ADHM is a wonderful movie for "romantics", especially those who have gone through unrequited love. And if you are past mid-30s you may not relate to the places where love "flows" . Most songs are in set up in glitzy clubs from London to Vienna
It is not "in your face" love story – sure it is shot with typical KJo brand of colorful rich upper class people – but it is definitely a love story of cerebral kind.
It is also not a classy or realistic one – nowhere like say "Lootera" or "The Lunchbox" – two good romantic movies which are on par with Hollywood classics like "Before Sunrise" series or "Eternal Sunshine".
It is more a commercial entertainer like "Silsila" or "JTHJ" but what is unique about ADHM is it only focuses on characters in love. Four people, in love and there is no distraction of parents or bothers or sister or other relatives. It is a remarkable achievement for a commercial Hindi movie to do away with unnecessary supporting cast which ails most of our Indian movies in guise of comedy or family relationship melodramas. Sure there are good supporting cast like Lisa Haydon but they do are intertwined appropriately with the story.
Unlike many Hollywood movies, our Hindi movies do not spend too much time on character development and sometime you don't connect, especially during initial moments of the movie. This movie slowly grows on you, if you watch it with open mind.
Unrequited love is a difficult subject to handle, yet most of us may have gone through it during our various phase of life. While, surprisingly KJo has handled this so maturely, credit is due more with actor's performances, particularly Ranbir.
Unfortunately but NOT surprisingly, the director lets us down in last 20 mins or so – wish our Indian Directors have the courage to end the movie when it HAS TO – most of the time trimming out last 20-30 mins will be an ideal solution. I have seen bad editing of not trimming toward end of many romantic movies - from Kabhie Kabhie days (last 10 mins of botched up climax) to Silsila, KANK and JTHJ – they frustrate the moviegoers towards the end and you give an otherwise good product worse rating. I would have rated this movie 8/10, if it has ended right after powerful title song so passionately sung by Ranbir, which evokes memories of "Sadda Haq".
If you are romantic at heart, like me, please go and watch it. Chances are, you will "get it" and appreciate it.
Even if you don't, it is worth trying. It is a good movie to watch for as performances (Ranbir, Anushka, Aishwarya), Songs (Buleya, ADHM, Channa), Dialogues and glitzy production design blend well to keep you entertained. And please try to walk out after title song is over – I regret not doing so.
