Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

A film as rootless and rife with loose ends as the pretty people in it

This is a rootless film. There is nothing wrong with the casting or performances, but you can’t contextualise the characters. Director Ayan Mukherji’s previous film, Wake Up Sid, did not have this problem. It was set in Mumbai, and the city became a character in the film—a beautiful rainswept city, a place with easy-to-get jobs but impossible rentals, a city to be independent, anonymous and terribly lonely in. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani just drifts around in the global song-and-dance village of Bollywood.

The most interesting person in the film is a high-spirited girl named Aditi (Kalki Koechlin), but you are told nothing about her. Why does she look European? How does she speak such good Hindi? Is she of mixed heritage? Even on the most important day of her life—the ostentatious Karan Johar marriage production—we don’t meet her parents. Was she born of immaculate conception on a Hindi film set?

The story is about Aditi, Avi (Aditya Roy Kapur), Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor), and Naina (Deepika Padukone). They went to school together, though Naina, a medical student, was always the serious one. But they’re back together now, trekking in the hills of Manali.

Much bonding later, the peripatetic pals go their separate ways. Bunny travels the world as a photo-journalist. Avi owns a bar and drinks a lot. Aditi mellows and settles for a rich, doting, boring husband (Kunaal Roy Kapur). By this time, Naina should have qualified as a doctor. Has she dropped out of med school? No answer.

Still, some of the conversation is well written and there is an emotional core in the midst of all the drifting. The writing has a conscience and soul. The film is liberal and tolerant. Its observations on the nature of friendship are sweetly put. But it just drones on and on. So you switch off and stare at the beautiful people.

Ayan MukherjiDeepika PadukoneRanbir Kapoor