This is the first Shahid movie I’ve seen since last year’s Kismat Konnection (haven’t seen Kaminey yet, plan to though). So, it’s been a while. But I was looking more forward to this movie because of Rani. I’ve been a big fan of hers, but very disappointed in her choice of films lately.

Maybe that’s an influencing factor on how I viewed this movie. I’m a big Rani fan and a big Shahid fan, so I’m going to obviously like it, right? I think we tend to overlook a lot of glaring holes and mistakes when we like the lead actors so much. :)

DBH is certainly no Chak De India, Lagaan, or any other dramatic, hard-nosed sports film. And it doesn’t claim to be either. Sure, YRF puts out fluff year after year, but sometimes that fluff is enjoyable. This one is. The story is apparently copied from She’s The Man, though some have said that the only thing similar is a girl pretending to be a man. Not much else to the story, Rani dresses as a man so she can play cricket. And she’s found out at the end after leading her team to victory.

The story is painfully predictable, but there are moments here and there that you’re happy to see. I loved the little impromptu play that Rohan (Shahid) and Veera (Rani) did, even though it was a major YRF throwback. Though if Shahid’s looking to shed his SRK image, doing a DDLJ reenactment is not going to help. Also loved the look of all the songs, and they are all growing on me. Ishq Hi Hai Rab is so pretty, Bhangra Bistar and Discowale Khisko are fun, and the remix at the end is amazing. Though one crib about Bhangra Bistar was the use of Hard Kaur’s voice for Rani. They should have either cut that part or had someone random from the group singing it.

Other little things I liked:

- The revealing of Veera as Veer. It wasn’t something overdone like her mooch starting to fall off or her hair coming out. The contact lens falling out was just perfect IMO. It’s something small enough that only Rohan can notice, but it’s so big.
- The very end, with Rohan just forgiving Veera without any big confrontation and each explaining themselves. Just let it go.
- I liked that the end credits rolled horizontally, so you can still see most of what’s going on. It’s very annoying when they shrink the size of the screen at the end so the credits can roll (RNBDJ, I’m looking at you.)

Overall, not the greatest movie ever made, but I enjoyed it. Oh, and Shahid? Next time you’re doing a scene without your shirt, lose the towel. ;)

Rating: ★★★☆☆


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