Director: Alankrita Srivastava
Cast:Gul Panag,Jeneva Talwar,Tillotama Shome,Purab Kohli,Ira Dubey,Siddharth Makkar
Rating: **
Naina is turning 30,and shes all set for the big three oh : shes practically engaged to the guy shes madly in love with,and shes on the verge of big things at the office. And then,in the grand tradition of all chick flicks,most of which come out of the Hes Not That Into You and Sex And The City Hollywood stream,everything goes down the chute. She gets dumped. Her boss dumps on her. And there she is,this girl thats twenty nine going on thirty,manless,jobless,and,oh yes,joyless.
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Debutant director Alankrita Srivastava was on to something when she created Todays Mumbai Girl Naina ( Panag),a real flesh-and-blood creature with a real job,and real pre-occupations. And the perky Gul Panag is the perfect choice to play a girl like that,whom one can bump into and recognize,not some illusory size zero female whose only job is to act as a clothes hanger for demented designers.
But Turning 30 soon turns from a warm,welcome peek into that girls life,a girl we are prepared to like,into a series of clichés. Its almost like the script went looking for every single line that goes with the territory and stacks them up,one after another. They are strewn all through the film,appropriately tacked on to the situations they describe. ‘In this city,intones the voice-over,’friends are family. Cue Naina hanging out with her gal pals,exchanging confidences about soon-to-be-fiances,vicious bosses and straying husbands. ‘Just because I slept with you,it doesnt mean I want to marry you. Thats Naina having Rebound Sex with the Cute Guy From College ( Kohli) who bailed on her without warning and is now back,wanting true love and marriage and everything that goes with it.
Theres more. ‘Its not so easy to move on. Thats Naina railing at her concerned girl-friends when they tell her to forget the jerk who walked out on her. She mopes and weeps and shouts at the fellow and his parents. The references to sagging boobs and ‘chumming,the token girl who likes girls ( theres such shock when she comes out among this gang of very hip people who dont blink at pre-marital sex and serial affairs that you wonder where theyre coming from),the gay swingers at the workplace ( of course,its an advertising office)they are all there.
So is this one. I need closure,says Naina. She gets hers. We get ours.
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