The case:
Critics versus Yeh Dil, starring Tusshar Kapoor and Anita (nee Natassha in Kucch To Hai); written and directed by Tejaa.
The charge:
Yeh Dil has been accused of being a rehash of numerous love stories seen before, filled with unnecessary violence and bad music.
Prosecutor:
Honourable members of the jury, on behalf of the critics and viewers who love Hindi films and wait for new releases every week, I would like to bring to your attention a few things about the film at hand.
Last year was among the worst years for the Hindi film industry. It had barely three hits -- Vikram Bhatt's Raaz, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas and Shaad Ali's Saathiya.
This year, too, almost all the films released have done badly, with the exception of Jism. With not even the World Cup to blame for the audience's absence from the theatres, Yeh Dil could have saved the industry from sinking deeper and proved Hindi films are not beyond redemption.
Yet, it just rehashes what we have seen on screen Friday after Friday. Let us examine the charges:
First, the lack of originality. Look at the story: Sunil (Tusshar) becomes good friends with Vasundhara (Anita) and, within a few scenes, falls in love with her. Sunil's father Raghuraj Pratap Singh (Akhilendra Misra) is a businessman with assets worth Rs 7 billion.
Vasu -- as everyone lovingly calls her in the film -- lives with her father Mitwa Yadav, a milkman with a stable of buffaloes and henchmen.
The two men are opposed to their children's romance and send everyone -- from hired killers to the police commissioner -- to separate them.
How many times have we already seen this on screen? What is the point of making a film that looks like the nth remake of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak or the zillion love stories before and after it?
Second, the violence shown the film. Though Yeh Dil is advertised as a 'violent' love story, the blood and gore are not really relevant. Apart from repulsing the audience, they serve little purpose. The violence is neither realistic nor does it heighten the impact of the scene. Pray, how can shooting children and animals in cold blood help create better dramatic moments in a love story?
Even if instances like these were ignored, the jury cannot overlook the supporting cast's bad acting. Both fathers are stereotypical bad men. They don't seem to love their children and keep snarling at each other. They roll their eyes and gnash their teeth with such vehemence that they turn their characters into caricatures.
Writer-director Tejaa has clearly brought to screen a film with no spark of creativity. He has made a pastiche of scenes from many different Hindi films and paid little attention to developing the plot or creating memorable scenes. For a love story, Yeh Dil does not have much romance.
I now leave it to the Defence to reprove these points.
Defence:
Members of the jury, my prosecutor friend has levelled a number of charges against Yeh Dil. While I will respond to a few of them, I will also seek to highlight some of the good points he has so conveniently forgotten.
Yeh Dil is a Hindi masala film in the glorious tradition of numerous songs, violence and some overacting. Honestly, how many Hindi films have we seen in the last few years where actors have delivered a measured performance in tune with their characterisation?
Naturally, in that context, it is not fair to say the supporting cast in Yeh Dil has hammed its way through the film.
Why doesn't my prosecutor friend instead look at the performances of the lead actors? Anita is the daughter of a milkman and she lives that characterisation. She even looks like the girl next door. No navel-flashing outfits, no excessive makeup, not even variations in hairstyle. Like any other collegian, she dresses in simple salwar-kameezes through the film.
For her second film, Anita turns in a reasonably good performance. She does not go overboard and places the look and feel of the character over the perfect makeup, designer clothes and poker straight hair most film heroines prefer today.
In parts, the director has paid attention to detail. He has not glamourised the heroine's house and living conditions. The squalor, the atmosphere and the uncouth aunt, who also is one of the villains in the film, complement the heroine's background.
Tusshar is restrained and does not ham or flex his muscles too much (not that he can do much of that).
I hope the members of the jury take these points into account.
The Verdict:
While the jury does agree with certain points made by the defence, it realises these are just stray factors that do not improve the overall quality of the film or the viewing pleasure of the audience.
We, the jury, find Yeh Dil guilty of excessive violence, poor music and, worst of all, complete lack of originality in its theme and narration. As film buffs, we also find it disheartening to continuously see the same kind of mindless, shoddily written and directed films.
We hope the film industry will take a hard look at itself and set better standards to produce films that have some cinematic merit, even if they run in the Hindi commercial cinema format.
