What’s the secret sauce for a great rom-com? Of course, an upbeat script topped with an important ingredient curated by the leads – Chemistry! And that’s what Vinil Mathew-Harshvardhan Kulkarni’s Hasee Toh Phasee serves quite well, and I’m all for it. The film has been the antidote to all the recent Bollywood romance/rom-coms I have been let down by.
Hasee Toh Phasee follows the typical boy-meets-girl template but is packaged by slightly quirky, absurd-yet-lively characters and plotlines. Parineeti Chopra forefronts the film as Meeta, an unapologetic scientist-cum-chemical engineer, who had fled her home years ago. Now, she’s back for a reason/mission, and as it happens it is also her sister Karishma’s wedding. Our hero Nikhil played by Sidharth Malhotra is Karishma’s fiance who ends up forming a great bond with Meeta and thus brews a hot chemistry. Enough of the story part!
In romantic comedies, the chemistry between leads is everything and HTP greatly benefits from Nikhil-Meeta’s wild rapport. Though I have already mentioned it all in some of my earlier write-ups, I’m posting this after going through all the rom-coms of the 2010s. And if any film comes closer to HTP in terms of concept and chemistry, it is Barfi. But it is still not on par with my top-tier pick (personal opinion).
What compelled me to post this is the HTP hangover that has prevailed for years and will sure-shot continue to reign.
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