Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sharat Katariya
Produced by	Maneesh Sharma Aditya Chopra
Starring	Ayushmann Khurana Bhumi Pednekar Kumar Sanu
Music by	Songs: Anu Malik Background Score: Andrea Guerra
Cinematography	Manu Anand
Edited by	Namrata Rao
Production company	Yash Raj Films
Release dates	27 February 2015 (2015-02-27)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹90 million[1]
Box office	est. ₹301.9 million[1]

Dum Laga Ke Haisha is a 2015 Indian Hindi romantic comedy film directed by Sharat Katariya starring Ayushmann Khurana and Bhumi Pednekar in the lead roles.^[2][3][4] The film's background score is composed by Italian composer Andrea Guerra.^[5] The film was released on 27 February 2015 to good critical reception.^[6][7][8][9] Box Office India stated that the film collected ₹30.19 crore (US$4.5 million) after a five-week run.^[10] The film celebrated 50 days of its theatrical run on 16 April 2015.^[11] The film got five nominations at the 61st Filmfare Awards, winning two, Best Female Debut for Pednekar and Best Cinematography. The song "Moh Moh Ke Dhaage" got three nominations for its lyrics by Varun Grover and vocals by Papon and Monali Thakur. The film also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, the citation for the award is : For a sweet and resonant film set in Haridwar and challenges the middle class prejudices in choosing a bride.

Plot

Set in 1995,^[12] Prem Prakash Tiwari (Ayushmann Khurrana) owns a cassette shop in the local market of Haridwar. His father is keen on getting him married to an educated but overweight girl Sandhya (Bhumi Pednekar). In spite of not liking her, the school drop out Prem agrees to marry her as he cannot attain a girl with 'Juhi Chawla-level-of-looks.' In addition, the fact that Sandhya is trying to be a school teacher, his family asks him to think of this as a financial help too. Eventually, in an elaborate community-wedding ceremony, Prem and Sandhya get married.

Prem visibly shows his disinterest in the marriage and does not consummate the marriage on the wedding night. While his sister, aunt and mother argue about his non-existent life, Prem leaves for akhara. Friends and seniors make fun of him and he tells them about his anguish. His trainer suggests that he must run away but that is not an option for him. At home, Sandhya tries to get Prem attracted to her. But he is too embarrassed to even walk with her on the street. Prem and Sandhya's relationship continues to remain strained although they share a kiss and have sex on their second night together. Over time, Sandhya's frustration shows; when Prem's aunt brings up a petty topic, the two have a heated exchange of words and she tells them how he does not treat her well.

Amidst all this, a close friend of Prem's gets married. Prem and Sandhya go for the ceremony where due to his excessive drinking and jealousy over his friend's pretty wife, he tells everyone that sleeping with Sandhya feels like hell. Sandhya hears this and slaps him in front of his friends and he slaps her back. The next morning, Sandhya reflects on what she's been through and decides she has had enough and decides to leave Prem. She blames her father-in-law for his lack of respect towards women and not giving his son a proper education. Sandhya's mother tries to pacify her, saying she must return to her husband. But she decides that she can live by herself. Meanwhile, Prem decides to channel his energy into studying and to take his English paper again; he enrolls for the examination. His friends give up on him; after a verbal squabble, they throw him out of the group.

Subsequently, a friend's father opens a competing shop selling music CDs in the same market, clearly affecting their business. Prem's family talks to the shop-owner's family and the discussion ends with Prem's friend challenging him to participate and win the "Dum Lagao" contest. (The contest entails him carrying his wife on his shoulders and running an obstacle course.) Meanwhile, Sandhya and Prem reach the court to file divorce. The court decides that the two must spend six months with each other and try to salvage their marriage. Both decide to live together just as a formality but the two begin to get on, as they both start understanding each other. Sandhya gets accepted for a teaching job in Meerut.

Prem's aunt successfully convinces him to participate in the competition and the couple take a last chance to save their marriage. The day arrives and much to the surprise of the society members, Prem and Sandhya join the co-participants. Surprisingly, Prem shoulders the weight of his wife and surges past all other contestants who fall. In the last lap, Sandhya confesses to Prem that she does not want to go to Meerut and wants Prem to let her stay. Prem knows winning this competition is the only way to do this and pushes himself further to eventually win the race.

But Prem does not let Sandhya get off his back even after the race is over. He takes her back all the way to his house where they seal their love with a kiss.

Cast

• Ayushmann Khurrana as Prem Prakash Tiwari
• Bhumi Pednekar as Sandhya Verma
• Kumar Sanu as Kumar Sanu
• Sanjay Mishra as Chandra Prakash Tiwari
• Alka Amin as Sashi Tiwari
• Sheeba Chaddha as Nain Tara
• Seema Pahwa as Subhadra Rani
• Shrikant Verma as Shakha Babu
• Poorva Neeraj as Sandhya's Divorce Lawyer
• Kunal S Malla as Bade Jijaji
• Sonali Sharma Anand as Hema
• Chandra Choor Rai as Nirmal
• Mahesh Sharma as Vijay
• Jahidul Islam Shuvo as Shuvo

Production

The story of the movie is set in Haridwar and Rishikesh.^[13] Dum Laga Ke Haisha is the first Bollywood film to be entirely shot in the twin temple towns.^[14] The script of Dum Laga Ke Haisha was written in 2007, almost seven years before the release.^[15]

The role of the housewife required the actress to be overweight. As a result, the final actress, Bhumi Pednekar, gained 30 kg weight to land the role.^[16]

Release

The censor board muted the word "Lesbian"^[17][18] and replaced four words in the film.^[19][20] The film had a platform release in India, opening on 775 screens.^[21] The film released in UAE on 23 April 2015.^[22] As of 20 March 2015, this film has not been released in North America or Europe.^[23]

Soundtrack

Score

The film features original musical score composed by Italian composer Andrea Guerra. The composer best known for his score for the Will Smith starrer Pursuit of Happyness made his debut in Bollywood with this film.

Songs

Kumar Sanu has sung two songs in the film, while Sadhana Sargam makes a comeback with this album.^[24] Other singers are Papon, Kailash Kher, sisters Jyoti and Sultana Nooran, Malini Awasthi, Rahul Ram and Monali Thakur. Monali Thakur sang "Moh Moh Ke Dhage", for which she won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

All lyrics written by Varun Grover; all music composed by Anu Malik.

Critical reception

The Hindustan Times stated that while "You know from the onset that the guy will get his girl", the film "bucks stereotypes in many, many ways".^[25] Bollywood Hungama praised the film's lead actors Bhumi and Ayushman's performances, but criticised direction by Sharat Kataria and editing of the film.^[26] Koimoi rated the film 4 out of 5 stars.^[27] Shubhra Gupta of the Indian Express gave it 3.5 stars.^[28] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film 3.5 stars.^[29] NDTV gave a positive review with 3.5 stars.^[30] Anuj Kumar of The Hindu praised the movie saying "Dum Laga Ke Haisha: A well-rounded effort".^[31]

Box office reception

"Dum Laga Ke Haisha" was an Hit at the box office in 2015, low budget film and box Office collection excellent.

Box office

Box Office India stated the film opened well, earning ₹30 million (US$450,000) in first two days in India.^[32] The film nett. grossed around ₹30 million (US$450,000) on first Sunday to take the first weekend nett. gross to ₹60.5 million (US$900,000).^[33] The film nett. grossed ₹10.5 million (US$160,000) on first Monday.^[34] On its first Tuesday, the film saw fall in collections as it managed to collect ₹10 million (US$150,000) of 5th day,taking the five-day total to nett. ₹80.5 million (US$1.2 million).^[35][36] The film nett. grossed ₹175 million (US$2.6 million) in 10 days.^[37] Dum Laga Ke Haisha became one of the few Hindi films, which earned more in second weekend (₹67.5 million (US$1.0 million)) than the first weekend (₹60.5 million (US$900,000)).^[38] Dum Laga Ke Haisha recorded highest 5th weekend in 2015 with (₹11.3 million (US$170,000)) nett. gross.^[39][40][41] After a five-week run, the film earned ₹30.19 crore (US$4.5 million).^[10]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Dum Laga Ke Haisha at the Internet Movie Database