Movie Review: 'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl' - No Band or Baaja, but Engaging
Anitha S
Daijiworld Media Network - Entertainment
Rating: 3/5
Mangalore, Dec 10: You can say one thing about 'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl' - the movie has more sophistication than its kitschy name. The title would have you imagine a kind of women's liberation movement against Ricky Bahl, but thankfully, this is just a bunch of ladies taking 'revenge' against a conman who exploits their foolishness.
After 'Band Baaja Baaraat', it is not too much to expect a similar show from the same team that had given us such a hearty entertainer. Sadly, 'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl', doesn't quite hit it off. The first part of the movie is engaging and entertaining, but towards the end, you feel let down by the loosening knots of the plot.
Plot
Ricky Bahl (alias Sunny Singh, Iqbal, Deven) is a conman who makes his living out of fooling rich girls, and many times their dads, and getting lacs and crores milked from them with only his thousand watt smile and a sob story as weapons. Or, by posing as an art exhibitor and conning a lady manager with a fake M F Hussain art. Winning the hearts of girls and their fathers is a child's play for Ricky, and somehow, it is hard to digest that he could manage to cheat 30 girls and not have the police hunting for him, especially when that list contains powerful people like industrialists. Anyway.
The girls then join forces and decide to give the conman (Bloody Kameena as they call him) a dose of his own medicine. Dimple from Delhi (Parineeti Chopra), Raina from Mumbai (Dipannita Sharma), and Saira from Lucknow (Aditi Sharma) plot the Kameena's downfall, and come up with a plan to get their money back from him. They trace him down easily (thanks to his 'Baazigar' ringtone, no less) and hire Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma) for the dirty job. Wish they were in Indian police, no crook would have remained untraced for more than a few hours.
The scene shifts to Goa, the ladies and Ricky Bahl get busy conning each other, and the movie nose-dives into an average, predictable tale. The ending is abrupt and unconvincing. The director wants you to believe that a conman with 15 years of experience is foolish enough to shell out 16 lacs on buying dresses and shoes for his lady love. He wants you to believe that Ricky would con a girl without even doing any homework on her, except for checking a website. And even more ridiculous, that a conman hardened by experience can change overnight at the sight of a pretty girl. Uff.
Movie
The movie is engaging in the first half and most of the second half. The screen play which moves smoothly throughout loses its way towards the end. The songs and choreography are quintessential Yashraj films, with all the colour and peppiness. However, they are ill-timed, and pop up when you least want them. Cinematography deserves some applause.
Performances
The movie belongs to debutant Parineeti Chopra, no doubt. Whether as a bubbly spoilt brat of a rich dad, or a damsel drooling over her ex-boyfriend's muscles, or mourning and bad-mouthing him at the same time, she is outstanding throughout.
Ranveer Singh is super cool, and performs his different roles as conman with poise and control. He seems rather insipid in the second half though, when he is reduced to a man in love who only nods at whatever his girlfriend demands.
Anushka Sharma, suprisingly, doesn't have much of a role. She is the bait to con the conman, and as a motor-mouth salesgirl she is hyper. As the congirl, she delivers a striking performance.
The chemistry between Ranveer and Anushka that we loved in 'Band Baaja Baaraat' seems to be missing here, perhaps because of Anushka's late entry (after an hour or so into the movie), and perhaps owing to their roles too. Personally, I feel Parineeti-Ranveer jodi looks much better.
Dipannita Sharma is classy, and Aditi Sharma too does a laudable job.
Verdict
'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl' is definitely worth a watch. Despite its faults and a tacky ending, the style quotient, screen play, Ranveer and Parineeti will keep you engaged. I will rate it 3 out of 5 - 2 for the movie and 1 for Parineeti.
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