Finally it’s here after all the hype this expected big hoopla from Zoya Akhtar after the brilliant ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ comes ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ an overstuffed and eager to please family, relationship, drama. 'Dil Dhadakne Do' looks gorgeous and is stuffed with charming stars and they excel but the manipulative, faulty plot lacks the required cohesiveness and humor expected from a Zoya Akhtar’s directorial venture.

'Dil Dhadakne Do' is an ala low key Woody Allenish type thingie that entertains, engages with individual sparks in parts but lacks the pulse and the beat for an overall sweeping cinematic retreat we saw in ZNMD and Luck By Chance.

The Story

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti pen this cruise.. and move from land to sea.. from Spain to Istanbul.. it’s the 30th wedding anniversary of the Mehra’s - Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) and Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shah). Friends and family are invited that includes pet dog Pluto (voiced by Aamir Khan). As Pluto observes their journey.. it feels like the actors had much better time than the audience.

What to look out for

Elegantly decorated and extremely well shot. 'Dil Dhadkane Do' is a beautifully crafted film. This eye candy picture is perfectly casted. Nandini Shrikent deserves special mention for the immaculate selection. This story of dysfunctional Punjabi family from Delhi’s la crème de la crème background has some stimulating individual moments. Anil Kapoor is the scene stealer from the entire lot. Looking cool dapper in those grey shades the actor excels in his role as the self made arrogant head of the family. Flawless.

Priyanka Chopra is fantastic. She gets a meatier role and the actress gives her best as Ayesha Mehra.

Ranveer Singh is charming. Anushka looks beautiful. Their chemistry is fabulous. Shefali Shah as Mrs Mehra is brilliant.

The rare occasional humour is good. Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab, Ridhima Sud, Vikrant Massey, Parmeet Sethi add good support.

What not

It’s  overstuffed and was strangely eager to please. Lacked the exuberance, depth and layers seen in ZNMD and Luck by chance. The Mehra’s which Zoya wanted us to relate to unfortunately didn,t connect in the way it should have being. Yes its not a tear jerker, yes it’s not a melodramatic family relationship saga Bollywood is known for... but it lacked the quirkiness and allowed itself to be manipulative - The Anil Kapoor hospitalized scene.. plus noticeable flaws.. Kamal Mehra is running bankrupt and still he plans a cruise celebration for his 30 year old wedding.. Priyanka and Farhan’s story was half backed and it failed to create the required emotions. Farhan Akhtar - the backbone of ZNMD is wasted. The movie is unnecessarily long and the climax is so predictable.

Conclusion: 'Dil Dhadakne Do' is a gorgeously shot overstuffed eager to please family drama that excels more in acting and less on story and storytelling.