Reviews & Ratings for
बार बार देखो (2016)

This review is a bit long, breaking it down into segments.

Baar Baar Dekho is a movie about a young mathematician, who suffers a crisis before marriage and then somehow starts alternating between the future and past of his life.

This movie is meant to be thought provoking and engaging.
If Groundhog Day, it’s a wonderful life and Click were combined, this is the resulting film.
But don’t get me wrong, the film makers have not really copied anything, they have taken inspiration from a lot of different sources and made something original. This is the kind of inspiration that should be encouraged. It’s not a direct copy of any one film. Calling it a remake of Click is just plain wrong.

A lot of thought and effort was put into the screenplay and it shows…

Story & Plot

Now we come to most important part of the film. Its plot and story. To say that the story is unique for a Bollywood film is a total understatement. Sure it’s been done a few times in Hollywood, but no one has tried this concept here, in India.
And that is sadly why, this film is mostly not going to be a huge hit. Despite people always grumbling about the same old ghisa pita love story like ‘Break Ke baad’, ‘Ki and Ka’, this film presents something VERY different, yet the audience isn’t going to get it.
Like Roy Last year, this is a movie which I REALLY liked, but it might lose the audience because it’s very different from the normal shaadi behaa wale films.
This film is poignant, though provoking and shows the value of life and how it’s the smallest of things that matter. Though this message is delivered a bit ham fistedly, it doesn’t take away from the message.

Direction & Cinematography

Let’s talk about the direction. This film is directed well and rather spot on. There are no missed opportunities or illogical scenes. Everything is well crafted to make sense and make the audience think. Its far better directed than most films from Bollywood in the romance genre.

The cinematography is REALLY uneven, the first part of the film, which is a shaadi is shot very mediocre and the lighting is atrocious. But the later parts of the film, the ones set in Cambridge of the future is shot amazingly well. It feels like two very different teams worked on it, which is entirely possible. The look of the film get better as it goes along, I hope this was intentional, but its most probably a happy accident. Whatever the case might be, by the end the movie is looking amazing by cinematography standards.

Acting

Now we come to performances. This is where things are slightly lacking.
I wish, I REALLY wish that Katrina was stunning not only in her looks, but also her acting. She is the weakest link in this film. That’s not to say her performance was bad, but it just lacked the depth of a more refined actress.
I can see the director trying very hard to get the performance he wanted from the actress, he almost succeeds, but not quite. The breakup scene, featured prominently in the promos, shows just how limited her range is and how she is just not capable of showing the pain her character is going though.
Siddharth Malhotra shines in this film, he is the lead and the only link for the audience between all the random time jumping the character goes though. He nails his performance, it won’t win him any awards, but he carries off the film without a hitch.
The rest of the cast is adequate, they don’t ham it up and remain in character, except for Rohan Joshi. That guy cannot act AT ALL!
He might a halfway decent standup comedian, but his casting as the lead’s friend was the worst casting in this otherwise good film. This guy is SO bad; it looks like the editor or director either cut out his role or edited it away. This guy acts worse than someone who can be picked off the streets. Sorry bro, stick to making people laugh!


Conclusion

This movie is very different from usual romantic films. I really liked this film, but the audience in my theater seemed bored and started to talk among themselves during the latter half. The film is also a bit slow, its mostly just drama and life lessons, there is not much to provide masala for the aam junta. So they might not like it.
But if you DO decide to see this film, go in with zero expectations of melodrama, 10-15 songs and lots of ham acting. This film is funny, subtle and very introspective.

Rating: 8/10. A Must watch for fans of Click, Time traveler’s wife, About Time, Groundhog Day and such genre of films.

P.S : Everyone in the hall was just waiting for the kala chasma song to play. It plays over the end credits and no one left till the song was over. I felt that the song was good, but it didn’t fit the tone of the film AT ALL, the film is more Zindagi Na milegi Doobara than Punjabi wedding. So anyone going it by that song alone, will be very disappointed!

The movie will surely have a decent opening in the multiplexes though it will suffer in the single screens. However, realistically speaking I dont think this will be able to accomplish much apart from break even as it's a type of movie which wont be palatable to many. In short, it wont hurt to watch it ek baar !!!

it is like about time , and i have been wanting to watch it but failed to watch it and i forced myself to watch it today .
MY current thought had lot of adaptation and i am in particular interested in this topic

I am a total sucker for time travel romance stories. I absolutely love that story telling device, and I was really excited when I saw the trailer for Baar Baar Dekho because I don"t remember ever seeing it in an Indian film. aar Baar Dekho is the first feature film by director Nitya Mehra. She has worked as the Assistant Director for Ang Lee (Life of Pi) and Mira Nair (The Namesake). The film also has some high powered producers " Karan Johar and Farhan Akhtar. The beginning of the film is a beautiful montage sequence showing how Sidhartha Malhotra and Katrina Kaif's characters had been friends from childhood, and were like an old married couple by the time they became engaged. In fact Katrina uses that exact line in her proposal to Sidharth. We might as well get married then! Read the rest of my review here: https://moviemavengal.com/2016/09/10/baar-baar-dekho-i-do-love-time-travel-romance-movies-but-this-one-isnt-the-best-example/