Review: 2 States | Verve Magazine
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Screen + Sound + Stage
April 18, 2014

Review: 2 States

Text by Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena

Planning to watch 2 States this weekend? If so, you might want to read this review, hot off the screen….

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Movie: 2 States
Director: Abhishek Varman
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh, Revathy, Ronit Roy
Verdict: We like!
Disclaimer: Reviewer is pro the author!

Having read Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States: The Story of My Marriage and enjoyed his work, you tend to look forward to the screen adaptation. The movie stays faithful to the original work, and the fact that you have read it does not take away from the enjoyment of the Alia Bhatt-Arjun Kapoor starrer.

Screen Moments

The opening scene shows Krish Malhotra (Arjun Kapoor) seated on the sofa of a psychiatrist’s office as he rewinds to crucial moments that have shaped his life. In between, in flashback, the boy-meets-girl story unfolds.

The movie is a romance that draws heavily from the North-South divide. And while the girl and boy meet and fall in love at IIM Ahmedabad, when the two families meet at the convocation, it is not love at first sight – on the contrary. No wonder then, the movie has its moments of Madrasi-Punjabi snide remarks and jokes.

Apart from the central love story, the movie explores the family angle well. This is particularly relevant here where, as Krish states, the boy and girl have to love each other, the boy’s family has to love the girl, the girl’s family has to love the boy and the two families have to get along with each other. So, Ananya and Krish do their utmost to win the other’s family over.

The scenes where Krish goes to Chennai and spends time with Ananya’s family – coaching Manju, Ananya’s brother, for IIT, helping her father make a presentation and encouraging the mother to perform at his bank’s function are touching. In fact, when the mother performs and her family sees her, it brings a lump into the throat a la K3G.

Ananya’s foray into the North Indian family is colourful. Her intervention at the wedding finally gets her the seal of approval…but the story continues!

Casting

Abhishek Varman’s debut offering is perfectly cast. Alia grows into her role of Ananya Swaminathan and lives her part to the hilt. Arjun, a far cry from his performances in this year’s Gunday and Ishaqzaade (2012), in a nerdy avatar, displays potential.

Watch the movie for:

1. Engaging interactions Krish’s interaction – or non-interaction – with his father (Ronit Roy does a wonderful job here) is a relationship that is explored well and developed to a cathartic finale. The two mothers – Amrita Singh and Revathy – are what mothers are made of.

2. Real to Reel This is based on Bhagat’s life – and that veracity gives it a degree of authenticity.

3. How to deal with mixed marriages While we have progressed culturally and socially, there are still barriers to inter community and intercultural marriages. This is a step forward – after all, love knows no boundaries!

2 States is an entertainer — that whether you know the work on which it is based or not (in which case a couple of loose connections may confound you) – it is a movie to see for its cast, its dialogues and fresh appeal.

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