LADIES VS RICKY BAHL

Director: Maneesh Sharma
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Aditi Sharma

Fresh from the success of band Baja baraat, Maneesh Sharma is back after a one year hiatus with Ladies VS Ricky Bahl, another rom com, on the lines of Band Bajaa Baraat.
But the question is- ‘Can he live up to the expectations set by his brilliantly crafted debut movie?’

Initially, Dimple (Parineeti Chopra) falls for the gym instructor Sunny Singh. While he has other plans: Intimidating her dad for buying an old bungalow off the Barakhamba road. Then we have Raina, a successful & arrogant , but independent woman who is defrauded by a guy called Devan Shah. He does so by convincing her to buy a fake painting of M. F. Hussain. An innocent Muslim girl called Siara, is also tricked who then runs away after taking a sum of 1 Cr from her father. All the 3 ladies realize that there is just one person conning them with different names. So they make a plan to get even with him. The story is about Ricky Bahl, whose only motive is to earn money and he entices girls for doing so.

They do so with the help of Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma), a young and vivacious glib tongue who works for hometown. Leaving no stone unturned, the 3 girls track him down and the ultimate showdown begins in Goa. The movie has several interesting moments, with many of them involving Dimple, who according to me was the show stealer.

The first half is extremely racy, with a couple of unwanted songs. However, the second half does seem stretched at places and it does require a stretch of believability. The fact that all these girls get conned by the same man is also not so convincing. The climax is pretty predictable. The director decides to bring the romantic angle in the final thirty minutes, and that is when the film finally remains consistent till the end, barring some filmy dialogues exchanged between the leads. The scene where Ranveer and Anushka get closer is very well handled and silence does evoke. “A good conscience is a soft pillow”-the protagonist finally realizes that and credit must be given to him for pulling that predictable scene with aplomb and panache.

Music suits the theme of the film with Aadat Se Majboor being the best of the lot. Cinematographer must be appreciated for his job. He takes Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Goa in very different manner putting some smooth colors in them to suit the tone.

Performance wise, as I said earlier Parineeti Chopra did a very good job, which was indeed a pleasant surprise. She definitely is a strong contender for all the debut awards this season. Anushka sharma was her usual bubbly self. Though I must add that her role was miniscule and didn’t require any histrionics from her character. As her fan, I felt that her talent wasn’t utilized properly. Nevertheless she gave it her best shot and was quite the clotheshorse of the movie. Ranveer singh is improving with each film and his physique seems to have improved too. He was looking quite the hunk and was convincing in all the scenes.

The movie is a smart tale from start to end which can be called “classy” in a word. However, one can’t help but draw comparisons with the very famous Hollywood movie “John Tucker Must Die”. But the emotional and glossy scenes are much tighter here thanks to the Yashraj brand which is known for churning out romantic films year after year.

Overall I think the movie is a decent entertainer which can be enjoyed with family. It isn’t as great as Band Bajaa Baraat, but it does provide a good dose of entertainment.

Anubhav Srivastava