Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat Hindi Movie

'Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat' spends a long time shifting between two strands of narrative but fails to connect these. Likewise, the Hindi musings of DJ Mohabbat about love go on and on with no impact on the story. For long, one wonders what Kashyap is even trying to do here. Apr 2, 2023 By Sreejith Mullappilly

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Anurag Kashyap's "Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat" takes a while to come to its point. There are two parallel plots here that involve two sets of couples. The one in Dalhousie, Himachal Pradesh, follows movie DVD seller Yakub and his teenage lover Amrita. The couple plans to get out of town for a Holi concert featuring DJ Mohabbat. The other narrative features the Hindi-speaking Aisha and Harmeet in London. The couple in London, too, shares a common affection for the DJ.

The movie spends a long time shifting between these two narrative strands with conversations that do not add up to much. It seems so pointless for such a long time that one starts to wonder what Kashyap is trying to do here. The Hindi musings of DJ Mohabbat (Vicky Kaushal) about love go on and on without having any sort of impact on the main story.

Then we get to the parts where simmering tensions emerge in the families as the couples start to spend so much time together. The common factor between both plots is the fact that they both have intercaste relationships. In many other films, Indian parents may approve of intercaste relations, but this seldom happens in an Anurag Kashyap movie. In this regard, Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat is like an angry version of an Imtiaz Ali film.

The film talks about the anti-Muslim attitudes in society, both at home and abroad. The major talking point here is "love jihad," a theory that accuses Muslims of wooing Hindus to forcibly make them convert to Islam. In fact, the politics of inter-caste love are the whole point of the film. The semblance of love stories that we see initially soon plays second fiddle to the political ramblings that come later. This explains why some characters are not exactly characters as such but rather Kashyap's potshots at right-wing politics in India.

An elderly woman who initially likes Yakub for his uncanny resemblance to Harmeet makes a vile remark about his religion on the slightest of pretexts. The woman has hardly any role in the film, but she is there to make an Islamophobic statement at a pivotal point. Aisha herself appears as a social media sensation who makes equally provocative remarks about love and religion. These may be interesting observations in theory, but Kashyap fails to integrate them well into the plot.

The most disappointing aspect of the film is perhaps Amit Trivedi's soundtrack. Kashyap is usually so good at working music into his plot in a way that does not break continuity. However, the use of music is such a speed bump in "Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat." It is so underwhelming that one cannot believe that it comes from the brainchild behind the Manmarziyaan soundtrack.

The only half-redeeming factor here is some of the performances. Alaya F succeeds in differentiating Aisha and Amrita, even though the writing fails to make the connection between the characters. On the other hand, Karan Mehta is intense enough as Harmeet, albeit his attempt to portray a more easy-going youngster in Himachal is a hit-and-miss. Vicky Kaushal is wasted in a role that perhaps requires a real-life DJ or a mere voice-over act.