Movie review '2 States': A love story to make you go 'awww'...

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy, Shiv Subramaniyam, Revathi, Achint Kaur
Direction: Abhishek Varman
Rating: 2.5 stars

He, Krish Malhotra (Arjun Kapoor), an IIT engineer, is a Punjabi from Delhi. She, Ananya Swaminathan (Alia Bhatt), an economics topper, is a Tamilian from Chennai. They meet in the canteen of IIM Ahmedabad, act cute, study together, kiss, make out and decide to get married.

2 States, based Chetan Bhagat’s 2009 novel, 2 States: The Story of my Marriage, is a love story set in India's premier institution involving two very bright students who are so responsible and steeped in good desi values that they decide that love is not enough to marry. They want each set of parents to not just agree to the matrimony, but fall in love with the in-laws before the wedding. Because, you see, in India it’s not boys and girls who get married. Here, families marry each other.

The first half of the film is about Malhotra getting the Swaminathans to like him, and the second half is devoted to Swaminathan trying to get the Malhotras to like her. All their efforts eventually lead to the perfect wedding of the perfect couple.

Both parts, packed with several awww moments, showcase Indian diversity clashing mildly, only to dance in harmony at the end. Awww.

If Chetan Bhagat learnt one thing at business school, it was what sells and how to market it. He knows what Indians want to read and gives them exactly that.

This story, apparently inspired by his life, has everything – a perfect couple meeting at India’s best educational institution, romance, drama, Ma/Amma, Appa/Pitaji and elevating love that brings together not just two very different and squabbling families, but even fixes a broken one.

In one story it gives us all the lovely stories about India we like to believe in -- the story of bright, studious students, of love that conquers all, of all of us being one large happy family because, basically, our values are the same. It’s designed to be levitating and joyful. And it is.

Bhagat says the story is autobiographical and I have no reason to disbelieve him. But my cynical antennas went up because here everything and everyone is just so splendid. Krish Malhotra is a boy-god with spectacles -- he's a saviour who redeems everyone, turns everything he touches into gold. Ananya is the best friend-wife-lover, and the best daughter and daughter-in-law.

In cinema and books, good, glorious people are dull. After a while they bore you. And here we have two goody-two-shoes. So radiant are they that though they walk on the earth, they seem levitated. And though they kiss and make out, we are inclined to believe that they didn’t do any hanky-panky.

In all this dazzling magnificence, the only real note is struck by the sour Mr Vikram Malhotra (Ronit Roy) and his hurting, suffering wife, Kavita Malhotra (Amrita Singh). His scowling presence that holds the threat of impulsive, sudden violence is compelling.

Though we get a moment or two with Shiv Swaminathan (Shiv Subramaniyam), Radha Swaminatham (Revathi) remains a cut-out from a kanjeevaram shop.

The film has some interesting moments, of course, all of which are observations about our "differences" and voicing our parochial prejudices. 

So, Punjabis consider themselves “broadminded”, and for them everyone south of the Vindhyas is a Madrasi. Any girl, especially one who is not a Punjabi, and one who hasn’t first romanced mummyji, but has gone straight for the boy, is a chudail and from her chungal (vice-like grip) simple, sweet Punjabi boy must be extracted.

South Indian houses are quiet, as if there’s been a death in the family, and they look like they’ve been robbed, the robbers leaving behind only the sofa set because they didn’t like it.

These hysterical remarks make the film sparkle and give the otherwise dreary proceedings some mirth.

But that’s it. The two sides are summed up, explained and relegated to clichés. They clash, but in quick bursts, saying nothing sensational or smart. Punjabis talk about lena-dena, money and vadi-vadi gaddi, and Tamilians of their Carnatic music and educational qualifications.

Unlike Vicky Donor, there’s little surprise here. The observations, jokes tickle us, but nothing is new. For a film that’s about cultural differences, and surmounting them, 2 States doesn’t try to find out what lies beneath these clashes, dislikes, fears. It’s all kept silly and superficial. This gives the two protagonists tiny little hurdles that they can easily negotiate, but the plot suffers.

These stilted characters exist only for Krish and, to a lesser degree, Ananya to demonstrate their bigheartedness. The Swaminathans have been put on earth only for the demigod Krish to burnish his credentials of the perfect boy son, boyfriend, son-in-law. So he gets the mother who wants to sing an invitation to sing at a concert, tutors the brother who wants to study for IIT, and makes a power-point presentation for the father who is struggling in office.

His own parents too are danpatras, donation boxes in which he, from time to time, puts in a lavish gift – of forgiveness, of understanding, of self-sacrifice.

This makes them wind-up toys and him deific.

Ananya too has a halo glowing behind her head, though a smaller one than Krish’s. She gets to go to the wedding of a Punjabi foreign-returned boy called Duke, which is just an occasion for her to come sprinting in her silk sari and heal this dowry-riddled, uncultured lot, and save the Malhotra family's pagri.

The good thing about 2 States is that these parents are played by very fine actors.

Amrita Singh as the rude mother who’ll ride roughshod over Ananya no matter what, is great fun.

Revathi has a powerful presence, but she has very little to do. That we remember her despite that speaks of her acting abilities.

Ronit Roy as the growling, drunk father brings some believability to this wondrous world. The little depth the film has, comes from him.

But 2 States is cinematically flat. It is narrated, as is the book, by Krish, in flashback. Here he’s talking to a psychologist whom we don’t meet. We just see a figure sitting and taking notes in an extremely pretentious office that made me want to throw up.

It remains a puzzle what he was doing there, though we note two things – that at some point he contemplated suicide and now has twins. Whether the two are connected is not clear.

Visually, except for the last wedding scene, which is a scene out of an Incredible India advert, it's all very pretty and stock.

But Little Miss Bhatt is cute as a button. She’s radiant, like those Vicco Turmeric bahus. And Arjun Kapoor, whom I consider a very good actor (not counting Gunday, of course), plays Krish as a burly but reticent, spectacled boy. He is understated and impressive. Bhatt and Kapoor have charming chemistry, the sort you see in young couples who are really into other and go awww.