The Moral Fallacy

To square the moral circle

“Dream Girl” is a movie that works really well in the first half, however by the second half it can be best described as “patchy”.
Ayushaman Khurana has developed a knack of delving into odd stories with esoteric plot-lines. Badhai Ho and now Dream Girl are just that, interesting plot lines, good enough to seed curiosity in the cine-goers mind and cause a great initial footfall in the theater. Sadly, Indian cinema has such a cliched reputation, that anything that breaks the song and dance routine is considered novel.

However, post AndhaDhun as an audience my expectations have shifted up a notch. AndhaDhun is well rounded and its treatment of characters is noteworthy. The characters do not change the shade of grey they are in, all are essentially evil, selfish and empty of moral justification. It adheres to the Doctor House philosophy of “Nobody Changes and Everybody Lies!”
To showcase an arc wherein the shade of the character changes is extremely challenging, especially in a two hour format. Humans are complex, human morality and human decision is more of a gradual process. It is more like a meandering river, the river takes decades of twist and turns to eventually spilt path and leave behind a crescent lake. Can merely documenting the tipping point justify the swathes of inner turmoil undertaken beforehand ? Only a few movies like the ‘Ship of Thesus’ manage to somewhat justify the process.
Dream Girl starts with an interesting premise, a jobless graduate, with a particular talent in acting out a female voice, manages to end up in a call center, which is more of a ‘hotline’. In the first half the comedy of errors plays out really well, as those around Khurana (his local policeman, his would be brother in law etc) manage to call the hotline and chat in an unsuspecting manner. The pinnacle of this comedy of errors is reached when Khurana’s own father calls the hotline in search of companionship. The whole process of Khurana falling in the mess is one joyful ride, and at the interval there is an appetizing prospect – a desperate Khurana will try to get out of the mess and we expect him to entangle himself further.
Instead what happens in the second half is a mess for the audience to de clutter. Khurana who is a happy go lucky type in the first half, suddenly becomes moralistic about his work – providing a great social service of companionship in this increasingly connected yet lonely world. A great line, and sadly is manages to be just that ‘a great one liner’. To buy the idea of the phone call becoming a support, we must be shown the ‘need’ for that support in the characters life. The characters should be really lonely than just a shayari for gags policeman in need of an audience.

Hence the movie falls preachy, potential wasted. At certain moments the movie is in fact cringy. Especially the moments where Khurana’s father converts to Islam believing that his telephone companion is a Muslim. The seriousness of a suicide attempt is diluted by a shayari and the composer shayar having comic interludes with his wife. By this time the characters become mere props. Just like a choreographer with an insistence on using all the props what ensues is an assault on the senses.

Well it is said if we spend time with someone or something, its characteristic start to have an influence on us, I think that is what is happening with me, watching dream girl is having a effect, and like the movie I am going to end this article abruptly