Film Review: Half Girlfriend

Director: Mohit Suri

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Vikrant Massey, Seema Biswas, Rhea Chakraborty

Release Date: May 19, 2017 (INDIA)

Running Time: 2 hrs 15 mins

CBFC Rating: UA

STORY:

Based on Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller with the same name, HALF GIRLFRIEND is about Bihar Boy Madhav Jha who meets Delhi Girl Riya Somani after both get enroll in Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. Madhav is from a royal background in his hometown but is short in English language, a complete different lifestyle as compared to the very elite Riya. But both bond over their sports background in Basketball.

A series of interactions in their first year lead to both falling for each other but when Madhav finally dares to ask Riya about the name of the relationship the two share, she tells him that she can be his Half Girlfriend. However, Riya has to leave the college after first year, almost the same time the two have their first but very big fight.

The two come face to face after few years in Patna where both have come for their own reasons. This leads to another short but ill-fated love story because while Madhav is the quintessential simple guy from small town, Riya is the big city rich girl with troubled home who runs away from everything when it gets complex.

Told from Madhav’s perspective, the film may be having few supporting characters but it’s the lead around whom the story revolves, as they share an innocent and true love but in a complex world.

SCRIPT:

Chetan Bhagat is the bestselling Indian author ever. His books may be widely criticized by literature elite but no one can take away the connect he makes with his young audiences. Even the film adaptations of his books, be it 3 Idiots and 2 States have been major hits. This time, Bhagat collaborates with Mohit Suri, who like Bhagat, seems to have understood the romantic genre unlike anyone in the present crop of directors. Suri’s film may have clichéd moments but the way he mixes them with the best musical score is almost an unparalleled feat.

HALF GIRLFRIEND belongs to the good old romantic genre scripts which will fill your heart with love and even make your eyes moist by the depiction of love. The best part of the script is that, despite being slow in pace, both first half and second half are equally engrossing. If one credits the same to the placement of songs, then it won’t be probably entirely wrong too.

PERFORMANCES:

HALF GIRLFRIEND is all about it’s leads, especially Arjun Kapoor, and the film works because of them only. Shraddha Kapoor seems to have found her comfort zone of the simple girl, no matter the richness, with whom you would love to fall in love and even take to a romantic bed. Nevertheless, there is no saturation to her portrayal and she continues to bring a rare sweetness and freshness with her performance, making one feel for her character’s shortcomings. A good singer herself, never does she look forced while performing as her character is also a singer.

This maybe Arjun Kapoor’s second time as a Chetan Bhagat hero but the actor is at his best in HALF GIRFRIEND. His body language, those trembling fingers, the powerful eyes, the dialogue delivery as a royal boy from a small town in Bihar is seen to be experienced. Arjun is Madhav Jha in every sense of the world. You will feel for him, for his love, his innocence and his life. Never does his Bihar dialect in his language seems forced.

There are few supporting characters, most notably Vikrant Massey as Madhav’s college room-mate Shailesh and Seema Biswas as Madhav’s mother. The two leave an impression on viewer despite their limited screen time. Certain characters, as is essential in a Chetan Bhagat story, are pure clichés - such as college interviewers and Madhav’s two other college friends, but serve their purpose fine. Rhea Chakraborty seems to be in a special appearance but is still endearing.

PRODUCTION:

Mohit Suri remains unbeatable in the romantic genre. This seems to be his forté and with Chetan Bhagat’s HALF GIRLFRIEND was meant for his sensibilities only. Not only does Mohit seems to understand the pulse of romance, he also seems to mix it with the best music compositions. The film has an eccentric ensemble of music directors, from Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi and Rishi Rich to Farhan Saeed, Ami Mishra and Rahul Mishra. The songs have that rare quality that make you want to sing along with the simple yet beautiful lyrics.

Dialogues by Ishita Moitra Udhwani and Screenplay by Tushar Hiranandani are very effective, though one never really gets to know how and why does Riya SOmani coin the term HALF GIRLFRIEND. I as an audience member, who has not read this book by Chetan Bhagat, really wished to know but did not get it.

Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is splendid. From the Delhi college life, to the city’s archaeological heritage, to Bihar countryside and the New York City, every city is captured amazingly, making it a supporting character in Madhav Jha’s life. Editing by Devendra Murdeshwar is not very fast, but the film did not deserve a very pacy editing also.

FINAL WORD:

Simple boy loves simple girl but still life is not easy. Mohit Suri’s HALF GIRLFRIEND is your quintessential romantic movie and not a tired rom-com. It has a wonderful lead pair that is fresh as daisy and share sparkling chemistry together. Watch it for Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor and for its absolutely gorgeous musical score. Perfect Date Movie in a long time.