Anurag Kashyap brings a different kind of cinematic experiment in each of his movies. After ‘Manmarziyaan,’ he is again working on the theme of love. His love stories have a darkish grey tone, unlike Bollywood’s commercial love dramas. This time too, Anurag has come up with a similar suspenseful love story for his viewers. His new movie is ‘Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat,’ which explores both the feelings of Millennials and Gen Z. Read this Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat Movie Review to know more.
Cast: Karan Mehta, Alaya F, Vicky Kaushal
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat Movie Review: Story
The story of the movie is of two couples. Two stories run parallel in the movie. One couple lives in Dalhousie, and the other couple lives in London. The couple living in Dalhousie is Yakub and Amrita, and the couple living in London is Harmeet and Ayesha. The story of both couples is going on simultaneously. In both stories, the family’s honor is affected by their children falling in love.
In the story of Dalhousie, a girl named Amrita puts videos on an app like TikTok. Her father is a former MLA, her brother is domineering, and her mother is conservative. In such a scenario, how can Amrita do whatever she wants? She wants to run away from home to meet DJ Mohabbat at his concert in the city. Amrita is fond of movies, which Yakub becomes the means to fulfill. Yakub is the only person who can take Amrita to DJ Mohabbat’s concert.
On the other hand, in another couple’s story, Ayesha is the child of a wealthy family who has fallen in love with Harmeet. But Harmeet is keeping her distance from her. He wants to focus only on his career. Both the stories are linked by a common thread, ‘DJ Mohabbat’ and his concert. Now to know what will happen next in the stories of these two couples, you will have to watch the movie.
Direction
Anurag Kashyap directed the movie. If we discuss his direction, his approach could be more robust this time. The biggest reason for this is the confused story and writing of the movie. The story showcases how passion overtakes true love, eventually leading a couple into an awkward situation. Although the premise of this love is as clichéd as typical Bollywood love stories, Anurag’s attempt to portray reality here creates a sensation and keeps it exciting.
Anurag Kashyap’s movie continues to touch on many issues. Like love jihad, rich-poverty, patriarchy, gay relationships, instant love of today’s era, hyper-nationalism, etc. That too, without addressing all of them directly. You can see all these things. You go on noticing that this is all around us in abundance. And in the end, the stories weren’t solely focused on the relationship of love but on how patriarchy and its conditioning are still everywhere.
In the movie, Anurag Kashyap tackles several issues, trying to show the complex lives of some young people who are always trying to find themselves. Kashyap deserves praise for the brilliant portrayal of the two actors. His talent keeps the audience engaged throughout the movie based on essential roles. Kashyap’s fantasy of two people fueled by uncontrolled desire and anger is masterfully enacted in the movie. In short, both love stories keep people’s interest.
Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat Cast and Acting
Talking about the performance, Alaya F impresses with her excellent acting in this movie. Alaya is perfect in her role as she is immersed in social media. She is seen completely getting into both characters. More importantly, she does justice to the nuances of the movie.
Despite being Karan Mehta’s debut movie, his work in the movie is also good. He has worked hard for his character. Karan is seen as innocent in the character of Yakub. He has a funny laugh, which makes you shiver after a while.
Vicky Kaushal’s cameo as DJ Mohabbat supports the movie. Playing the character of a DJ with a podcast channel, he often amuses himself with Gulzar sahab’s poetry. He gives excellent advice to the youth with his voice and viewpoint. The work of the rest of the cast in the movie is also acceptable.
Music and Cinematography
Music is its life in this movie. Amit Trivedi’s music touches the mind and heart with a balanced mix. The deadly combination of Amit Trivedi and Shelly has resulted in eight songs, most of which Gen Z will instantly relate to. However, apart from two or three songs, the rest of the songs are not able to leave that much impact. Some songs from the movie, ‘Mohabbat Se Kranti,’ ‘Banjaare’ and ‘Duniya’… you can bring these songs home with you. The music and background music of the movie are both excellent.
The movie is shot in two different locations, including London. Shot by cameraman Sylvester Fonseca at the stunning locations of London and Dalhousie. The movie’s cinematography and the London shots are good too. The dialogues in the movie are very sharp, and listening to the Shayari recited by “DJ Mohabbat” makes you feel a lot. The dialogues in the movie are good, and the editing is also acceptable.
Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat Movie Review: Final Verdict
In the end, let’s talk about how the movie is overall, almost in love with ‘DJ Mohabbat’ once again serves you a love story full of ‘Anurag Kashyap’ style, some shortcomings, some merits. The movie paints a gray picture of love. If you do not like only pink-pink emotion and romantic and bookish love stories, then you will like this movie.
The movie covers all kinds of hatred and social issues, be it homophobia, religious prejudice, love jihad, generational gap, etc. But the most important message behind the movie was how patriarchy and its conditioning are still present everywhere. The situation is not much different in a small town in India or a city like London.
Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat is a story of two modern-day couples connected. The movie shows how when a girl from a Hindu family elopes with a boy from a Muslim family, what do the girl’s parents do? If you like watching love story movies made on love jihad, then you can go to watch this movie.
