Brave new attempt but not worth the bawaal

Mona

A delayed honeymoon trip covering sites central to World War II makes for a strange choice, but is the backdrop of director Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Bawaal’. Written by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, who has to her credit a remarkable ‘Nil Battey Sannata’, and Nitesh at the helm of affairs who gave us the amazing ‘Dangal’, one expects something out of ordinary.

‘Bawaal’ charts the life of Ajay Dixit aka popular Mr Fenku Ajju Bhaiya, who is living a kingsize fake life. While those around him think quite high of him, he is, in fact, a depressed man. “Kaam aisa ho jahan jaane ka mann kare, aur ghar aisa jahan aane ko mann kare” (A workplace where you are excited to go and a home where you are keen to come back to) is a world he desires but is frustrated on both fronts. He teaches history at a high school in which he has little interest. His marriage has not panned out well both for his new bride Nisha (Janhvi Kapoor) and his larger-than-life image.

As he is facing problems at his school as well, he comes up with a ‘revolutionary’ plan to teach his students about World War II by visiting the war museums in Europe and addressing them through live social media sessions. It isn’t that he is a dedicated teacher but he just wants to create a bigger spectacle so as to take attention away from the ‘bawaal’ in school. Nisha tags along with him with her in-laws sponsoring the trip and things are about to change in a predictable direction.

Small-town stories are currently the flavour of the season. The film opens with Varun Dhawan in full swag. We don’t like a sad, bad Ajju much though. Things get better during the Europe trip as the couple bumps into a Gujarati group, and they visit Paris, Normandy, Amsterdam, Berlin and Auschwitz, even as it smacks of ‘DDLJ’ to ‘Chandni’ moments.

What works is the support cast, particularly scenes between Ajju and his friend Bipin (Prateik Pachori) that set the tone. Manoj Pahwa and Anjuman Saxena as Ajju’s loving, middle-class parents and Nisha’s doting in-laws make for an adorable couple. Also, there is a touching scene between Nisha and her mother, in which the latter reasons how divorce is not a bad thing if things are not working out. One wonders how such progressive parents raised such regressive children as Ajju and Nisha. He can’t think beyond self; she is ready to be imprisoned at home without any work or outing as her husband considers her a ‘defective’ piece.

Varun as Ajju fairs well in the acting department. Sans a believable back story, his transformation doesn’t ring true though. Janhvi is average, even when she gets ample screen space and plenty of dialogues. Drawing a parallel between a war and one’s inner conflict is a smart move but lacks conviction. “Every relationship goes through their Auschwitz, and it’s only then that you learn its true significance,” says an Auschwitz survivor. This particular scene is moving. As is the Omaha beach (Normandy-landings) sequence, very briefly making a commentary on the past and the present — how wars never lead to any good, ever. The war scenes shot in black and white with background score by Daniel B George have come out well.

The film’s screenplay and dialogues are by Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Nikhil Mehrotra and Shreyas Jain. The soundtrack is by Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi, and Akashdeep Sengupta. Neither the writing nor music bind the story together. Did we mention, there are issues of corporal punishment and a medical condition also weaved in? A brave new attempt but something is amiss.