Awfully Amateurish

'Abstruse' just begins to describe it. Though a friend who I saw the movie with called it 'Pornographic. Nothing else!'.

'Dil Dosti....' attempts to pit anachronous idealism identified with college politics and true love, against shallow practicalism of 'bang, bang, thankyou ma'am' through its two lead characters - Sanjay Mishra (Shreyas Talpade) and Apurv (Imaad Shah). They are a senior-junior duo in a delhi campus, with never a converging view, nevertheless good friends. Such friendships can only be explained by a subconcious desire to totally shed one's identity and cross-over to the other side. Hmm.. I think that interpretation was just my subconcious overworking, the movie never attempts to explain it at all in any manner!

Sanjay is this aspiring student leader with bihari origin, with a hunger for power and panache, but street smart enough to bribe his opponents to win college elections. He has strict views on love and bikinis though, which is a bit out of fashion at the moment (I mean the views, not the Versace bikinis). He befriends his hostelmate - Apurv, a confused richkid junior disinterestedly exploring the darkest corners of world around him. Apurv is a typical 'casual explorer' who succeeds in bedding a lot of women, before 'coming of age'.

Prerna is an aspiring super model whose socialite dad scorns, 'Middle Class values!' when he discovers that Sanjay turns down Prerna's amorous advances preferring her true love, while appreciating Apurv's making out with Prerna's PR agent. Sanjay tries to bring Prerna around to accept his way of life and the consequences decide the story's fate.

Sanjay's challenge to Apurv, in a casual chat, to bed three women in a single day is the seed for the main plot. Apurv takes it rather seriously and in the end succeeds by having a quick romp with a girl who 'loves' him (schoolgirl love, don't take it seriously!), making tender love to a prostitute and achieves the hat trick through a betrayal. Sanjay's election games, and portrayal of a happy go-lucky college life are thrown in to form inconsequential sub-plots. The movie meanders to its end with none of the characters coming of age, except one who abruptly ends the lessons learnt in a road accident. At this point of time, you feel no sympathy but an immense sense of relief and get yourself ready to go.

The problem with the movie was, the director Manish Tiwary appears confused with what he wants to communicate. I think he never tried to communicate anything or express views. He just shot various scenes and got the editors to sew them together. If a meaning emerges eventually, it is because you spent 220/- on the ticket and you pretend you found a meaning.

And the characters are poorly etched and conflicting. Upright morals and dirty politics go hand in hand, while the shallow Apurv displays more sensitivity than any other character. The music and background score are forgettable and the two unnecessary item songs only add to the misery. Cinematography, I thought was good and the film's setting is authentic, which is the only good thing to be said about it. But it also dented its aspirations to be a Dil Chahta Hai.

The movie seriously lacks coherent story telling and a character as a whole. And ends up as a confused attempt at 'coming of age' genre, betraying the directors need to come of age himself. Abstruse, as I said, just begins to describe it!