In the years gone by, Bollywood has been a witness to many altering trends sand amongst all the genres that we have experienced so far, what holds supremacy and are well-thought-out to be the most advantaged genres are romance, action and comedy. The Saif Ali Khan and Ileana D’Cruz starrer HAPPY ENDING falls in the genre of rom-com. Saif Ali Khan, after the misfortune of Bullet Raja and Humshakals, has got all his hopes pinned on this film. HAPPY ENDING starts off with Kareena Kapoor’s character (cameo) confessing her love by telling those three magic words to Yudi, a one-book phenomenon author and someone who is (self-confessedly) not allergic to ‘I Love You’, but the baggage attached with it’ and when Yudi doesn’t counter her feelings, Kareena’s character shows him the middle finger and leaves. No sooner does she exit Yudi’s life and enters Vishaka (Kalki Koechlin), a dentist by occupation, and is head over heels in love with Yudi. She loves Yudi so much that she even installs a mobile app called ‘No space’ on his cell so that she can keep track of his location. While she leaves no stone unturned in gaining his attention, Yudi is totally indifferent by her and her feelings and emotions towards him and wants to continuously break up with her.
Whenever Yudi is in trouble or feeling lonely, the only two people whom he constantly looks up to are his ‘ex-girlfriend-now-a-mother-of-three childen’ Divya (Preity Zinta), and his best friend of many years Montu (Ranveer Shorey), both of whom lend him a patient listening and help him sort out the mess of his life. He returns back to writing but, he gets dejected when he sees that the same publishers hiring the beautiful Aanchal Reddy (Ileana D’cruz), whose romantic novels sell like hotcakes. What peps him up is the offer to write a script for ‘Armaanji’ (Govinda), an actor who wants to capture multiplexes after having dominated the single screens. To get a hold of ‘success formula’ in writing, Yudi decides to befriend Aanchal. Taking resort to a few tricks here and there, Yudi not only manages to befriend her, but also lands up spending some alone time with her. Right at the start of this ‘relationship’, the duo agree to be together without falling in love with each other. While Aanchal is clear about this relationship, it is Yudi who goes onto realize that he has actually fallen in love with her! The director duo of Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK who have previously made films like 99, Shor In The City, Go Goa Gone, have tried to move an inch ahead of their comfort zone, but are not very successful at it as one would have expected them to be. They seem to be struggling with the film’s plot mid-way. While the first half of the film is entertaining- it’s the second half which tends to drag at many points. Even though the film is really funny in parts, a crisp hand at the editing table could have saved this semi-drag fiasco.
HAPPY ENDING is a Saif Ali Khan film all the way… right from the word ‘go’. This is a script which Saif can naturally carry and he does just that. He hardly falters in either of the two roles (we won’t spoil the suspense of his second role) played by him. His chemistry with both Ileana and Kalki is glittering and credible. One has to admit that, Saif has really come a long way in his double role as compared to his triple role in HUMSHAKALS. Ileana D’Cruz, on the other hand, continues her stint with sweet and bubbly character, much like her last film. A strange thing about this girl is that, despite having somewhat stereotyped roles, her performances just don’t look repetitive at all! Maybe it’s something that’s got to do with the camaraderie that she shares with the camera and her co-stars. Kalki, who is back after her last hit film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, is as usual, a delight to watch. When her real life quirkiness combines with her reel life character, the subsequent is sheer magic. As far as the veteran actor Govinda is concerned, he shines in his role which seems like was written keeping him in mind. Ranveer Shorey lightens up the film’s moments with his comic timing. We would also like to mention special points to our all-time favourite Preity Zinta, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Ileana’s real life boyfriend Andrew Kneebone for their cameos in the film. The music (Sachin-Jigar) of the film is lovable. The songs that really stand out in the film are ‘Paajitussi such a pussycat’ and ‘G phaadke’ (despite its suggestive lyrics). The film’s choreography (Remo D’Souza) also becomes commendable. Raj and DK, who also double up as the film’s writers, do a splendid job. HAPPY ENDING is a film which leaves you with a happy feeling. It drags in parts but is worth a watch, at least for Saif’s performance.
3.5 Stars | 7/10