Movie Review: Hum Do Hamare Do

HUM DO HAMARE DO is the story of a man who gets fake parents to impress the girl he loves. Dhruv Shikhar (Rajkummar Rao) is an orphan who used to work in the dhaba run by Purshottam Mishra (Paresh Rawal) as a child. One day, he runs away and studies hard. He then emerges as a successful entrepreneur and the creator of a VR app called Jaadugar. At the launch event of his app, he meets Anya Mehra (Kriti Sanon), a vlogger. He falls for her and she too starts liking him. However, she wants to marry a person who has a sweet family. She also has a reason for doing so. Her parents died when she was a kid. Her chacha Dr. Sanjeev Mehra (Manu Rishi Chadha) and wife Rupa Mehra (Prachee Shah Pandya) raised her like her own child. Dhruv fears that if he tells her the truth that he has no one in this world, she might leave him. So he lies that he stays with his parents. Anya agrees to marry him. Then he along with his best friend Shunty (Aparshakti Khurana) decides to find a man and woman who can pretend to be his parents. Shunty takes him to Shadiraam (Sanand Verma). He is an expert wedding planner and can also help in getting fake guests. He lines up hundreds of men and women for Dhruv’s requirements. Sadly, none of them fit the bill. At this point, Dhruv is reminded of Purshottam who has now retired and has settled in Shimla. He also realizes that he’s in love with Deepti Kashyap (Ratna Pathak Shah), who also resides in Shimla. Purshottam is aware that she’s living in the same city but is scared to approach her. When Dhruv learns that Deepti is Purshottam’s old flame, he convinces her to be her mother. She agrees and once she’s on board, Purshottam also follows suit and agrees to be his father. Anya’s family and Dhruv’s ‘family’ then meet at a restaurant. All is going well until Purshottam has too many drinks. He gets so emotional that he asks for Deepti’s hand in marriage. An aghast Deepti leaves. Someone in the restaurant shoots the video of the proposal and it goes viral. This embarrasses Dr. Mehra and he now has second thoughts on whether he should allow Anya to marry into such a family. What happens next forms the rest of the film. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1293281" src="https://ift.tt/3GwRodA" alt="" width="720" height="450" /> Deepak Venkateshan and Abhishek Jain's story is highly entertaining and has the potential to be a funny and emotional saga. Prashant Jha's screenplay fails to do justice to such a great plot. Some funny and emotional scenes do stand out but overall, a few developments are difficult to digest. Prashant Jha's dialogues are great at places but overall, could have been better. Some similar scenes in this space in recent times like BADHAAI HO [2018], BALA [2019], MIMI [2021] etc have set a benchmark and this film fails to go past these in terms of one-liners. Abhishek Jain's direction is decent although he had far better control of the writing in his previous regional films. He handles the romantic track well and also the portion in the second half when Dhruv bonds with his pretend parents. Also, the interval point does raise laughs. But the film is disjointed, for which even the editing is to blame. There was a potential of adding far more humour but Abhishek misses the opportunity. Dhruv’s outburst in the climax is unconvincing. The climax is hurried and one is left bewildered as to how an adamant Dr. Sanjeev Mehra had a change of heart. HUM DO HAMARE DO begins on a very sweet note. Dhruv and Anya’s first meeting is a bit awkward but works. The scenes of Dhruv and Anya’s romance are decent and set the base for the film. After a point, one does get restless as one has already seen the trailers and how the story is going to pan out next. It’s only when Purshottam and Deepti agree to be Dhruv’s parents that the film gets interesting once again. The scene where both the families meet is funny. Post-interval, the scenes of Anya staying with Dhruv’s ‘family’ make for a nice watch. The scene where Deepti speaks to Dhruv about her strained relations with her son is very touching. One expects the film to get even better from here on. However, the pre-climax and climax both fail to make the desired impact. <iframe id="jwiframe" class="playerFrame" src="https://ift.tt/3bkDqgu" width="800" height="340" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> Rajkummar Rao does well but gets overshadowed by the towering presence of Paresh Rawal and Ratna Pathak Shah. Kriti Sanon is apt for the part and delivers a fine performance. Her screen time, however, is limited in the first half. Also, the love story suffers overall since there’s a lot more things happening in the film. Paresh Rawal is quite entertaining and enhances impact. Ratna Pathak Shah is graceful and one of the factors why this film works to some extent. Mazel Vyas (Kanika's Anya's sister) leaves a mark and is good in the scene where she questions Manu Rishi Chadha in the pre-climax. Aparshakti Khurana is okay and his character gets a raw deal. Manu Rishi Chadha is dependable while Prachee Shah Paandya is lovely. Sanand Verma is a bit over-the-top but it works. Sarthak Sharma (little Dhruv) is sweet while Khabir Mehta (Chintu) essays the part of the mischievous kid well. Avijit Dutt (Dhruv's boss) is wasted and the same goes for Shibani Bedi (Shunty's wife). Aditya Taranch (Sanket) is fine. Sachin-Jigar's music doesn’t have the potential to have a long shelf life. <em>'Bansuri',</em> played in the end credits and has the chartbuster feel. <em>'Kamli'</em> and <em>'Vedha Sajjeya'</em> work well in the film. <em>'Raula Pae Gayaa</em>' is played for hardly a minute. <em>'Dum Gutkoon'</em> makes for a good sad song. Sachin-Jigar's background score is much better. Amalendu Chaudhary's cinematography is appropriate. Dayanidhi Patturajan and Amrish Patange's production design is neat. Rajkummar’s renovated house especially is appealing yet realistic. Anisha Jain, Sukriti Grover and Jia-Mallika's costumes are rich. Dev Rao Jadhav's editing is disjointed. On the whole, HUM DO HAMARE DO rests on a great plot and fine performances from the lead actors, particularly Paresh Rawal and Ratna Pathak Shah. But the average script and weak climax diminishes the impact to an extent.