Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
(Siddharth Anand, India 2008, 152 min., 35mm, Hindi w/subtitles)
Bollywood and Beyond!. In this border-crossing romantic comedy with a cinephile twist, Raj (Ranbir Kapoor), a self-proclaimed ladies’ man, travels to Switzerland for a coming of age adventure. There he meets Mahi (Minissha Lamba), a young Indian woman who is seeking her own “Raj” (the romantic idol of the classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, who happens to share a name). But this Raj is not a romantic hero and moves on, breaking Mahi’s heart. Later, in Mumbai, Raj has a live-in girlfriend Radhika (Bipasha Basu). When he is offered the opportunity to move to Australia, he believes Radhika will have no problem parting ways—but instead, she plans their wedding. In Sydney, Raj romances likeminded Gayatri (Deepika Padukone), but what he learns from her leads him back to the women whose hearts he broke years before.