Tum Bin 2 Review {3.0/5} & Review Rating
The year 2001 saw the release of TUM BIN which made overnight stars out of its lead starcast that comprised of Priyanshu Chatterjee, Himanshu Malik, Rakesh Vashisth and Sandali Sinha. This week sees the release of the film’s sequel TUM BIN 2. Will TUM BIN 2 ‘too’ prove to be a Box-Office success like the original or will it face the music at the Box-Office, let’s analyze.
TUM BIN 2 is a couple's roller coaster ride in the lives of friends turned lovers, which mirrors the ups and downs of their lives. The film starts off with an untoward and unexpected skiing accident of Amar (Aashim Gulati). When the rescue team gives up their hope of finding Amar’s body, this leaves his fiancée Taran (Neha Sharma) and Amar's loving caring father Papaji (Kanwaljeet Singh) with no hope of finding him ever. Unable to bear the grief of Amar’s loss, Taran withdraws herself from the world and goes into a nutshell. One fine day, Papaji introduces his late friend’s son Shekhar (Aditya Seal) to Taran and her lovely and lively sisters. Seeing Taran in sorrow, Shekhar tries his level best to bring a smile on her face. Shekhar also helps Taran immensely in realising her dream of setting up a confectionary business. Amidst all the proceedings, Taran not just tries to forget her past and Amar, but also gradually falls in love with the happy-go-lucky Shekhar. Suddenly, one fine day, out of the blue, Papaji gets a call from Amar, whom everyone thought was dead long ago. Amar is extremely happy to be united with his loving family... especially Taran. While on one hand, love gets rekindled between Taran and Amar, on the other hand, Shekhar plans to leave everyone and let Taran and Amar have a happy life ahead together. The innocent Amar, who is totally unaware of the love affair between Taran and Shekhar, starts dreaming of his future with Taran. That’s when Taran confesses to Amar about her feelings for Shekhar. What happens to the love affair between Taran and Amar, whom does Taran ultimately go with and what is the truth that Papaji had been hiding about Amar all the while, is what forms the rest of the story.
When TUM BIN 2’s promos were released, it gave the audience a glimpse of a musical experience that the film offered. The film, in totality, does live upto the expectations that the trailers offered. The screenplay of TUM BIN 2 (Anubhav Sinha) seems heavily inspired by TUM BIN. It’s a typical conventional story that has been witnessed in Bollywood before. The presence of loopholes in the film’s screenplay does, at times, make the film less convincing (more towards the second half). Despite all this, it’s the treatment that’s meted to TUM BIN 2, which makes it worthwhile. Even though the film does not boast of any kind of memorable one liners, the film's dialogues are lucid without going over the top. Even though the humour element is present in the film, it is in negligible proportion. Do not miss the ‘India meets Pakistan’ scene in the film, in order to know what we are talking about.
After having directed the sci-fi RA.ONE, Anubhav Sinha had been missing from the scene for some time now. His directorial work in TUM BIN 2 makes up for his absence. While the film’s first half sets up the ambience and the plot of the film, the film’s second half appears a far bit stretched. The drama that unfolds during the second half is way too cliché, something that Bollywood has witnessed many times in the past. Even though Anubhav Sinha stays true to the script and the legacy of TUM BIN, there are times when the film tends to go astray. Had the length of the second half of the film been a bit shorter, it definitely could have worked in the favour of the film. The ‘oscillation’ of the girl between her two lovers seems to test the patience of the viewers after a certain point.
As for the performances, the film rides majorly on the shoulders of the talented Neha Sharma. Besides being a visual delight, Neha Sharma is indeed a delight in TUM BIN 2, in terms of her performance. She is followed a close second by Aditya Seal, whose last film was the forgettable PURANI JEANS. Aditya Seal delivers a restrained performance in TUM BIN 2 and has handled the emotional scenes really well. On the other hand, after having carved a name for himself on TV, Aashim Gulati makes his Bollywood debut with TUM BIN 2. Despite not being majorly present in the film’s first half, he ensures his place under the sun in the film’s second half.
One of the major reasons for TUM BIN to be a runaway hit at the Box-Office was its melodious music. TUM BIN 2 is no different. Music composer Ankit Tiwari has composed melodious music for TUM BIN 2, which acts as one of the major USPs and the driving force for the film. Amongst the other tracks, it’s the mellifluous ghazal rendered by the late Jagjit Singh, which, once again acts as a chartbuster track in TUM BIN 2, just like what it was in TUM BIN.
The film's cinematography (Ewan Mulligan) is top-notch. The way in which he has presented the film and shot the locations are extremely top-notch and exemplary. On the other hand, the film’s editing (Farooq Hundekar) could have been tighter.
On the whole, TUM BIN 2 is a decent love triangle with a lengthy second half. At the Box Office, the film will turn out to be an earning proposition for its makers, considering the fact that a substantial amount of the production and marketing costs have been recovered from the sale of various rights.
