The day I saw the first promo of “Dil Bole Hadippa” few months back, my only words were “Oh God! not again”. Because once more there was a movie based on Punjab and Cricket with a talented coach having tons of attitude, along with a girl trying to deceive in a very ill suited “Sikh Getup” which was not convincing at all from any angle in the frame. I even kept wondering why on earth this thought was used again by the same camp which earlier gave us a brilliant “Chakk De India” made on a similar format.
And now after sitting through the whole movie today, I exactly feel the same again and was even more disappointed by the final product presented. The movie couldn’t change my thoughts even slightly as it has nothing new to offer in any departments technically or creatively. From the first scene itself you are served silly sequences in the name of cricket where both the bowler and the batsman don’t know anything other than just the ball crossing the boundary. The story is completely predictable from the promos itself where a girl poses as a boy to play in a match against the rival team (which is strangely an unofficial team from Lahore, Pakistan) and you are simply offered all repetitive scenes every minute in the movie without any specific entertainment or novelty.
As an overall review, I would simply like to mention a few (silly) points here about the movie, which will give you a concrete idea of the project and it’s below average content:
1. It starts with a sequence where Rani (who specializes in hitting sixes) is scoring 6 sixes in a row to a bowler who is supposed to be a well known Ranji player (Domestic First Class Cricket Championship in India) and he doesn’t know how to try 6 different bowls in an over. Quite a silly start!
2. In the next scene, at one end, Rani is praying to play for India in 2011 World Cup and on the other Anupam Kher and Dilip Tahil still think it’s only 40 years since our Independence. A good two decade jump in two consecutive scenes.
3. In the tense atmosphere prevailing between India & Pakistan from decades, the director shows two local teams playing unofficial cricket every six months in a stadium without any cricketing official or security agencies in sight. The Indian team is from Amritsar, managed by Anupam Kher & the Pakistani team is from Lahore lead by Dilip Tahil.
4. These two old time friends come with their respective teams at Wagah Border (Original Location) where there is no security officials, no military men of either sides and no official cricket authority on the location. Moreover, both Anupam & Dilip watch the matches sitting alone on one Sofa in a tent and there is no one else watching the match either from the State, Center or Local Government.
5. There is an overuse of deliberate Punjabi language and Devotional Sikh “Mool Mantra” coming many times in the movie inspired by the best version of the Mantra earlier heard in “Rang De Basanti”. The director uses it purposely to give the movie a more authentic feel but the move falls flat.
6. Rani is a simple girl doing side roles in a local “Nautanki”, yet she is shown living a glamorous life wearing designer suits and dresses in major scenes with Shahid. Her real identity also gets revealed in a cliché scene where Shahid catches her changing clothes in a men washroom. Nothing new!
7. In a poorly conceived climax match, the Indian players are shown getting out childishly. It seems as if Shahid kept the coaching only for him and Rani alone and the rest were simply left out of the training camps.
8. The director didn’t do his research on the finer details of Cricket and its rules. In the last ball, Rani changes her stance from right to left hand. A player can only do so after seeking the permission of the on-field Umpires and also informing the rival captain, so that he can change the field settings. But here Rani just changes the stance ignoring all the rules of the game.
9. There seems to be no problems of Visa and Passport for anyone featuring in the movie as they keep on moving between the country borders freely. (as if it was a match between India & Nepal)
10. In the climax, a very silly argument is given by Rani on the stage, saying that both girls and boys should be allowed to play Cricket together as a Mixed Team. Was this supposed to be innovative writing?
Performance wise Rani makes a desperate attempt to strike back but sadly focuses on a wrong project. She tries hard and also impresses in her Man-Act, but the badly written and poorly directed movie lets her down. I also couldn’t understand how she approved the awful get up, which was a complete disaster all the way. Shahid does nothing, other than showing his pricey attitude. After “Kaminey”, he disappoints big time. There is no love chemistry between Rani and Shahid in their scenes together. Sherlyn Chopra simply flaunts her fab body. Surprisingly Rakhi Sawant gets more shouts than Rani in her opening scene and she really has the right dancing moves better than many lead artists in the industry. Anupam Kher, Dilip Tahil and Poonam Dhillon have played the parts allotted to them perfectly.
Musically, the soundtrack has a huge Punjabi hangover. A few songs are catchy but they don’t have the original Punjabi feel, vocals and arrangement. Cinematography is nothing extraordinary. Background Score is completely based on Dhol and Punjabi sounds but gets repetitive after the initial scenes.
Collectively it’s a light movie based on cricket with too many loopholes and faults in its direction. Anurag Singh chose an absolutely worn-out theme and also didn’t work on the finer details of the sport. He carelessly tries to fool a “Cricketing Nation” where people eat, drink and live cricket. In fact, the movie reminded me one of the first (childish) movies made on Cricket titled “All-Rounder” and I think that says all about my views on “Dil Bole Hadippa”.
In few words, I wasn’t expecting such a weak movie from the makers of “Chakk De India”.
Rating : 1 / 5 (That too only for the spirited performance of Rani Mukherjee).
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