Film Review: Half Girlfriend
Date: 19 May 2017
Director: Mohit Suri
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor
Rating: 1.5 stars
Madhav Jha/Arjun Kapoor has a problem communicating in English and convinces the faculty interviewing him for a college admission in Delhi to allow him to express in Hindi, they do and Arjun explains that that he wants to study sociology because he wants to change his village and India.
In the next scene, he is on the basketball ground trying to make friends with Riya Somani/Shraddha Kapoor.
The love story moves from the playground to canteen/ night outs and film shows and while he often tells Riya about his discomfort in English, we never see him encounter any problems during classroom/exams perhaps because it is not important to the plot.
Over to the hero and heroine, Riya thinks of Madhav as a buddy but Madhav thinks of Riya as a beloved and to avoid further misunderstandings, Riya has a solution: She tells Madhav that he can think of her as his Half Girlfriend whatever that means!
The biggest problem with the film is that it cannot determine whose story it is.
Is this the story of Madhav and Riya, then why complicate it with subplots of their parents? Is it is the story of Hindi v/s English or the small town/v/s big city divide, then why distract it with other issues like domestic violence/divorce/ girl child and yes even shauchalay??
The story travels from Delhi to Patna and Varanasi to New York and in every city there are two new songs, never mind that we don’t remember the city or the lyrics. Despite good compositions, good locations, successful stars and best efforts from all, the film make no impact!
Half Girlfriend is half baked, illogical and unconvincing…
Some years ago writer Chetan Bhagat wrote a book called Five Point, It is now time to address the same points to him:
Point 1: What is a Half Girlfriend and is it logical to define any relationship within boundaries? Point 2: Is a subject like this relevant in present times when youngsters are more buddies than lovers?
Point3: So what if a girl visits a boy’s Hostel and takes a nap in his room? Is it as dramatic as made out to be in your film? Does anybody in reality really care what happens with whom?
Point 4: Why is Riya judged as an escapist when she is the only character in the story who consciously concludes every relationship before terminating it?
Point 5: Is this really a love story because it seems more like Hide n Seek plot combined with Tracking Signs!
I rate Half Girl Friend with 1.5 stars and leave it to you if you wish to be the Half Audience of this film!
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“This is a deeply important story about love and families. One of these families is South Asian – such a beautiful culture. I am so honored to be a part of this film and to bring it now back to South Asia,” said Jennifer Reed the director of the film.
To be continued…
Later in the night we arrive at the hotel and discover that other awardees are celebrating their glory in different groups and join the party. The mood is ecstatic and the conversation about films, films, and more films. The celebrations go on till late night and nobody cares that they have to take a flight early in the morning.
To attract competent members on the jury NFA office has revised its guidelines and now offer daily allowances so members don’t have to spend out of their pockets. As an additional incentive the government has from this year onward started honoring jury member with a certificate of merit for their services.
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