Jug Jugg Jeeyo #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReview #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #JugJuggJeeyo Rating: * * Runtime: 120 mins Cast: #VarunDhawan #KiaraAdvani #AnilKapoor #NeetuKapoor #ManeishPaul #TiscaChopra #PrajaktaKoli Director: #RajMehta #DharmaProductions #HypePR #NilouferQureshi #KaranJohar

Aiming to work up a storm about dysfunctional marriages in a contrary conservative set-up, Raj Mehta’s film takes the long lonely road of needless (excruciatingly tedious for the audience) extravagance (big fat Punjabi wedding style) to reach his selling point. After childhood pranks meant to establish age-old love, the unnecessarily long-drawn narrative in the first half focuses on never-ending joyless wedding celebrations before sending the young couple Kuku (Dhawan) and Naina(Advani) to Canada where they reach an impasse as a couple and decide to end it after one last salvo at faking it. The dramatic bits are all in the second half - some of it genuine and earnest( Kuku and Naina’s face-off) while others – especially the father Bheem’s( Anil Kapoor) so-called asexually pure extra-marital affair, come across as rather toonish. Neetu Singh’s performance is dignified and entreating, Anil Kapoor’s is flamboyantly bordering on ridiculous, Kiara does well to channel Naina’s frustration affectingly while Varun ( even while overstating the petulance of Kuku), does manage to be affecting. Designated as a family entertainer there are hardly any comedic moments to laugh out loud at. The first half is so much a drag that it would be difficult for anyone to sit through long enough to partake in the spoils of so-called wedded bliss as played out here. There are far too many unnecessary sequences padding the narrative ( especially the Maneish Paul thread) and dragging it down to base theatrics. It’s certainly not ‘Good News’ that ‘Happily Ever After’ is beyond the pale for most couples here.