Half Girlfriend

Genre: Romance, Drama

Director: Mohit Suri

Cast:  Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Vikrant Massey, Seema Biswas, et cetera

Being screened at QFX Cinemas

Kathmandu

Half Girlfriend, an adaptation of Indian writer Chetan Bhagat’s novel of the same name, disappoints the audience with its plot line and acting. Despite the smooth first-half, the second-half of the movie is a complete disappointment. With too much drama in the second-half, there is nothing much to watch in this half-baked romance.

Madhav Jha (Arjun Kapoor), who has come to Delhi from Simrao, a village near Bihar’s Capital Patna, is poor in English. Despite his weak English, Madhav — a basketball player — gets admission at St Stevens College in Delhi. This is where he meets Riya Somani (Shraddha Kapoor), a daughter from a rich family.

Madhav falls for Riya at first sight and does his best to win her heart. But Riya accepts him as more than a friend and less than a girlfriend which is what she refers to as his half-girlfriend. The plot moves ahead with a showcase of drama between these two characters.

The first-half is watchable — the plot is linear and circumstances behind the incidences are built in a convincing manner.

The second-half is full of action that a masala movie usually contains — from hero being beaten up to meeting with an accident and so on. And it is a complete waste because, unlike the first-half, the development of events and incidents is not convincing here. The ending scenes are predictable too.

Half Girlfriend fails in its acting department. Arjun looks sleepy as he lacks expressions. He looks older than his character. His physique too doesn’t match that of a basketball player. He slips during his dialogue delivery many times — his English accent resembles that of a fluent English speaker, making him unable to justify his role of a villager with poor English.   Shraddha too doesn’t charm the audience with her performance and character. She is weak in her acting skills. And her attire doesn’t complement the role of a college student. She does not appeal as the ‘half girlfriend’.

Sadly, the director is unable to bring out the best even from the Seema Biswas. She is limited to Arjun’s mother running a school in the village.

However, Vikrant Massey as Madhav’s friend Sailesh, wins the audience’s heart with his bold acting. He has a confident look and dialogue delivery.

Unlike the half-baked movie, the songs are soothing.