Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Anupam Kher, Sherlyn Chopra, Rakhi Sawant, Vrajesh Heerjee, Dalip Tahil

Director: Anurag Singh

Rating:**

To actually enjoy ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’, you have to be able to believe that Rani Mukerjee can pass off as a turbaned, bearded and mustachioed young Sardar whose only ambition in life is to play for the Indian cricket team. Can’t do it? The exit’s that way. For those that can suspend disbelief, here’s yet another Yashraj film which cobbles together bits and pieces from its past hits. ‘Sarson ke khet’? Check. NRI ‘munda’ finding his ‘dulhaniya’ in ‘sadda pind’? Check. Indo-Pak ‘bhaichara’? `Oye’, right here ‘ji’. The cricket-mad Punjabi ‘kudi’ is simply not new enough: basically, `Dil Bole’ is same-old from the House of Yash.

Veera (Rani) is convinced that there’s not a man born who can remove her from the crease. And to prove that, she dons her disguise and sneaks into the team the London-returned Rohan (Shahid) is putting together. The location is Amritsar, right across the border from Lahore, where, in an annual ‘friendly’ match, the Pakistanis have been beating the Indians hollow. Perfect excuse for dialogues on ‘aman’ and ‘chaein’, some grandstanding between the teams, a rousing win for the underdogs, and a happily ever-after for the two love-birds: you know this will happen even before the first ball is bowled.

In her author-backed role, Rani delivers some spanking sixes (and a fiery feminist speech) on the field, but no surprises off it. Even that much-hyped bikini shot has no charge. Shahid comes off the better of the two, but only slightly: his packaging –the cool dude look in blow-dried shoulder-length strands, designer shades, beige capris—outweighs the actor.

... contd.