Fans of colourful, undemanding and breezy Bollywood romcoms are in for a treat from 2013’s second Hindi spin on the Julia Roberts chick flick ‘Runaway Bride’.
Sriram Venkat (Imran Khan) is the black sheep of his family whose conservative parents decide that the only way to redeem this ‘grandson of a Gandhian’ is by arranging his marriage to a suitable girl. On his wedding day, Sriram gets cold feet. Remembering an ex-girlfriend, Dia (Kareena Kapoor), who dumped him after a major fight, he does a runner, vowing to win her back.
There is nothing ground breaking or intellectually challenging in this light-hearted film. Funny at times, it works largely due to the script, which abandons that Bollywood staple theme of parental disapproval of love and instead focuses on the ideological differences between the two leads.
Both Khan and Kapoor are charming and look like they’re having a ball with their unchallenging roles. The songs are not subtitled, which is probably a good move since the Hindi and English lyrics are inane. The real star is the gorgeous Indian clothes our leads wear in every scene. Costume designer Manish Malhotra, at least, has scored a hit.