Rearranged Marriage?. Review on Hyderabad Blues 2 - Rearranged Marriage

Having watched all movies of Nagesh Kukunoor's except Bollywood Calling, I just had to watch this one. I didn't want to miss a Kukunoor film...and I am in Hyderabad now...so I thought I might connect better with this film than with the original.

Varun (Kukunoor) has a happy marriage and is comfortable in his career. Ashwini (Jyoti Dogra) is doing well too and is about to start her own clinic. Everything's fine... except that Ashwini wants children while Varun feels he isn't ready for them. Ashwini is ready to do anything to have her way and this leads to a somewhat strained relationship. In the meanwhile, attractive Menaka (Tisca Chopra) joins Varun's call center as a floor manager. The events that follow only make things worse for Varun and Ashwini and the couple eventually splits. How they come to be together again, with the help of friends, Seema (Elahe Hiptoola) and Sanjeev (Vikram Inamdar), forms the rest of the story.

This movie is supposed to take off where the first one ended. It attempts to strike a balance between light-hearted fun and complete seriousness. Somewhere along the way, it fails. HB2 lacks the charm of the original. It has its share of positives, but I would place it one rung below the original. HB2 is also immensely funny in parts and the cast remains very good. (I have been wondering, however, if Rajashree Nair made a better Ashwini than Dogra). There are parts where the movie becomes a bit of a drag and parts where you start questioning the turn of events. But on the whole, I wasn't disappointed. I didn't expect a great mind blowing movie and I didn't get one. I went in hoping to get a few good laughs with a couple of friends...and I got full paisa vasool!

This is the first time I am attempting to write a movie review. So please bear with me.