Dil Junglee: ‘Cliche Meets Cupid’ Makes This Film a Painful Watch

The most done-to-death twists move the narrative forward in a lumbering fashion.

A poster of Dil Junglee.

(Photo courtesy: Pooja Entertainment)

Dil Junglee is a difficult film to keep up with. We meet Korro and Sumit at their worst. A bespectacled Tapsee Pannu with a ridiculous hairstyle playing a confused woman/child who reads romantic novels and says things like "I just want to get married to whoever loves me".

She has a strained relationship with her uber rich industrialist dad who says "Itne bade industrialist ki beti aur ek mamooli English counsellor ". It's while helping with prepositions and conjunctions that Korro meets Sumit, head instructor at Gulati gym in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar. It’s all ellipsis from there.

Sumit is desperate for a break in the film industry. He spends his time doing small modelling assignments and Saqib Saleem plays it like a bad version of Bittoo Sharma from Band Baja Baraat. Something just doesn’t feel right!

Writer-director Aleya Sen comes up with the most done-to-death twists  that moves the narrative forward in a lumbering fashion. A nightclub song where the lead pair is dancing with abandon is followed with ladke ki mummy ji asking for ladki ki kudli. Next, when the girl is found to be "manglik", over-enthusiastic mummy ji does the "ye shaadi nahi ho sakti" wailing.

Cliche playing Cupid doesn’t go far and by interval, both the supposedly in-love couple along with the  story has reached a dead end. And we have run out of patience.

Next, a new hairstyle and change of wardrobe signal Korri's improved personality. Daddy ji is also happy coz Korri is in full ‘L’Oreal – it’s worth it’ mode, clinching business deals with drab lines like "Guys, let's do it!” The action shifts from Mumbai to London, but the ridiculously dimwitted plot remains.

The caricaturish acting doesn't help matters as things spiral out of control. Except Nidhi Singh, who is hugely enjoyable as the loud, attention-seeking girlfriend, no one else seems to have any clue what to do. Srishti Srivastava and Abhilash Thaplial are in forgettable roles and Tapsee and Saqib seem to just be trying too hard!

Dil Junglee fluctuates between being super annoying and very boring! 1.5 Quints out of 5!