By Madhu Raj

 Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor in ‘2 states’

Putting all their ‘strategy management skills’ into a project named ‘Marriage’, two MBA students, from diametrically opposite cultures, work towards bringing their family’s ‘organizational behavior on the same platform’.

Sounds interesting? Well that’s what Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor’s film 2 States is all about.

The film is more than just a love story and has two distinct cultural backdrops — a Punjabi family (Arjun Kapoor’s) and a Tamil Brahmin family (Alia Bhatt’s).

The film deals with the coupling of two families from two opposite cultures in a typical upper middle class society.

2 States  not going to overload you with melodrama or tragedy but there are some moments of anguish which are definitely significant and in some cases,  relatable as well.

There are some obvious flaws as well but I don’t put the blame squarely on the filmmaker.

The first flaw is that the film is predictable. It’s an adaptation of a novel by the same name (by Chetan Bhagat) and the filmmaker hasn’t tinkered with the sub-plots that he has retained in the film. Those, who have read the book, will be able to predict everything that’s going to happen in this film. I feel that there could have been some changes made to the sub-plots at least or some crucial characters could have been made more complex ones. Don’t we all love complex characters? In short, the script writers could have worked a little hard instead of just transcribing a few sub-plots of the book  into a film script.

The strained relationship of Krish (Arjun Kapoor) and his father disturbed me the dialogues between them hits you hard. While picking and choosing the sub-plots, the scriptwriters obviously decided to single out the instances of Krish wooing Ananya’s (Alia Bhatt) father. So much emphasis is given to this sub-plot that it is not funny anymore. Both the sides of this sub-plot should have been explored instead of those exaggerated scenes of Krish and Ananya’s father.

 Ronit Roy as Arjun Kapoor’s father in ‘2 States’

Ronit Roy should have got more screen space. Amrita Singh (who played Ronit Roy’s wife) made me laugh and sympathise with her character at the same time. She’s a complacent mom with a hidden story. Revathy was a cute aunty, like the moms of those friends who always treat us with good food whenever we land up. Shiv Kumar was pleasing. Achint Kaur did a fine job as Amrita’s sister. In short, it was a great effort by the supporting cast.

Certain sequences were a bit confusing but I decided not to focus on them, given a great effort by Abhishek Varma. He is not different like the many others groomed under the Dharma banner. But Abhishek Verma is not bad either. He has done a decent job with the great story that he had to begin with. Karan Johar should be proud as he is with most other directors who are working with his banner.

The intimate scenes between Arjun and Alia create ripples on screen! They are very comfortable with each other’s body and that makes their on-screen chemistry enviable. After seeing the film, I can imagine the MBA folks around the country praying for a girlfriend like Alia Bhatt. But yes, Arjun surely seems ‘deprived’ in the film till Alia arrives to lend him a helping hand.

Arjun’s guy-next-door, grounded performance complemented the vulnerability and spunk of the ambitious Ananya (Alia Bhatt). The songs were peppy and inserted at the right places.

The film is a little stretched but you won’t get bored.

I am recommending this film to everybody who like a slow-and-steady-wins-the-race story and those with strained or restrained relationships with their fathers.

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