Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele movie review: Zareen Khan, Anshuman Jha's sincere performances get lost in slow narrative

Language: Hindi Mansi and Veer are both on the run. One is running away from the possibility of an arranged marriage, the other is running away from his fiancée-to-be. Mansi (Zareen Khan) and Veer (Anshuman Jha) rejecting conventional, rigid parents and stereotypical expectations and running towards their respective true loves. But ‘complicated’ is an understatement when it comes to each one’s relationship status. Oppressed by his father Colonel Randhawa, a shaky Veer leaves Chandigarh and goes straight to his friend Akshay’s (Gurfateh Pirzada) and wife Mitali’s (Prabhleen Kaur) house. Mansi, who is out and proud, comes to Delhi to reunite with her long-term girlfriend Nikki only to discover that Nikki (Jahnvi Rawat) is away in her hometown of McLeod Ganj. As luck would have it, that very night Veer and Mansi has a meet-cute at an LGBTQ party. Mansi observes that things are not hunky-dory in Veer’s paradise and many glasses of wine later she’s taking shelter in Veer’s apartment. Mansi and Veer are polar opposites – she’s messy and spontaneous; he has OCD about cleanliness and, as a result of a strict upbringing by his army officer father, he’s also chivalrous and follows the rules. By the next morning, she’s persuaded him to get on a road trip to McLeodGanj and heal his broken heart while driving her to Nikki. But road trips are about the unpredictable, about journeys rather than destinations and all that. So naturally, Mansi and Veer’s adventure, set against some pretty vistas, also brings them to realisations and revelations.

Not very much transpires for the first hour or so, besides many occasions to raise a toast, confess to loneliness or nurse a broken heart.

However slow-paced the narrative and however trifling some of the scenes are, as long as writer-director Harish Vyas’s drama (screenplay and dialogues by Vyas and Susan Fernandes) explored notions of self-assertion, platonic love and charting one’s own destiny, the film had some freshness. But the mawkish climax rids the story of any realism, its tenor and mood shifting into another genre. As the odd couple, Zareen Khan and Anshuman Jha share an easy onscreen camaraderie. The actors exude sincerity and warmth, embracing the ups and downs of two young LGBTQ individuals journeying, literally and metaphorically. _Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele_ is available on Disney+ Hotstar VIP and Disney+ Hotstar Premium from 9 May. Rating: * */5 Watch the trailer here