Yash Raj Films has been stable this year and diverse with genres like action (Gunday), romance (Daawat-E-Ishq), this week’s film KILL DIL seems to be a mix of both the genres. KILL DIL, which is set in North India, starts off with a shaky camera which presents the two characters Dev (Ranveer Singh) and Tutu (Ali Zafar) are self-confessed ‘haraamis’. It was their ‘Godfather’Bhaiyaaji (Govinda) who selected them and gives them shelter, but also nurtures them to become professional killers. Life goes on absolutely smooth for these two free spirited and trigger happy killers till the time Dev saves the ‘criminal-transformer-into-human beings’ Disha (Parineeti Chopra) in a night club. Despite opposition from Tutu, Dev still falls head over heels in love with Disha, and gives up all his criminal activities to lead the life of a common man. Ironically it may sound, but the fact remains that Disha changes the direction of Dev’s life forever. And when the fifth standard fail Dev decides to become a common man, Tutu helps him to ‘acquire’ a MBA degree. What follows after that are series of interviews (worth watching), which sees Dev going in search of a job. Do not miss his audition for ‘Cobra’ brand product. This reformation and transformation of Dev shakes up Bhaiyaaji totally, who then calls up Disha (who is still unaware of Dev’s criminal background) and reveals to her about Dev’s tinted past. KILL DIL is a film which clearly lacks the ‘YRF’ style or story plot.
As far as the actors are concerned, what starts off as an equal balance between the two actors Ranveer and Ali progressively develops into a Ranveer show, which makes no mistakes in his screen time. The only problem is that he seems to be looking stereotyped now. A few scenes do remind the viewer of his performance in Gunday, but he ensures that the viewer sticks to the premises of his character in Kill Dil. His camaraderie with Ali Zafar is excellent. Following him is the multi-talented Ali Zafar, who for some reason seems to be holding himself in a few scenes, which gets interpreted into a self-induced controlled performance from him. Parineeti Chopra is as unforced as ever, her ‘effortlessness’ seems to be getting repeated in every film of hers. She really has to ‘reinvent’ herself soon. The jack of the pack in the film is indeed the veteran actor Govinda, who makes a comeback in Bollywood with this film.
The trio of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa seems to have got all their rhythms and beats right in this film. The only problem is that a few songs (despite being melodious) seem to be out of context and in rapid succession. The film’s editing (Ritesh Soni) is commendable and is watertight (minus a few scenes). The film’s dialogues (Nitesh Tiwari, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Mehrotra) score big time because of its memorable one liners. While the film’s screenplay (Nitesh Tiwari, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Mehrotra) fails to match up with the story and pace, the film’s action (Sham Kaushal) is very average. KILL DIL is a film, which could have been worth watching, had it been handled and directed properly. It is a 4/10 from us.
2/5 | 4/10