It's complicated' - sighed Himesh Reshammiya when he turned lover boy for 'Radio'. A film about relationships between urban couples, the film went unnoticed. The film's cast as well as its overall set up was blamed for that. Hence, one did have good expectations from 'Break Ke Baad', which again deals with complexities in relationships between urban couples, since the film boasted of a good set up [Kunal Kohli as a producer] and has a far more happening cast in the form of Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone.
Does it work? Partially and that too mainly due to a very good first half and career best performances of it's lead pair.
While Deepika proposes a 'break', Imran sticks on her side, well literally as he stays put at her place with bag and baggage intact till she 'gets back to normalcy'. At this point, one expects some funny incidents to follow that would reunite the lovers. However, this is where 'Break Ke Baad' falters as instead of turning funny, the story turns out to be a huge drag. For 30 odd minutes after the interval point, there is one boring scene after another that actually makes you sink down your seat inch by inch.
Frankly, the movement of storyline here, despite a story being told with a passage of one full year, is hardly interesting and only leads to restlessness and impatience. In addition to that, a subtle side track of Shahana Goswami and Yudi, friends of Deepika and Imran, only turns out to be a distraction. In fact during this entire duration, the lovers do turn into friends but the way their chemistry returns almost to normalcy only makes one kick the floor harder and wonder that why aren't the two reuniting yet.
Thankfully, things perk up towards the last 15 odd minutes from pre-climax onwards. Realisation of true love takes a done-to-death approach with clichés written all over. Add to that some good dialogues mouthed by Deepika and you know what you were missing all this while.
Really, if not for Deepika's terrific act as a young 20 something girl who loves taking risks in life and wants to try out everything before crying that it is all too late, 'Break Ke Baad' by debutant director Danish Aslam wouldn't have been half as enjoyable as it ultimately turns out to be. She gets the best dialogues, the best scenes and the best moments that bring an altogether different facet of her acting capabilities.
While Deepika gets brownie points for her performance, Imran isn't much far behind either. His role required him to stay far more subtle and patient than his beloved and in this regard, he is happy to take a back step without being overtly greedy about trying to get the best lines. As for the others, Sharmila Tagore is just about okay, Lilette Dubey is as usual, Shahana natural but overconfident at places and Yudi irritating to begin with but settling down eventually.
The film has a rich look throughout and one has to compliment the art direction, cinematography and costumes team for that. Background score is good while music by Vishal-Shekhar, though good on ears, brings down the pace of the film at a few junctures, especially in the second half when the going is anyways not as interesting.
This is why one is led to believe that 'Break Ke Baad' could have been a much better film if there would have been some more energy in the second half. No wonder, 'Break Ke Baad' would go down as a film which was a good entertaining watch till the 'break', its very USP, actually happened.
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