Baaraat Company movie review: Sans the groom, this wedding is surely worth attending

Director: Syed Ahmad Afzal

Cast: Ranveer Kumar, Sandeepa Dhar, Anurita Jha, Vishal Kanwar,

Indian cinema’s twisted relationship with dramatic weddings is eternity old, and many feel-good family dramas are a perfect example of that. Though Youngistaan fame Syed Ahmed Afzal’s Baaraat Company drives towards the same destination, it’s the director’s clever choice of taking a different route that saves the film from becoming a victim of commercial cinema.

The film is about Imaan Singh aka Immu, who runs his grandfather’s ‘unique’ wedding company that prevents girls and guys from eloping with their respective lovers by making sure they say their vows to the partners their families sees fit, until ironically Immu falls in the same pit.

Immu (Ranveer Kumar) is really close to his 'dada' (grandfather) and has always followed his footsteps, thus, he has never been in love. Baaraat Company has separated many lovers and given their clients no-drama, hassle-free weddings. Everything is going smoothly until another landsman contacts Immu for his sister’s wedding contract. This is when things take a wild turn for Immu. Ranveer’s Immu is at the soon-to-be-bride, Yasmin’s (Anurita Jha), house when he sees her bestfriend Mehek (Sandeepa Dhar) for the first time and voila, our stubborn protagonist is finally hit by the cupid. At this point, you may think it’s going to be a same old done and dusted story of bad guy going good followed by a 'happily ever after', which is kind of a perfect prediction, but it’s the ‘how’ that makes it an interesting journey. What follows is surely a fresh take on a rom-com drama that revolves around weddings.

Considering that it’s a small budget film, Baaraat Company could have been an absolute ‘paisa vasool’ entertainer, had a major element in the film hadn’t gone terribly wrong. From the film’s smooth story to the frames that give us beautiful glimpses of Lucknow, Baaraat Company is a pretty watch but it’s the film’s lead actor, Ranveer Kumar, that stands out and no, not for the right reasons. Apart from his weirdly cakey face, it’s his slow dialogue delivery that drags the film for about 20 more long minutes. With rest of the casting on point, it was Ranveer’s character that looked out of place so much that anyone and everyone sharing frame with him, stole the limelight off the debutant actor easily.

Sandeepa Dhar, who essays the role of a brave heart, independent girl Mehek, looks lovely in each frame, whereas Anurita Jha totally owns her character as Yasmin, who is a Lucknowi hot-blooded witty girl. Vishal Karwal, who plays the role of Abhay to whom Sandeepa is engaged and set to marry, puts his Splitsvilla charm to good use and that’s where it all ends. Playing a tough cop, Vishal didn’t look as convincing as the role demanded, which was already too little. Even the actors who had a small but pivotal roles in the film shined bright and contributed their bits to the film. Rani (Jai Hind Kumar) and Diljala (Kumar Saurabh) deliver commendable performances as they add the much needed and also the only humour elements in the film while also simultaneously helping Ranveer’s character get to the shore. While Rohit Bhatnagar, who plays the role of Vinod Khanna, a scared roommate of Yasmin’s boyfriend, has his quirky moments in the film as we see the poor fellow being dragged in somebody else’s mess every now and then.

Leaving out few awkward scenes such as Immu and his father’s reunion, the stand-off outside dargah and sloppy kisses between Immu and Mehek, Baaraat Company sails through with it’s eccentric script and perfectly put casting, and if you are a sucker for Bollywood wedding dramas, then who knows? It might just make it to your ‘guilty pleasure’ of Bollywood flicks’ list.