Dolly Ki Doli has a promising start, and for the first ten odd minutes, riding on the confident performance of Rajkummar Rao as Sonu, the film looks set to break through the frontiers of conventional Bollywood films.
Alas, the euphoria is short-lived. The moment it is revealed that Dolly (Sonam Kapoor) is but a con-woman who dupes men into marriage and loots their homes, the film’s potential vaporizes just as quickly.
To the credit of debutant director Abhishek Dogra, the film does not emotionally blackmail you with back stories of why Dolly behaves the way she does. Yes, there is good reason – but it is never rubbed into you.
Dolly accepts the way she is, and that makes the film a tad different from the usual Bollywood fare. If only the movie had a better narrative and a stronger core, this could have been a great ode to the freedom that women in India so cherish.
On that level, Dolly Ki Doli is an unapologetic con game with a woman protagonist. She justifies nothing nor does she regret her ways. It might sound absolutely immoral and could even be argued as sending out the wrong signals, but hey, why should men have all the fun? If the audience can accept the wayward games and con acts of male heroes, why not by a girl?
Such questions might have, however, been more relevant if only the film had tried to move to the next level in story-telling. Instead, what happens is a repeat of the first ten minutes. More men are duped and more greedy mom-in-laws are exposed, and nothing really happens.
Finally, the film becomes a cat-and-mouse game between Dolly and some of her suitors, nay ditched husbands, including Sonu and Manoj (Varun Sharma), and a police officer Robin Singh (Pulkit Samrat), who is hot on the chase for the looting bride.
Abhishek Dogra tries to bring a refreshing twist to the tale by presenting different faces of the male protagonists; all are deeply in love with Dolly, irrespective of the fact that she has duped them. Sonu is deep in love, Manoj lusts for her, while a prince (a surprise cameo by a superstar, here), despite knowing that she is a con woman, agrees to be ‘clean bowled’ by her.
That takes you to the film’s main weakness. For a woman to be so impressionable – a fraud yet angelic – the performance and presence must be to either on an Audrey Hepburn or at least a Madhuri Dixit level. Sonam Kapoor, I dare say, has traces of both – but she falls short of making that lasting impression.
While her utter abandon and acceptance shines through towards the climax (more so, as she mesmersisingly smiles from the platform of a moving train), for the large part, she goes through the motions almost in robotic fashion. That fails the film too; while her suitors might find her irresistible, the act is rather lost in communication with the audience.
On the plus side, the film has some good performances by the supporting cast; there are a few genuinely funny moments and it is only about two hours long despite the item number by Malaika Arora Khan and a few more songs and dances thrown in.
Dolly Ki Doli is a film with a great one-liner and it could have been a salutary ode to women liberation. Ultimately, it just becomes a one-time watch that doesn’t really engage you nor discomfort you.
Dolly Ki Doli
Starring: Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pulkit Samrat and Varun Sharma
Directed by Abhishek Dogra
Rating: 2/5
