Dolly Ki Doli: A Heavy Burden

As the credits rolled at the end of this one and half hour long movie my wife asked, “So which one did you like better – Khoobsurat or this one?” Her reference was to the last Sonam Kapoor film we watched. Sonam is not her favourite actor. I have nothing against Sonam though. But this film…

A quirky premise screwed up with badly done screenplay and even poorer direction is not uncommon in Bollywood. Dolly Ki Doli just adds to the list.

Taken from some real life incidents, the story is about a certain girl called Dolly who finds it is easy to earn by conning bright young men to marriage. She charms men, exchanges vows with them and next morning the groom discovers that not only his wife but every valuable in the house is missing! Sonam plays Dolly, the damsel not a bit in distress. The long list of her victims include a wealthy Haryanvi farmer Sonu Sherawat (Rajkummar Rao) and Manoj Chadda ( Varun Sharma). Every time, she manages to get away without leaving any proof – not a single snap or video from the marriage! And that keeps the police at bay… until things start going wrong…

And things go wrong, literally. After the initial momentum, which has a few comic moments, the flow fails to shift to next gear when needed. The big moments fall flat failing to create any impact on the viewer. Moments like when Sonu Sherawat arrives at Manoj’s place after their wedding, almost busting her fizzle out. The climax, despite a cleverly placed special appearance, is as predictable as the taste of lemon in lemonade.

Among the other aspects of filmmaking, DKD is not overwhelming. It has nothing exciting. The cinematography, editing, music… workable but hardly exceptional.

Possibly the only thing that worked for Dolly Ki Doli are the performances. Rajkummar is at his delightful best and turns into a completely believable character. Pulkrit Samrat does a Salman Khan as he dons the police uniform for his Robin Singh – his mannerisms very evidently aimed at pointing his resemblance to the superstar.  The film belongs to Sonam, and good or bad, it is hers to pull. She does fit in too, but with the burden of a badly executed film anything that she and the rest of the actors managed to put up got completely smashed.

Dolly Ki Doli could have been a better film. What it turned out however is a film that reeks of apparent disinterest shown during the making.

So to my wife’s answer… Khoobsurat is definitely better. Loud as it may have been, it was meant to be a chick flick and it turned out to be one. Dolly Ki Doli is bland. So long Sonam…

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