The heart of this story, a witty little kid Kundan is the son of a Tamil priest living in Varanasi. It was love at first sight when he saw the angelic little Muslim girl Zoya, the daughter of a professor. The love grows as the little boy turns into the Banarasi Babu Kundan (Dhanush). The teenage school love never seemed so endearing as it does portrayed by Kundan. One fateful day, under the influence of the movie Saajan, Kundan gathers some bro-couragement from his friend Murari (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) to approach Zoya (Sonam Kapoor) and then gets slapped. 15 times. She finally caves in to meet him as his "consistency" impressed her. As she falls for him, the family of the girl finds out and sends her off to Aligarh. Kundan is shocked and promises Zoya that he will wait for her. 8 years pass. Zoya gets into JNU and life changes for her. Kundan is still the same small town boy still waiting for his childhood love despite of the advances of his childhood friend Bindiya (Swara Bhaskar). Bindiya is madly in love with Kundan and has an eternal hope of marrying him. When Zoya returns back to Varanasi, Kundan gets the rude shock that Zoya is in love with a student leader Akram (Abhay Deol). Kundan swears to get over Zoya and get married to Bindiya on the same day as Akram marries her. Then, with a dramatic twist, life changes for everybody and the love turns deplorable.
The story is very fresh and yet has an old world charm to it. A realistic love story after ages, if I may say. The film is written by Himanshu Sharma, the writer of Tanu Weds Manu, another simple and warm film. This film is much evolved than Tanu Weds Manu, both directed by Anand L. Rai. The film touches your heart in every way possible. It has some gem of dialogues that will have claps from the front seats to the last ones. Very difficult to achieve. The music isn't again thrown in but blends with the movie. A. R. Rahman has fused in soulful tracks with Banarasi flavor in it. The film is slightly sluggish towards the end but makes up to the viewers with some intense performances. Sonam Kapoor looks ethereal and gives one of her best performances till date. I guess no other contemporary of her could have managed to give such an intense yet effortless performance. I am personally a critic turned fan now. Dhanush shines through the movie. His comic timing, intensity and sheer effortlessness with an endearing South Indian accent is the highlight of this film. I wouldn't say he has an amazing depth but he has a lot conviction in what he doesn. Abhay Deol with very little to do still manages to carve a niche as he always does. The supporting cast also has done a wonderful job.
Move over cotton candy romance. This film is made from the heart and pierces right through the viewer's. I eat my words and not ashamed of it, this movie is a must watch.
Rating: - 3.5/5
