Ved Review - Redefines Mad Love In Two Different Mediocre Ways

The real-life couple, Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh, star together for the first time in Marathi cinema, and that too in Riteish's directorial debut, Ved. An interesting coincidence is that the film is a remake of the Telugu romantic film Majili, starring Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who happened to be a real-life couple too (separated now). Frankly, Majili didn't work for me, so it is obvious that Ved doesn't either. That Telugu flick was full of flaws and worked only because of Naga and Samantha's chemistry. I was expecting Ved to rectify all those flaws in the remake, but all it did was copy-paste with new cut-outs. The climax, which defines the mad love of husband and wife but doesn't need to be spoken about all the time, saves an otherwise mediocre script. I said it for Majili, and I would say the same for Ved now.Satya (Riteish Deshmukh) wants to be a cricketer but never gets enough opportunities to show his talent. He meets Nisha (Jiya Shankar), and they both fall in love with each other. The cute-looking love story is spoiled by some local goons, and then Nisha is taken away from Satya by her father. Satya gets addicted to alcohol to forget the past, but then there is a girl called Shravani (Genelia Deshmukh), who is madly in love with him. Even after marriage, she struggles to receive a positive response from Satya's side, who is still thinking about Nisha. Will he ever see Shravani's insane love? Will Shravani manage to take the place of Nisha in Satya's life? Ved, if not me, will provide you with all of the answers.Well, frankly speaking, the original script was too mediocre for today's generation, and it doesn't justify a bunch of flaws it had. In which state-cricket do we see a batsman without a helmet? And how can a girl walk onto the cricket field during the match? A boy who is supposed to be hiding from goons can openly visit a girl's house. The goons didn't follow him then. Somehow, the girl can have a child with a man she doesn't love, and that too during a difficult period in her life when she is said to have been traumatized. Meanwhile, the boy forgets his father, his career, his social image, and even his dignity for a girl. His wife can easily live with him for seven years despite uncountable humiliations, and suddenly, one day, she has her brain working as she decides to leave him. Majili did not respond to these questions, and Ved did not respond either. Instead of camera theft, there's a wedding ceremony here. Instead of hitting a century with an injured head, we have our hero getting retired hurt here. These are a few changes from Majili, but none of them seem to have helped Ved.Talking about performances, Ved has some serious issues. Riteish Deshmukh debuted in Marathi cinema eight years ago, but he still seems to have trouble with the Marathi accent. Mind you, he spoke with a kickass accent as Mauli in Lai Bhaari (2014) but not as Abhay. Here, he has some good dialogue and scenes in the second half, but the first half is way below par. Don't know why he had to be shown so soft? Naga was so rowdy in Majili, even in the flashback scenes. Genelia needs to work on her Marathi accent, and this is a serious consideration. Not a single dialogue with finesse; the vernacular accent was annoying. I kept waiting for her to deliver one dialogue in a proper Marathmola accent, but the moment never came. I was so hooked on her fabulous expressions in the climax scene, but the accent forced me to hate her. Jiya Shankar came as quite a surprise, and such a pretty one. The first frame of her and you are hooked to her gorgeous face. She subsequently makes you fall in love with her smartness and that quirky nature. The great Ashok Saraf fails to get out of his old image, or maybe the writing is at fault for that. Vidyadhar Joshi, too, goes unnoticed. Just like Majili, Ved too has a small dynamite called Khushi Hajare. Such a firecracker she was. The rest of the cast fits well, but only to fill up the characters.Ajay-Atul is the biggest musical duo in Marathi cinema, which is why expectations are always high from this Jodi. Let's just accept that it's not possible to deliver the same success every time. Ved has some passionate musical numbers, and they work for situational impact too. Tuze and will stay with you for a while even after leaving the auditorium. Lavlay doesn't have those chartbuster vibes and even Salman Khan didn't look much interested in that. The lyrics are meaningful too. The cinematography and editing remain underwhelming. Riteish chose a lukewarm project for his directorial debut. Marathi cinema hasn't drowned so much that we have to remake mediocrities from the south. We could never write such a mediocre script from scratch. If you have to remake, then remake a classic film; why take banal scripts? I would have been so much happier if Riteish had realised that before making Ved. Anyway, the direction is still decent. It doesn't go to crap level, and that cheap humour from Majili is also removed by Riteish. Overall, a well-attempted flick with the wrong choice of story. Aditya Chopra made Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (here we have a gender change for a similar story) so pure and emotional despite overdramatic segments, and we are making such films in an internet era that doesn't even justify love using old-school methods. The two patterns of love are already known; we just needed a better story to tell it. Majili and Ved both went illogical while attempting that. Nevertheless, this is a watchable film for mad lovers—male and female both.