Daawat-E-Ishq is a lovely light-hearted movie; watching it was good time spent.
Anupam Kher is brilliant; Aditya Roy Kapoor is super-cool and Parineeti is in her usual self! The movie also has a good social message.
I liked the story which is full of twists and turns. If you have watched this movie then you can consider my analysis as below :)
At first, the father-daughter duo had become too negative in their attitude, due to the negative experiences they have had in their life. Though at one point Anupam Kher comforts Parineeti by saying, "not all boys are the same type", later on he agrees with her evil plan to become fraudster. At that point, he says, "like no one can buy a house in our country without paying in black, no one can marry without paying dowry". The first statement about buying houses is so untrue and judgmental - so many of us have bought houses without paying anything in black. While it is true that some people indulge in that, it is not correct to make a sweeping statement in general. Dowry is more prevalent, there are exceptional cases when no dowry is paid, but at the same time not in all cases dowry is meant to loot or make girl's family lose whole of their life's savings. In fact when Anupam Kher was not able to find a suitable boy even after willing to pay Rs 17 lakhs in dowry - it may not be because of dowry alone but because of other factors like his social status, the fact that the girl did not have mother, etc, because of which some families won't have agreed to marry her. 17 lakhs is not a little sum, and it was an exaggeration that he was not able to find a son-in-law only because of money. Anyways, coming back to Parineeti's decision to turn into a fraudster, it was surprising and idiotic that her father, Anupam Kher's character, agreed to allow her to do that and also join her. Kids at that age even though they feel like they are confident and wise, are half-baked and many of their decisions are not correct. In such a case it is essential for parents to interfere or at least register their opinion seriously. Since Anupam Kher was too soft on her and allowed her to do whatever she wished, illegal and unethical activity in this case, he did not play his role or duty correctly. And near the end, they were all in soup. Father was more to be blamed than the daughter for that situation.
Even if the father-daughter duo started to forge their identities; there was a time when Parineeti knew for sure that Aditya was a good guy, not the typical greedy men she had met in the past. But she feared that if she tells him the truth - he might not understand her and might give her away to the Police. At this time we see another flaw in her character - she assumed negative thing in Aditya behavior without any concrete reason supporting her assumption. What if she told him the the truth and he pardoned her (which ultimately happened in the end)? She could have taken a chance. Though I know it is easy to say than actually do. Still, when she realized that he was a good guy, and she already had Rs 40 lakhs he had given her, she could at least vanish from his life and go back to her home in Hyderabad. But no, she goes ahead with her decision to cheat the boy and throws Aditya at the mercy of police and also go down in the eyes of society. What wrong did Aditya do to deserve this? This decision to go ahead with old plan even when situation had changed and she had information which was prompting her to change her plan; shows her incompetence and indecisiveness. I may be exaggerating, but I worry about what she would do in future if she faces similarly complex situations? Life is long, and many things would change in the later years - if in future situation became tough - would she once again choose wrong path and make wrong decision to punish good people? I doubt that this is likely. Therefore it was a bold decision by Aditya to pardon her and keep his faith in her. It shows that his love towards her was true and in general it shows his good nature. If you are honest and truthful, it is more likely that you would assume the other person to be honest and truthful too. So his decision to keep her company tells more about his own good nature rather than pointing towards some good aspects of Parineeti's character.
I liked Aditya Roy Kapoor's character - he was so cool, funny and considerate/sensitive at the same time. So far I have loved each charater Aditya has played in his movies, and that is one reason I am a big fan of his.
The movie was mostly shot in Lucknow and Hyderabad - which is a welcome change. The overall exposure that the movie gave to these cities and their culture was nice. (I also liked to see these two cities again, recollecting my own personal memories there). The culinary connection was delightful. Though in promotions they have highlighted too much about its foodie connection, after watching the movie it appears that the movie is not too much about good food, but it is as much about many other things as about good food.
This is a good light-hearted movie; watching which I am sure you would spend your 2 hours well and you will come out with a smile on your face. It is also a clean movie which you can watch with whole family.
Recommended to one and all.
