One By Two Review

What is it all about?

Biting more than it can chew... Abhay Deol we knew always surprised us with his choice as an actor - 'Manorama Six Feet Under', 'Ek Chalis Ki Last Local', 'Dev.D' and of course 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' With `One By Two' Abhay turns producer and does thinks differently, goes out of the box. But alas, the movie turns out to be indifferent, even for its classy urban audience in the end.

Thanks to its meager script sense and tiring narration by debutant helmer Devika Bhagat, anyways the acting smarts by the lead are undeniable and the music is a hallmark. Still B.O. blossoms for this `differently' coming of age rom com is minimal whereas TV and DVD sales might become rosy for `chai time' audience at home.

The Story

Devika Bhagat churns this two parallel tales in one story where on one hand we have Amit Sharma (Abhay Deol) desperately trying to woo his girl Radhika (Geetika Tyagi) back and on the other we have Samara Patel (Preeti Desai) a London beauty in her dancing duties aims to make it big in India.

Abhay in his zest to get Radhika back in his nest doesn't mind shooting from his hackers chest to bring down a dance show just because his ex-flame's current boyfriend is the producer.

While Preeti has to dance to the tunes of his mother (Lilette Dubey) turned alcoholic due to separation and a possessive boyfriend (Yudhishtar Urs).

Though it's not cliche as B-town's routine rom coms but it's still indifferent to the target audience of this genre cause its portrait of youth or say urban people is sadly narrow minded and surprisingly the pairing up of people over here is for no rhyme or reason other than that the forceful necessity of the script.

What to look out for?

The treatment is good. The opening sequences and the introduction of the characters are smartly handled giving an indication that fist timer Devika as the director does has the sparks. Individual scenes of Preeti with Yudhishtar Urs and his father are neatly handled.

Technically a polished work with Sameer Arya showing his finesse in his art. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music fitting the bill while watching but no take home. Abhay Deol shines and is so natural. Preeti Desai is quite good. Most of the supporting cast Lilette Dubey, Anish Trivedi, Tahir Bhasin, Preetika Chawla, Yudhishtar Urs, Geetika Tyagi, Maya Sarao, Yashika Dhillon, Ragesh B. Asthanaa and Diwakar Pundir do their job earnestly.

What not?

More treatment less script sense. Unconvincing and narrow minded depiction of youth. Lazily narrated, the much desired connection between the two happens but it seems forceful and unconvincing.

Senior talents like Rati Agnihotri and Darshan Jariwala are wasted.

Conclusion: 'One By Two' does shuns the routines demands of a normal B-town's rom com and orders a fresh breeze of change. But alas; the delivery in the end may not be a pain but certainly there's no gain whatsoever either as an art or as a craft.

Rating **