Baar Baar Dekho - Sirf ek baar, not baar baar

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Katrina Kaif, Ram Kapoor and Sarika

Rating: 3/5

Many popular names in Bollywood have tried their luck by making films in the genre of time travel. The fact remains that almost all those movies did not really make it big at the box office. This naive concept is brought to us once again in this week's release – Baar Baar Dekho – starring Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles.

The film opens with the visuals of 2 hospitals – one in Delhi and the other in London - where Jay Varma (Sidharth Malhotra) and Diya Kapoor (Katrina Kaif) are born. Diya’s father (Ram Kapoor) who lives in London moves to Delhi, forever with his family. Some years pass by, Jay and Diya, now best buddies grow up together and eventually fall in love. One fine day, Diya proposes Jay, who, with the very thought of marriage gets petrified and a day before their wedding confesses that he loves her, but is just not ready for marriage as he wishes to focus on his career as a Maths professor.

This breaks Diya’s hope and she leaves Jay promising not to return ever after. Unable to handle the grief-struck situation, Jay gulps a full bottle of champagne and passes out. What follows then are moments where he wakes up in different surroundings and time zones, with a totally changed and unexpected life. Jay, over and over again gets transported to his future by living through many crucial stages in life, the visuals of which disturb him to the core. How does he manage his life, circumstances, trouble, pain and more? How does he manage to 'solve' the ambiguity? The answer for these questions is what makes the rest of the film.

Baar Baar Dekho is directed by Nitya Mehra who has previously been a part of many renowned Bollywood projects. Her work as a debutant director of this film deserves appreciation. The movie slows down a bit in the second half, but doesn’t hamper the mood created initially. Bearing in mind that it is not a science fiction film, the ‘time travel’ moments of Baar Baar Dekho are directed considerably well.  Right from the release, the look and feel of the movie has been loved and talked about. All the way through, the visuals shown are colourful and enticing. The locations are beautiful and some scenes are very well shot. The dialogues penned by Anvita Dutt are average; however the simplicity of those creates some moments of unintentional comedy.

The film focuses mainly on Sidharth Malhotra. Over the years, the handsome lad has proved that he can convince the audience by playing a serious character. Sidharth as Jay is not exceptional or superlative, but doesn’t let down either.   He confidently plays the role and carries the look of a middle aged man. Katrina Kaif has attempted to play Diya to her best, but just like her other films, her acting here, yet again is mediocre. All thanks and credits to the stylists who have made her look adorable in the film, all the way through.  Both the leads have made sure their chemistry looks fine and have managed to succeed in the same. Sidharth and Katrina complement each other and look nice as an onscreen couple. Other actors share a minimal screen space and do not offer anything extra ordinary to the movie.

Baar Baar Dekho has a total of 6 songs, composed by multiple music directors. None of the songs are forced in the film and the album on the whole is very interesting and diverse. The makers have ensured that the movie has songs for all the emotions and moments depicted. Overall, the music and the score of the film is quite appealing.

The masses may have some difficulty relating to such a concept as ideas like these interests only a limited audience. However, the overall appeal, look and feel of the film may attract many to the cinemas. All thanks to the love story and the drama. If these elements weren’t well written, the movie would have been an utter disaster to watch. On the whole Baar Baar Dekho is a decent attempt to make a ‘time travel’ based love story.