14 Phere review: Vikrant Massey-Kriti Kharbanda starrer leaves you neither convinced nor confused

2.5/5

Story:
14 Phere is an attempt to present the age-old storyline of boy-meets-girl, they fall in love and want to get married but can’t because – family, in slightly new packaging. Getting separated is not an option for them and the families won’t accept their relationship, so they decide to cook up an elaborate charade involving fake parents and two weddings. Will they manage to pull it off? Will the parents find out and what happens next constitutes the rest of the film.

Review:
We first meet a Bihari Rajput lad Sanjay Lal Singh aka Sanju (Vikrant Massey) on his first day in college as he tries to propose to his senior Aditi Karwasra aka Adu (Kriti Kharbanda) – a Jaatni from Jaipur. He ends up doing her assignments, eventually, cupid strikes, and they move in together once they start working for the same multinational. So far so good? Right! Now the couple wants to get married but can’t do so as Sanju’s father is against inter-caste marriage (and it doesn’t help that his sister elopes with her beloved, inviting the wrath of their father, who’s now hell-bent on cutting her to pieces) and Aditi’s family is against love-marriage - “Unhe toh Titatic bhi tab pasand aati hai jab Jack doob raha hota hai,” explains Aditi and Sanju.

The director Devanshu Singh wastes no time in setting up the premise and introducing the conflict. Aditi and Sanju’s whirlwind college romance is captured in the peppy and breezy track Hum Dono Yu Mile as the opening credits roll. The couple, despite being head over heels in love, doesn’t have the courage to stand up to their families. While the same formula has been explored in several Bollywood dramas earlier, in 14 Phere it fails to hit the bullseye. On paper, the premise involving two weddings with fake parents and baraatis does seem to have the potential of a hilarious comedy of errors (something we’ve seen mastered by filmmakers like Priyadarshan) but sadly, it doesn’t translate convincingly on screen here. The showdown in 14 Phere almost tries to touch the periphery of a Priyadarshan-Esque climax where everything would go haywire in a commotion that leads to a happy ending, but you’re left high and dry with a wafer-thin script and unimaginative screenplay.

The makers have tried to portray quite a few social evils that still plague our society, beginning with inter-caste love marriages and going on to highlight that we may be educating our daughters to have a successful career, but when it comes to getting her married, it doesn’t matter how qualified she is. All that matters is whether she knows how to do the chulha-chauka. The fact that the ‘honour’ of a family is associated with the daughter and how deeply it is ingrained in the mindsets, is brought to light in a scene when Sanju’s father boasts about having a garlanded portrait of his daughter ready while he’s looking to hunt her down for eloping with her lover. What doesn’t help is the use of humour to highlight these issues that barely scratches the surface and falls flat most of the time.

What could have worked in favour of this 100-something-minute long film is the solid cast who try to save the day with their performances but sadly, none of the characters gets enough material to work with. Vikrant Massey is in his element as Sanju and tries his best to infuse some life into his character which benefits from having a better sketched out background story of his family when compared to that of Kriti Kharbanda’s Aditi. The lead pair’s chemistry is fresh and easy-going. Kriti manages to be effortless on-screen within the limited scope of her underwritten character. Watch out for the scenes where she meets her mother-in-law (played by a terrific Yamini Das) right after her (first) wedding. There’s a lot that goes on in these scenes where the duo is shown to be bonding through the traditional rituals, as the beautiful track Ram Sita plays in the backdrop.

Coming to the fake parents, Gauahar Khan stands out as ‘Delhi ki Meryl Streep’ (wish her character had more meat to justify the phrase) while Jameel Khan is a delight to watch in every frame he’s a part of. Priyanshu Singh as Chhotu (Sanju’s brother in the film) also puts up a promising act. Another aspect that works for the film is that the actors have managed to get their regional accents right. For a film involving two weddings in its plot, one would expect to have a few foot-tapping or melodious numbers but except for Hum Dono Yu Mile and Ram Sita, none of the songs stays with you.

Verdict:

There’s a scene in 14 Phere where the lead couple instructs their office colleagues (who double up as fake baaratis) to avoid long conversations with their family members and advise them to follow the mantra – “If you can’t convince them, confuse them”. The film seems to be doing the same with the audience. It starts as a romantic love story and goes on to become a social drama leaving you neither convinced, nor confused.