Ishq Forever (2016):
Cast : Ruhi Singh, Krishna Chaturvedi, Lisa Ray, Jaaved Jaaferi
Direction : Sameer Sippy
Genre : Romance
Duration : 2 hours 5 minutes
Story :
Ria
(Ruhi Singh), teen daughter of the Indian Prime Minister absconds with a
good-looking stranger Aryan (Krishna Chaturvedi) in South Africa to
feel free. But he is trouble too. Can their ishq last forever? Chasing
the lovers are the PM's security guards, bickering couple cum RAW agents
and two comical militants, who wish to kidnap Ria to teach India a
lesson. This chasing around business loaded with multiple songs
comprises the story.
Review :
A rip-off of
Hollywood film Chasing Liberty, the film also seeks inspiration from
various romcoms like Roman Holiday and Leap Year. Lack of originality
and the cliche-laden script can be forgiven, provided the chemistry
between the lead couple clicks. Sadly, it doesn't so the scenes fall
flat. Poor writing and bad direction needs to be blamed as the the lead
actors have a confident screen presence but their characters lack
substance.
While Ruhi fits the
bill of a sassy youngster, she pouts endlessly like she were perpetually
on Instagram. Her dialogues sound like status updates on social media.
At one point she tells Krishna's character, "Yeh mere journey ka sabse
emotional moment hai." In your head you go hashtag emotional. Her mother
in the film gets dafter lines. She constantly fears that her daughter
might turn out to be a lesbian. She voices her concern by wondering,
"Kahi humari ladki ne girlfriend ko boyfriend bana liya toh?"
Krishna is relatively understated and believable but seems a tad wooden in portions and needs to loosen up a bit. Lisa Ray plays the hot secret service agent in heels with zero IQ and laid-back combat skills. Her Hindi dub dialogues make her sound like Nargis Fakhri of Rockstar. Javed Jaaferi is wasted.
What does work in the film's favour is its old school take on romance and Nadeem Saifi's melodious songs, reminiscent of his 90s hit music. Sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Bilkul socha na stays with you much after you leave the theater.
Despite the fault, if the story of a good-looking couple stuck in romantic situations at picturesque locations excite you, you can give it a effort.
