Dil Dosti Etc!

College Life!!! Some of the most memorable years of a person's life. A time of fun and frolic. A time of sex, drugs and rock (if so inclined). A time where you make some long lasting friendships. A time where you 1st experience true freedom. A time where you experience love in its most realistic state. All this and more is addressed in the movie Dil Dosti Etc.

I'd first heard about this flick in an issue of Filmfare and i was kinda interested. The movie sort of sounded like a more realistic version of Rang De Basanti minus all the shooting politicians and be the change fundas. Plus the starcast of Imaad Shah and Shreyas Talpade sounded pretty good and Smriti Mishra was coming back after a hiatus. So it sounded like an interesting indie campus movie. Atleast on paper it did.

Apurv (Imaad Shah) is a laid back rich kid who joins college just for the fun of it. His father is frustrated with his lazy attitude as he even turned down an offer from Yale University to stay back in India. He is pretty confused with his life and just keeps roaming here and there and everywhere, His favourite haunt being the brothel where he's deeply in love/lust with Vaishali (Smriti Mishra) a beautiful but sharp tongued prostitute with a heart of gold. But at the same time, he's trying to seduce Kintu (Isshita Sharma) a sharp but sweet 15 year old schoolgirl. He meets and befriends Sanjay (Shreyas Talpade) his senior and aspiring politician in college.

Sanjay Mishra is basically a weird cocktail of old and new values. He's from a backward area of Bihar where even today, The IAS is the only lucrative job. He however is idealistic and wants to do something for society. He is also very fearless and dynamic and doesn't back away from a fight. He falls in love with Prerna (Nikita Anand) a rich Delhi socialite. But unfortunately the clash between his old-fashioned ideals and her more modern fundas come in their way and cause a rift between them. All this happens in the backdrop of Delhi University where Sanjay is standing for elections for the post of President of the student union.

Now the story sounded exciting on paper. But Manish Tiwary unfortunately is not able to do full justice to the movie. It ends up looking more like the sexual adventures of a Delhi student. But to their credits, the actors somehow end up rising above the story and act pretty well. Especially Shreyas Talpade who manages to make his performance look realistic. Watch out for his outburst in the pre-climax. The role of Apurv seems to have been tailor-made for Imaad Shah. Smriti Mishra is as good as ever and makes you wonder where she had disappeared all these days. Isshita Sharma makes a confident debut and looks perfect in the role of the schoolgirl trying to act older. Nikita Anand makes a confident debut, but she needs to work a little on her expressions.

The dialogues of the movie are hilarious and mainly consist of Delhi lingo. The music is very light-hearted and blends well with the campus mood of the movie. Especially the raw and earthy Dum Laga which stays with you even after the movie's done.

Overall, not such a bad viewing experience after all. But doesn't exactly live up to expectations.