‘Do Lafzon Ki Kahani’ Movie Review: Randeep Hooda makes this ‘old’ film likeable

Directed by: Deepak Tijori
Produced by: Jayantilal Gada
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Kajal Aggarwal
Duration: 2 hours 08 minute
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3/5

Watching director Deepak Tijori’s ‘Do Lafzon Ki Kahani‘ is a strange experience – you know the basic plot and the subplots are old as the hills, but the leading man Randeep Hooda borderline forces you to like the film. It’s a constant fight inside the brain, right from the beginning, you can almost see what’s coming next, and somewhere midway you can guess what the climax will be and where it might unfold. The biggest merit of ‘Do Lafzon Ki Kahani’ is the leading man, Randeep, who carries the entire film on his broad shoulders and his beefed up physique.

If there ever was a tribute (intentional or otherwise) to the cinema of 80s and early 90s it would be this film. ‘DLKK’ is set in Kuala Lumpur, where the protagonist Suraj played by Randeep meets his lady love Jenny Mathais (Kajal Aggarwal) in one of the most weird setup one can think of. Visually challenged Jenny is a fan of Hindi soaps, and she watches it with an old building watchman in his kiosk – oh he also happens to be of Indian origin. You might ask why does Jenny not buy a TV set for herself, because she has almost everything else at her well-decorated home. Don’t ask. Suraj is a replacement for the old man at the building, and she begins watching Hindi soaps with him.

This is the moment when you feel like walking out of the theatre, but Randeep holds you back – he makes it believable. After all he is a shy, lonely guy who happens to be an orphan who didn’t even get a last name, which he didn’t feel he needed anyway. We have already been shown in the second scene that he is working hard (triple shifts, no less), barely sleeps, and almost always wakes up with a nightmare. In a sorry life like this, if a pretty girl walks in from any random corner, one would feel happy for him, right? So yes, that’s how the film begins, and their love story blooms over the soapy Hindi soap which they watch daily at 8:00 pm.

Once the makers have sorted the love angle, they throw in the mixed martial arts aspect of Suraj’s character. The action form (last seen in ‘Brothers’ and ‘Baaghi’) is relatively new, but you have seen an older version in Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Karan Arjun’, where Salman Khan fights for money – either to win or lose the fight. You can almost smell Salman’s sweat while he is in the ring in ‘Karan Arjun’, when you see Hooda as Suraj, who is paid to lose a fight, but ends up getting up from the dead to win the fight against his arch rival. By the time this scene plays out, you already want to get out of the theatre, but yet again Hooda holds you back.

There is something very endearing about Randeep Hooda, you hope and pray that all good things happens to him and/or the character he essays. At times one wishes that he gets better films that deserve the kind of visible hard work that he puts in, be it ‘Sarbjit’ or ‘DLKK’. Now enough about Hooda, let’s talk about something else that stood out (for good or bad) in ‘DLKK’ – director Deepak Tijori shot to fame as an actor as the antagonist in Aamir Khan’s ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’ – do you remember the guy who played Aamir’s elder brother in it – the same guy, Mamik Singh, plays an almost prominent character in ‘DLKK’.

If this isn’t a heartfelt tribute to the 90s, then what is? You know what is a bigger tribute to that era gone by? ‘DLKK’ ends with a quote, not kidding, it is, hold your breath – Love never hurts… Love heals.

P.S. 1: Jenny, the leading lady who teaches kids to mould clay, doubles up as a masseuse at a hospital once a week, and eventually becomes a practicing weekly physiotherapist by the end of the film.

P.S. 2: Jenny is okay about being sexually harassed by her boss, just so that she can keep her job. After all, in which part of the world, even in 2015, a male boss doesn’t try to take advantage of his employee? It makes sense to live with it – the other best option is to live off the money her fiancé makes.

Watching ‘Do Lafzon Ki Kahani’ is a strange experience.

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