Love marriages around the world are simple. The boy and girl fall in love and get married. With its vast ‘unity in diversity, it becomes a complicated issue in India.
Based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel – 2 States, it is a story of culturally opposite couple – Krish Malhotra and Ananya Swaminathan who are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married.
The film begins with Krish having a consultation with a pyschiatrist. He is contemplating to commit suicide as he “has Google-searched on best ways to commit suicide. He then begins with his story of how met Ananya while studying for a Management Degree.
Both of them are pursuing for Masters in a prestigious management institute of India. Krish is a Punjabi, from Delhi and Ananya is a Tamilian brahmin from Chennai.
Problems arise when their parents come to Ahmedabad to attend Krish and Ananya’s convocation where the girl’s Tamilian parents discover that the boy’s mother is a typical Punjabi. There is a cultural clash and the parents oppose the wedding and it is a daunting task for Krish and Ananya to convert their love story into a love marriage.
They take a conscious decision; they won’t get married until their parents agree.
These fresh Management grads have a tough battle in front of them. For them the easiest way out was to fight and rebel, but both of them want to try at convincing their parents. Will they make it?
In today’s world with the girl and boy’s family with a higher middle class background, residing in metros where one has friends or neighbours often coming from other communities, it is hard to believe educated, cultured parents having a “strictly no tolerance, no compromise” attitude towards other Indian communities, especially in present times where we see growing examples of inter-nationalities marriages.
Krish is close to his mother (Amrita Singh), rather sympathetic towards her, seeing a rigid, hot temperament of his father (Ronit Roy). The father-son’s turbulent relationship hits you, at times brings tears to one’s eyes.
One can relate to the Krish’s dad’s abuse and anger, commanding presence in his house, the circle of alcohol (being an ex-army man) and his mother’s over stretched tolerance level – just to keep the family intact. These scenes are quite delicately portrayed.
There are certain unrealistic things like cold attitude of girl’s parents when Krish visits their home for the first time, sudden acceptance of the boy after he manages to get Ananya’s mother for a singing performance, and a few more. Most silliest of them is while Ananya is attending a wedding in Delhi, in presence of the baaratis, she ‘convinces’ the groom to accept a small car as ‘dowry’. Total stupidity.
Other than these, 2 States has exceptional performances from Ronit Roy, Amrita Singh and Revathy. It is nice to see a subdued Arjun Kapoor communicating well with his expressions. Alia Bhatt is fine.
What starts off as a romance, gradually grows into a deep, serious family drama. 2 States is a witty, humorous, sensitive and emotional tale about inter-community marriages in modern India.
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Cast:
Arjun Kapoor as Krish Malhotra
Alia Bhatt as Ananya Swaminathan
Ronit Roy as Vikram Malhotra – Krish’s Father
Amrita Singh as Kavita Malhotra – Krish’s Mother
Shiv Kumar Subramaniam as Shiv Swaminathan – Ananya’s Father
Revathy as Radha Swaminathan – Ananya’s Mother
Sharang Natarajan as Ananya’s Brother
Ankit Chitral
Achint Kaur
Credits:
Banner – Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, Dharma Productions, Utv Motion Pictures
Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, Karan Johar
Based on the novel – 2 States byChetan Bhagat
Director – Abhishek Varman
Executive Producer – Pravin Khairnar
Music Directors – Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa
Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya
Editor – Namrata Rao
Cinematography – Binod Pradhan
Production Design by Amrita Mahal Nakai
Screenplay – Abhishek Varman
Dialogue – Hussain Dalal
Costume Design – Manish Malhotra