LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL has got its heart in the right place. There's a boy. There's a girl. Romance blossoms. They face roadblocks. There's heartbreak. They drift apart. Ultimately, all's well that ends well. Arif uses the time-tested template to narrate a story, but, let's not overlook the fact that a mere outline with the usual tropes can never make an out of the ordinary film. Thankfully, Arif cushions the proceedings with sparkling moments in the first hour, but the writing slips in the post-interval portions. On the whole, LEKAR HUM DEEWANA DIL has several wonderful moments and genuine sparks that stay with you. The film should appeal to its target audience -- the youth.
Lekar Hum Deewana Dil is a sweet film that borrows the elopement theory from evergreen 70s'-80s' romances like Bobby, Love Story and Betaab. It even has shades of Arif's older brother Imtiaz's Jab We Met and Highway. But this has a mint-crisp feel with its .com lingo. The lack of melodrama, for most part of the movie, is also refreshing. And if you're looking to cuddle up this monsoon just like the slightly mismatched young couple in the movie, attempt doing it the LHDD way.
Somewhere in the middle of their escape from parental tyranny, this Bobby-meets-Highway-meets-Chalte-Chalte loses the plot. To sum it up, Lekar Hum Deewana Dil would have done much better for itself had it tried to find its original voice, instead of pandering to a vague idea of what sells when it comes to love stories. Because who has ever cracked the code for that? At various points in Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, the word 'blunder' is uttered. Quite apt! And in the run-up to the climax, which predictably unfolds at a big fat wedding ceremony, the harried heroine says that she cannot handle the pain anymore. Neither can the audience. Well before the film draws to a close, you begin to wish it was shorter. Lekar Hum Deewana Dil is much ado about nothing and painfully pointless.
There is a germ of an idea in showing how their grand plans fall apart as reality sets in the relationship, and they end up hating each other and return home. But it is shallowly executed. The second half is a predictable sequence of events where they both realize that they actually are in love. In a film like this, you know within the first fifteen minutes what you're setup for - a separation and a reconciliation. That's the one line story for Lekar Hum Deewana Dil.