Humpty Sharma ki Dhulania (2014) (Movie Review)



Director: Shashank Khaitan
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt

Is it true that love happens at first sight? Perhaps, perhaps not. But this film goes with the former. Rakesh Sharma (Varun Dhawan) a.k.a Humpty, is a numbskull who wears his heart on his sleeve. Coupled with his charm with the ladies, he’s a ‘college hero’ (or so he thinks). His best friends, Shonty and Poplu help him stay afloat in a world he does not fit in. His ‘papa’ runs a stationery shop in the campus and Humpty happily uses it to begin his flirtatious activities.

He and his buds try to get a teacher to pass him in history. While in the act they are confronted by the teacher’s niece, Kavya (Alia Bhatt) who has just come up from Ambala to buy a designer gown for her marriage. Her suavity and feistyness immediately strike at Humpty’s heart and he gets his human ‘google’, Shonty, to get the low down on her. They get to know each other and Humpty and his pals help out one of Kavya’s friends, Gurpreet, to save her marriage. Humpty is determined to win this ‘dhulanias’ heart and against all odds helps her acquire enough money to buy her dream gown. Before she goes back to Ambala, they make love and he pops the question of whether she loves him. She expresses her love for him but knows that her feelings are secondary as her father’s choice of the groom is final.

Undaunted by this setback, Humpty sets out to Ambala to convince her that she should tell her dad about her feelings. She refuses, he persists. Her dad gets wind of it and has Humpty and his pals beaten and sent back to Delhi. They make a return and Kavya is convinced that Humpty loves her. She begs her father to give him a chance. He reluctantly accepts on the condition that, should Humpty succeed in pointing out one reason why Angad (her bethrothed) should not marry Kavya, he could marry her. Humpty fails to do so and the arranged marriage between Kavya and Angad goes ahead (or so it seems). Humpty is mourning his failure to win the hand of Kavya. Her father who is strongly against Humpty, mellows down and accepts him as Kavya’s chosen husband.  The movie ends with a ‘happy ever after’.  

The ending is a bit tricky. Up to this point the movie is more or less believable. Kavya’s dad appears out of nowhere to Humpty telling him of his change of heart. Humpty’s pals and dad are already at the wedding celebration even before Humpty gets there. The wedding celebration is well underway but the groom, Angad is nowhere in sight.

Varun and Alia deliver swashbuckling performances. The dizzying Punjabi dances and not-so-cool music are a drab. The film delivers the message of love and shows us how “what goes around comes around”.


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