens at a party where there’s a midget Wolverine in the background and a dozen firangi extras that look more wooden than mannequins.

But for each of these cringe worthy moments, Aashiqui 2 also has honest and effective scenes of passion and drama. The thought behind this film is perfect. But the execution tries too hard to put it in line with the original Aashiqui and its there that the proverbial plot is lost.