Movie Review: Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd: Hop on the bus!!!

Debutant director Reema Kagti has come up with a story of six different and difficult couples; each one of them hiding a secret behind their individualities and relationships and captures their moods on a trip from Mumbai to Goa which essentially is their honeymoon trip….

Nahid (Shabana Azmi) with Oscar (Boman Irani): Mumbai couple and oldest of them all and trying to rebuild their lives together as they come from tragic backgrounds; Milly (Raima Sen) with Partho (Kay Kay Menon): coming from Kolkatta and the perfect middle class representation; Pinky (Amisha Patel) with Vicky (Karan Khanna): opposites in their defining traits, one being a Bollywood stereotype, the other always tensed and aloof and least bothered about the fact of being on his honeymoon; Zara (Minisha Lamba) with Aspi (Abhay Deol): the perfect “made for each other” Parsi couple from Mumbai; Madhu (Sandhya Mridul) with Bunty (Vikram Chatwal): two people who met through the internet with Bunty being an NRI, all so fine yet not so fine; Shilpa (Dia Mirza) with Hitesh (Ranvir Shorey): the Gujju couple from Surat, a man trying to enliven things up for his constantly cribbing wife in a perpetual state of unhappiness…..

The movie takes the audience on a ride with these characters along with their handyman, driver and a guide and a mysterious bike rider who follows them throughout the journey. The director makes use of an omniscient narrator through a radio show called “ Pyaar ke Lamhe” who unfolds the stories and secrets of the characters. The story tells about the contrasts and colors of a married relationship and puts the couples in different scenarios and backdrops. However though the idea was worthy, but the treatment lacks some lustre and refinement here or there yet, Reema Kagti seems to be a promising director who has earlier been a part of successful projects such as “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Lakshya” and “Lagaan”, under the light of guidance of Farhan Akhtar and Ashutosh Gowarikar.

The music composed by Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Rajviani has become one of the most sought after tunes in the beginning of this year. With Javed Akhtar penning down the lyrics for “Sajna ji vaari vaari” (the song being one of the best parts of the movie and Kay Kay Menon steals the show with his ultimate dance moves) , “Albela albela” along with other tracks such as “Halke halke ” and “Jaane hai woh kahan”, the scores have come out quite decent.

It is an uncluttered story from obvious good performances by Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi. Menon definitely never fails to make an impact on his viewers. Others have also performed quite up to what was required of them in their characters in a quite satisfactory sense of cinema as each one is unique from the other. Ranvir Shorey is also once again brilliant and at his comic best after his serious stint in Traffic Signal. Though the movie is about six different couples, yet it isn’t episodic which gives a nice feel and a chance to the characters to interact with each other more and hence find their own strengths and weaknesses. Certain scenes have been truly hilarious with Raima Sen trying to parasail in a saree and later her martial arts antics.

There are a couple of surprises towards the climatic end of the movie which leave you wondering in the end as to why couldn’t you pick the clues through the movie when the director gave the apparent signals.

Overall, a fun and a light hearted romantic comedy, and apt if you are looking for a break from high intensity sobs and tears. Don’t strain your mind to look for the cinematic clichés…. Go with your friends or family, grab a few bags of popcorn and just get on with the ride………..!!!!!!