Dil toh Bachcha hain Ji

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Tisca Chopra, Shahzn Padamsee, Shruti Haasan, Shraddha Das

Director: Madhur Bhandarkar

To be honest, I had expectations from an adult-oriented romantic comedy from Bhandarkar. Like most other viewers, I was quite tired of the director's exposé brand of movies and I thought this would bring in a fresh breath of energy in his career.

Not entirely happy with the movie.

The story is about 3 different types of men and their take on true love: Naren (Devgn), a banker in his late 30s undergoing a divorce and a mid-life crisis; Abhay (Hashmi), a philandering, happy-go-lucky gym instructor; and Milind (Vaidya), an unlucky-in-love matrimonial consultant. The latter two end up as paying guests at Naren's palatial house and they soon realize that they all have the same common problems: women and love.

While Naren finds himself attracted towards a barely-out-of-her-teens intern (Padamsee) at office, Milind falls for a haughty radio jockey (Das) that he bumps into at a social event. Meanwhile, Abhay is content being a toy-boy for a rich, beautiful and middle-aged socialite (Chopra). The rest of the movie is about ups-and-downs in the trio's love lives.

DTBHJ is not a boring movie. But I feel it is 10 years too late. Bhandarkar tries hard to keep the movie "clean" and as a result, wipes out the true laughs. This idea could have worked better if Bhandarkar has made this into a single-season TV series. Devgn and Vaidya are all wasted in their roles. Hashmi and Chopra, thankfully, give some credibility to their roles. Shruthi Haasan proves that she didn't quite inherit the acting chops from her parents while Shraddha Das can't act to save her life. Both these women are utterly annoying. Padamsee manages to look cute in her unbelievably juvenile role but does do much.

I wish Bhandarkar tries some more fresh next time.

My Rating: 4/10. Not quite what I expected.