De Taali Review

De Taali Review

De Taali' - Bheja Khaali
By Nikhil Kumar
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

Good performances and a few punchy dialogues alone don’t make an interesting rom-com if the plot and direction is lackluster. After all, it takes two to clap.

‘De Taali’ is not an out-and-out comedy. It is a breezy, bouncy, bumbling romantic movie about three friends and a scheming siren.

The movie begins with a song (how else).

Paglu (a rightly cast Ritesh Deshmukh ), Abhi (an endearing Aftab Shivdasani ) and Amu (a curvy Ayesha Takia ) are a bunch of slaphappy friends who banter about everything from love, life and sex to marriage. Abhi is a sort of a despo, falling in ‘love’ with any and every girl (be her a kleptomaniac or a witch) who is attractive and then nursing a broken heart after she walks out on him.

In this jamboree of three friends, love sprouts in Amu’s heart. It is love for Abhi. But she doesn’t realize it until Paglu makes her see it.

Before Amu can express her love, a drop-dead-gorgeous Kartika ( Rimi Sen ) enters and sweeps Abhi off his feet. But Kartika is a gold-digger and a smooth operator at that. She has one eye firmly focused on Abhi’s wealth.

As Paglu and Amu try to spoil Kartika’s plans, the movie goes into expected drama – kidnapping, a bunch of rejected lovers, and a twist in the tale.

‘De Taali’ has fine performances from the leading cast, who, at moments, even rise above the mediocre script to hold a viewer’s interest. But director E Niwas disappoints. He seems more fixated on making the movie look visually appealing without ensuring a tight, coherent script in the first place.

The plot inexplicably keeps meandering into ambiguous zones for no rhyme or reason. The twists at the interval and at the end seem contrived to suit the writer’s convenience.

The humour in the film is generic, with a slightly risqué flavour to boot. The songs are okay. In supporting roles Anupam Kher and Pawan Malhotra are made to look like caricatures.

All in all, a ho-hum film with funny moments few and far between.