No strings attached fun. Yes, that’s the key word amongst most adolescents in the current day-and-age. So here’s a movie on two youngsters who are commitment phobics and who do not believe in any kind of tabs, bonds, commitments and binders. An interesting concept and director Aditya V. Datt nearly gets it right, except for the concluding moments of the film. It gets a bit too chaotic thanks to the tried and tested diversions in the plot. Yet, if the motive is to have a couple of good laughs and seek entertainment, well, WILL YOU MARRY ME? assures laughs quite a few times.
There’s talk that WILL YOU MARRY ME? takes its inspiration from NO STRINGS ATTACHED [Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher], but it’s not remotely similar to that film. The film, actually, follows the DEEWANA MASTANA [Anil Kapoor, Govinda] formula of two guys trying to outdo the other to woo the girl. Of course, post DEEWANA MASTANA, a number of storytellers have attempted similar movies, but the Tom and Jerry kind of situations, if integrated well in the plot, do keep you hooked. And WILL YOU MARRY ME? does have its moments, except when the mandatory songs and the foreseeable scenes on friendship take over.
WILL YOU MARRY ME? narrates the story of three friends, Aarav [Shreyas Talpade], Rajveer [Rajeev Khandelwal] and Nikhil [Muzammil Ibrahim]. All three have one thing in common: their love for their bachelorhood. So much so they place a bet amongst themselves, whoever decides to marry first will lose a huge amount invested in shares by the trio. A few years later, Nikhil decides to marry the love of his life, Anjali [Tripta Parashar].
Rajveer and Aarav cannot believe their best friend Nikhil is getting married, but put on a smile to attend his beach wedding in Dubai. During the wedding festivities, Rajveer and Aarav fall for the bride’s best friend Sneha [Mugdha Godse]. To make matters worse, Nikhil gets kidnapped by a powerful business tycoon [Paresh Rawal]. Everything turns upside down at Nikhil and Anjali’s wedding celebrations. Will Nikhil make it for his wedding? Who will Sneha choose eventually — Rajveer or Aarav?
WILL YOU MARRY ME? starts on a lighter vein and maintains the tempo as the reels unfold. It only gets serious when Paresh Rawal arrives on the scene to demand his money back. Those scenes are equally absorbing, also because Paresh portrays his part so differently. But the writer seems so heavily inspired by similar plot movies that he refuses to come out of the comfort zone and think of ground-breaking ideas. The humor, at times, is pedestrian, while the romantic moments between Shreyas and Mugdha as well as Muzammil and Tripta lack fizz.
Director Aditya V. Datt has handled numerous moments well and one does notice his growth as a storyteller. But he could’ve done with a better script that steers clear of standard cliches. With Aditya teaming up with multiple composers, who have several popular tracks to their credit, one expects the soundtrack of WILL YOU MARRY ME? to be equally lilting, but barring a song or two, which offer sporadic relief, the remaining songs are a mere distraction. The cinematography [R. Dvaaraghanath] deserves special mention. You can feast your eyes on the stunning locales of Dubai in the movie.
Shreyas Talpade puts up a natural act and is simply brilliant in the bathroom sequence. Rajeev Khandelwal handles his part with gusto. Muzammil is decent. Mugdha doesn’t get much scope in this all boyz film, yet she gets her scenes right. Celina Jaitly is hardly there, while Tripta Parashar is strictly okay. Paresh Rawal gets some meaty scenes to sink his teeth into. He excels. Manoj Joshi is perfect.
On the whole, WILL YOU MARRY ME? is better than what you expect it to be, but the film arrives with minimal awareness and promotion and that might curtail its prospects to a large extent.
