Befikre – Loving Carelessly – Movie Review

Befikre!

The promise young love is always enchanting – it is refreshing and the mere thought makes the heart skip a beat. Befikre unfortunately is a regressive view of modern love, with a warped perspective about lust, love and commitment in today’s world. The story is about Shayra, played by Vaani Kappor version 2.0, and Dharam, played by Ranveer who seemed to be playing himself.

The movie promises to teach you how to love “carelessly”, but instead preaches how to love “recklessly”. The plot centers around a viciously predictable plot – hookup with anyone and everyone, dump the unsuspecting lover or get dumped by the vindictive lover, fall in love, rinse and repeat!

This of course wouldn’t be as offensive if it wasn’t a grand production from Aditya Chopra, who once wrote and directed Dil Wale Dulahniya Le Jayege – a sensitive and à la mode love story. Indians across the globe haven’t changed much since, we still love and date the same way. It is a conundrum as to why Aditya feels that global Indian diaspora suddenly became more promiscuous and reckless about matters of the heart.

Befikre is baffling and dare I say offensive to women with even an ounce of self-worth, in more ways then one. So many poorly structured stereotypes, let me enumerate some for you:

The White Women Can Be Used and Dumped

Here’s one stereotype the Bollywood cinema needs to break – sooner the better! Offensive to its core, Befikre yet again portrays White women as “easy”, women to hook-up with, but not to bring home-to. Ranveer’s character hooks up with many white women through the movie, and is respectful to none, including his French fiancé, whom he conveniently sleeps with and dumps when he finally finds his muse.

You Can Treat an Indian Girl Anyway, and She Will Always…Take You Back!

The breakup scene between Vaani and Ranveer tells it all – Ranveer calls Vaani a “slut” who has slept with everyone in France, insulting her sexual liberation as he continues on to sleep with and dump women all over France. Despite the way Ranveer continues to treat women through the movie, Vaani not only considers him a lovely friend, but takes him back eventually. Just a simple sorry about calling her a slut is enough and of course, that’s exactly how Indian girls are – we forgive men no matter how they treat us! That’s a stereotype all Indian women love to live with – don’t we?

For Indian Parents the Best Match for Daughters is an Indian Boy…No Matter His Character!

Why Vaani’s parents love Ranveer’s character in the movie is beyond me! He’s not really employable, has a depressing stand-up comedy career, didn’t treat their girl right, and is generally unreliable. The only thing he does right is touch their feet to show respect the traditional Indian respect. But apparently Indian parents, so eager to dump their daughters on a marriageable Indian guy, would take a boy like Ranveer over any non-Indian…right?

Sexual Liberation = Promiscuity

Sigh! Enough said. The movie was meant to be sexy and who doesn’t like to watching gorgeous people getting their groove on large screen. Vaani and Ranveer can be classified as sexy, but the constant sucking each other’s face, taking clothes off in public was repulsive. A woman’s sexual liberation has nothing to do with the number of men she’s with or the number of layers of clothing she takes off. Does Bollywood get that yet?

On and on and on the movie goes, reinforcing just one thing – it’s high time Aditya Chopra lives up to his father’s legacy. I am convulsing confessing this – but papa Chopra’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan was ions ahead of times compared to Befikre.

The only thing that salvages this s***-show is Ranveer Singh. Whether you’re a fan or not, Ranveer is a dude-friend every girl needs. Deliriously funny, risqué, and an endearing childish charm – a bundle of joy for Christmas. From all the interviews I’ve seen of Ranveer, Befikre seems like his playground, a movie space where he wasn’t acting, he was just being himself. And oh that butt! Yes, there’s a generous view of Ranveer’s butt for all the fans – money’s worth? Maybe for some…