Half Girlfriend Movie Review

half girlfriend movie reivew

Testing the dividing line between friendship and romance

 

Movie Review : Half Girlfriend 

  • Release Date: 19 May, 2017
  • Starring: Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Rhea Chakraborty, Vikrant Massey, Seema Biswas, Felix, Shindraj
  • Directed by: Mohit Suri
  • Produced by: Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Mohit Suri, Chetan Bhagat
  • Story: Chetan Bhagat
  • Screenplay: Tushar Hiranandani
  • Dialogue: Ishita Moitra Udhwani
  • Cinematography: Vishnu Rao
  • Music composed by: Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi, Rahul Mishra, Rishi Rich, Farhan Saeed and Ami Mishra
  • Duration:  2:15 hours
  • Genre: Romantic Drama
  • Censor Rating: U/A

 

About Movie Half Girlfriend

After directing several successful movies like Aashiqui-2, Ek Villain, Murder-2, Kalyug etc, Mohit Suri seems to have hit a wall with Half Girlfriend.

An adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s book by the same name, Mohit was hoping for an encore of what Aaamir Khan managed with 3 Idiots, the movie adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s 5 Point Someone. He has failed miserably.

The problem is with the story and what you want to portray. The movie is about a rustic Hindi-speaking Madhav Jha from good old Bihar who lands up in Delhi to study in the very exclusive St Stephens college – his lack of English notwithstanding. So far so good.

Expectedly, he meets his lady charming – Riya Somani, who just happens to be on the other side of the social divide, with English as the demarcating line and her wealth, the underline.

From here starts the usual story of college boy ‘discovering’ the college girl and the usual happens. This is where the confusion begins in the story and what the Director wants to portray.

Is this about poor boy-rich girl or about Hindi-English social divide or about different ambitions and expectations. What adds to the confusion is how the characters are portrayed.

The romantic interlude is more or less on the usual lines with the girl responding like any other ‘girlfriend’ in college would. But when she says thus far and no more – does the guy back off or does he continue to pursue the girl.

The dividing line between romantic pursuit and stalking can be thin depending on whether one of the players says – lets be friends, even half-girlfriend but no more. Do you back off or do you go on? That’s Mohit Suri’s dilemma in the movie and the audience remains confused on what the movie is all about.

And then, the girl seems pretty confused too on what she wants from life. Her romantic interlude with her fellow college mate seems just fine and normal that is till she says – “I can be your Half Girlfriend”. No one seems to know what the other half is all about.

Performances

Arjun Kapoor as the Madhav Jha in the movie is clearly a misfit. His overall looks somehow don’t go with the character he so assiduously tries to portray. Arjun stands out as a sore thumb.

Shraddha Kapoor, on the other hand, plays out the role of Riya Somani rather well but then she is let down by the confusing signals she has to give – swinging between friend and girlfriend. 

Half Girlfriend Music

With 11 songs, the movie could well classify as a musical. In fact, the music is the saving grace for the movie. The motley of singers and composers have delivered a nice mix of genres that goes along with the moods of the story as it unfolds.

Baarish and Mere Dil Mein stand out as the best songs but that’s a matter of individual preference.

Baarish

  • Singer(s): Ash King, Shashaa Tirupati
  • Composed by: Tanishk Bagchi
  • Song duration: 4:36 mins

Thodi Der

  • Singer(s): Farhan Saeed, Shreya Ghoshal
  • Composed by: Farhan Saeed
  • Song duration: 4:56  mins

Half Girlfriend (love theme)

  • Singer(s): Mithoon
  • Composed by: Mithoon
  • Song duration: 4:32 mins

Lost Without You

  • Singer(s): Ami Mishra, Anushka Sahaney
  • Composed by: Ami Mishra
  • Song duration: 5:36 mins

Tu Hi Hai

  • Singer(s): Rahul Mishra
  • Composed by: Rahul Mishra
  • Song duration: 5:22 mins

Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahunga

  • Singer(s): Arijit Singh, Shashaa Tirupati
  • Composed by: Mithoon
  • Song duration: 5:52 mins

Phir Bhi Tumko Chaahungi

  • Singer(s): Shraddha Kapoor
  • Composed by: Mithoon
  • Song Duration: 3:50 mins

Pal Bhar (Chaahunga reprise)

  • Singer(s): Arijit Singh
  • Composed by: Mithoon
  • Song duration: 4:34 mins

Stay A Little Longer

  • Singer(s): Anushka Sahaney
  • Composed by: Farhan Saeed
  • Song duration: 5:02 mins

Mere Dil Mein

  • Singer(s): Veronica Mehta, Yash Narvekar
  • Composed by: Rishi Rich
  • Song duration: 3:08 mins

Mere Dil Mein (Dialogue version)

  • Singer(s): Veronica Mehta, Yash Narvekar
  • Composed by: Rishi Rich
  • Song duration: 2:44 mins

What’s good?

Clearly Shraddha and the music. Both deliver and may help the producers recover a part of the investment.

What’s bad?

The story and its message. No one seems clear on what Half Girlfriend is supposed to mean when she plays out the role of a complete girlfriend. The doe-eyed lover boy versus stalker remains ambiguous.

Verdict

Spend the weekend in the gym if you don’t have anything better to do.

Half Girlfriend rating:

*