Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2019) Review!!!

Synopsis – When video blogger Saher Sethi embarks on a tedious trek with mountaineer Karan Sehgal, sparks are bound to fly. But will their love story blossom despite the odds?

My Take – As the discussion around nepotism continues to remain strong, last weekend saw another star kid being launched. However, the difference here is debutante Karan Deol happens to be the son of Sunny Deol and the grandson of veteran actor Dharmendra, who despite their success and failings continue to maintain a major fan base not just due to their filmography, but their generally likable presentation of being kind, humble, shy, charitable and most importantly accessible, unlike other major film stars. A trait easily visible in Karan himself.

Unlike his and his father’s more action oriented persona, here, Sunny Deol in his third directorial venture (Dillagi and Ghayal Once Again), launches his oldest son with another debutante Sahher Bambba, in a film wrapped instead around a straightforward love story, one in which the young couple starts by bickering, until they fall madly in love, a template that has worked several times before.

However, despite having some brilliant cinematography and decent music, the film just fails to work. In a bid to make a dream debut for Karan, as a director Sunny Deol packed in too many ingredients, some of it works, most just don’t. While the film scores high when it comes to old-school charm, the melodramatic bit and Karan‘s wooden acting, end up playing a major spoilsport.

The problem is that over the past few decades audience has moved on to preferring more complex and urban tales, and hereby find it difficult to relate to fairy tale young-romances, that were sure-fire, star-career launchers, back in the ’80s/’90s, anymore. If you are someone who still enjoys old 90’s kind of romance, then do give this film a watch, otherwise it would be wise to skip.

The story follows Karan Sehgal (Karan Deol), who lives in Manali and owns Camp Ujhi Dhaar, which organizes adventure treks and other adventure sports. While Karan leads a happy and simple life, the loss of his parents in an avalanche still looms over his head.

However, things take a turn for his when he is introduced to Saher Sethi (Sahher Bammba), a sharp and gorgeous video blogger from Delhi. Known for her harsh reviews of leisure hotels and sites she visits, Saher believes that Camp Ujhi Dhaar’s personal trekking experience, which costs about Rs. 5 Lakhs, is also just a scam. And in order to prove herself she is ready to take up any challenge Karan throws her away.

While they constantly bicker over the smallest things over the whole trip, they slowly begin to develop feelings for each other. And the moment they end up expressing their love over each other, Saher’s ex-boyfriend, Viren Nagar (Aakash Ahuja), a spoiled member of an influential family, in a fit of jealousy makes sure all hell breaks loose.

The film’s story is your typical love story with a neat hero, heroine, villain demarcation, where the plot flows like stale muscle memory. A conflict element is obvious in films of such formats. One expected it to be born out from the rich girl and not-so-rich guy angle. But instead it turns out to be something much lame than that narrated through a screenplay that’s all over the place with glaring loopholes.

The first half of the film takes place in Manali and its neighboring areas. The visuals of Manali and its neighboring hills are breathtaking in almost every frame, be it the tall snow peaks or the gently flowing river. What makes the visuals more appealing are the realistic, and at times, exciting scenes of trekking and mountain climbing involving the leads.

The reason for stressing this point is that beyond this, nothing happens in the first half in terms of story development except that the two leads start liking each other. Of course, these moments would have been better without the constant screams of Saher aka Ms. Sethi. When the oh-too-familiar and tirelessly stale trope plods towards it’s excessively long run time, you wonder how such veterans could overlook basic necessities in a film. More so in this day and age, with so much competition all around.

While the story and screenplay are not up to the mark, even Sunny Deol’s direction looks sloppy. Even the emotional and romantic scenes fail to connect with us. A better script might have worked on the contrasting images of a rural and urban lifestyle on human nature, and relationships thereof.

But this is a launch film for debutantes, and the purpose of this generic exercise is vastly different. So, instead, it shows you a couple from all their best photographic angles. But halfway into the second half and the film seems to lose its plot way more and a much dragged political angle takes over. Thankfully not too long before you start to yawn, director Sunny Deol brings back the romance element in full force.

The film’s writing is not something that leaves you awestruck and there are no heavyweight dialogues given to any of the characters. Writers Jasvinder Singh Bath and Ravi Shankaran try to instill moments of laughter but it’s not really working for the plot. The film’s music, however, is a winner. Sachet-Parampara and Tanishk Bagchi have ensured that there are songs for everyone.

To be clear, I have nothing against Karan Deol, in fact to this date, despite his variety of mediocre projects he has been choosing to star in, I remain a major fan of Sunny Deol, hence I was excited to see his offspring on screen and continue his legacy. However, Karan, unfortunately doesn’t have any kind of acting traces or charm like his father Sunny Deol and grandfather Dharmendra. His acting skills in terms of expressions and dialogue delivery are poor to say the least. Though he is better in fight sequences, but then again seems to be aping his father. Even the scene where a group of men hold him from behind is right out of his father’s iconic moment from 1990’s Ghayal.

On the other hand, the other debutante Sahher Bamba does immensely well. Sahher without a doubt has as a lot of potential, with the right projects and right directors under her kitty, she may end up going for the long haul. The main antagonist, debutante Akash Ahuja, is completely believable as an out-and-out bad guy, however tends to overact on a few occasions.

The supporting cast consisting of Sachin Khedekar, Meghna Malik, Simone Singh, among others don’t have much to do here. On the whole, ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’ is a disappointing Launchpad, which is massively letdown by its half-baked story and poor scripting.