Yaaram movie review: A serious subject badly trivialised, courtesy poor writing

Yaaram movie review: Yaaram is based on the practice of Nikah Halala and aims to applaud the Centre for banning Triple Talaq. However, it ends up trivialising the sensitive subject.

Yaaram

Yaaram movie review: The film is based on the practice of Nikah Halala in Islam.

Director - Ovais Khan

Cast - Prateik Babbar, Siddhanth Kapoor, Ishita Raj Sharma

Bollywood films being made on government schemes, initiatives, and landmark judgments by courts are no longer a trend that make you stand up and take notice. There have been plenty of those and have been effective in various degrees.

However, in director Ovais Khan’s Yaaram, we have the film picking a sensitive subject and then trivializing it. Starring actors Prateik Babbar, Ishita Raj Sharma and Siddhanth Kapoor in lead roles, Yaaram is a rather juvenile take on patriarchal practices of Triple Talaq and Nikah Halala. The film aims to applaud the Centre for banning Triple Talaq, but fails terribly. 

While the message is eventually conveyed, it is the case of too little, too late. Even then, the lesson comes as a ‘janhit mein jaari soochna’ via Shakti Kapoor as he channels ‘80s Jeetendra in a white suit.

The film is set in very urbane Mauritius where Rohit (Prateik Babbar), who played cupid to his best friends — Sahil (Siddhanth Kapoor) and Zoya (Ishita Raj Sharma) — four years ago in college, is meeting them after six months. He finds that the two are now separated as Sahil said ‘talaq talaq talaq’ in a moment of anger.

Sahil regrets his action and wants Zoya back in his life. He wants Rohit to marry Zoya and then divorce her so that he can remarry her – the practice called Nikah Halala. Rohit, meanwhile, is about to marry a girl of his parents’ choice. Whether this plan works forms the crux of the film.

Prateik Babbar and Ishita Raj Sharma in a still from Yaaram.

Yaaram’s central idea is lost in translation because of poor screenplay and writing. Vague flashbacks and irrelevant events don’t help the narrative in any way. Editing is another major loophole, and at many places you would notice cuts and jumps that are hard to explain.

While the director chose to make a romcom instead of a serious film, the attention on comic punches and emotions is missing. Even the actors are sleepwalking through the parts, fed as they are with clichéd dialogues and done-to-death tropes. A woman tells prospective groom during a meeting for arranged marriage: ‘Itne good looking ho, successful ho, handsome ho, gay bhi nahi ho, koi ladki to pasand aayi hogi’. Even Prateik and Siddhanth’s friendship is stereotypical, with the former claiming, “Meri madad ke bina koi teer maara hai tune?”

While the actors have proved their talent earlier, even the best of talent can’t make a bad film look good. Having watched Ishita Raj Sharma play the free spirited and chirpy girl in Pyaar Ka Punchnama part 1 and 2 and more recently in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, you find her underwhelming in Yaaram. She keeps up with her glam image but the half-baked character arc lets her down.

A still from Yaaram.

Prateik Babbar is his charming and suave self on screen. The man totally believes in ‘if you have it, flaunt it’ and that’s why he doesn’t hesitate for one bit while taking off his shirt in multiple scenes. With the kind of confidence he exudes, it won’t be wrong to say that his talent remains untapped in the industry, barring projects such as Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na or Mulk. Siddhanth Kapoor, son of Shakti Kapoor, lacks the screen presence of his father. It is hard to care for his performance.

The one thing that works in the favour of this film is its length. As soon as the makers felt that they’ve said what they wanted to, they wrapped it up. Sadly, the climax which could have been dramatic with a little bit of shock value comes across as shoddy.

Music, however, is somewhat a saving grace and romantic tracks, Yaaram and Kash Fir Se, are enjoyable. But throwing in an item song starring Natasa Stankovic during opening credits could have been avoided.

Yaaram is best avoided unless you are looking for comic relief. Even then, it is no value for money.

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