Zee Studios and Good Bad Films’ Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat (UA) is the story of Amrita (Alaya F) and Ayesha (Alaya F). Amrita lives in India with her family. A Muslim boy, Yaqub (Karan Mehta), loves her. Both are fans of DJ Mohabbat (Vicky Kaushal). Yaqub promises to take Amrita to an event to be hosted by DJ Mohabbat, for which Amrita elopes with him. Her family is distraught because she has run away with a guy, that too, a Muslim guy.
Ayesha lives in London and is crazily in love with DJ Harmeet (Karan Mehta) who works in a bar. Although DJ Harmeet does not reciprocate Ayesha’s love, he is forced to keep Ayesha in his house for some days.
Amrita’s father (Paritosh Sand) complains to the police, accusing Yaqub of kidnapping Amrita. In London, Ayesha’s dad files a police complaint against Harmeet, accusing him of raping his daughter who is a minor. What happens in the end?
Anurag Kashyap has written a story and screenplay which are not just confusing but also weird at times. It takes a while for the audience to understand that Ayesha and Amrita are different girls. Amrita’s behaviour of eloping with a young man simply to attend a DJ’s event appears foolish and even idiotic. Equally weird is the behaviour of her father who openly tells the world that his daughter has been kidnapped by a guy. The father’s action is weird because the family repeatedly says that it’s embarrassing that Amrita has eloped with a guy. The audience is left wondering that if it’s so embarrassing, why are they making it so public instead of remaining discreet? Amrita and Yaqub breaking in and staying in a house in Chamba, and the owners turning out to be Harmeet’s grandparents is too much of a coincidence to be palatable. The whole gay angle and gay sex in the drama will put off a lot of people. Anurag Kashyap’s dialogues are okay.
Alaya F is a natural actress and does justice to the characters of both, Amrita and Ayesha. She is actually a delight to watch. Karan Mehta makes a fine debut in a double role as DJ Harmeet and Yaqub. But his looks are ordinary. Vicky Kaushal is pretty natural as DJ Mohabbat but his podcasts are quite boring and long-drawn when they ought to have been crisp and very interesting because his target audience is the youth. Sagar Arya does a fine job as the bar owner. Paritosh Sand and Mallika Prasad Sinha are quite good as Amrita’s parents. Anmol Ahuja and Mohit Gupta lend lovely support as Amrita’s elder brothers. Mohinder Gujral (as Amrita’s grandmother) and Bhagya Bhanushali (as Amrita’s young brother) have their moments. Vinod Nagpal and Navninder Behl impress as Harmeet’s grandparents. Sinbad Phgura (as Ayesha’s dad), Vandana Mehta (as Harmeet’s mother), Cary Sawhney (as Harmeet’s father), Baldev Khosla (as Yaqub’s father), Sapna Pabbi (as the female club singer) and Arjun Kanungo (as the male club singer) are adequate. Others fit the bill.
Anurag Kashyap’s direction is fair but things do get confusing at times because of the double roles. Amit Trivedi’s music is reasonably good but none of the songs is very popular. Shellee’s lyrics are so-so. Amit Trivedi’s background score is fairly nice. Sylvester Fonseca’s cinematography is of a good standard. Action and stunt scenes (choreographed by Ian Van Temperley and Sunil Rodrigues) are alright. Shazia Iqbal’s production designing is appropriate. Konark Saxena’s editing is okay.
On the whole, Almost Pyaar With DJ Mohabbat will fail at the box-office because even the youngsters will not find the drama engaging or entertaining.
Released on 3-2-’23 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over.