Hasee Toh Phasee

About the film

Hasee Toh Phasee (transl. If she smiles, she is trapped) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film directed by Vinil Mathew and produced by Karan Johar, Vikas Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap under Dharma Productions and Phantom Films. The film stars Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra, along with Adah Sharma, Manoj Joshi, Sharat Saxena and Neena Kulkarni.

Marking Malhotra's reunion with Dharma Productions, as well as Chopra's first project outside her Yash Raj Films collaborations, Hasee Toh Phasee follows the story of Nikhil, a struggling businessman who, believing he is in love with Karishma, an actress he is engaged to, has to prove his worth to his father-in-law while grappling with the sudden return of his fiancée's geeky sister, Meeta, who he had an encounter with years ago, throwing all of them into uncharted waters as he gets to know Meeta better. Vishal–Shekhar composed the music, while lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Kumaar.

Plot

Nikhil Bhardwaj is a struggling businessman who loves Karishma Solanki, an actress. A firm old–schooler, he believes that once committed to a girl, there should be no straying, so he asks Karishma's father, Devesh, to help him with ₹50 million before marriage to earn a contract. However, Devesh sidesteps his request, thus forcing him to prove his worth on his own.

Sometime later, Nikhil meets Meeta, Karishma's younger sister, whom he had a brief encounter with seven years ago. Meeta, an IITian in Chemical Engineering and PhD, is a super-intelligent geek with unusual habits and tics. She ran away seven years ago to China via Goa, Nikhil inadvertently helping her while declining her offer to accompany, after stealing money for her project from Devesh, leading him to suffer a heart attack on the day of their eldest sister, Deeksha's wedding. Now, just a week before Nikhil and Karishma's wedding, Meeta has turned up to meet Devesh, but Karishma, fearing that Meeta's sudden appearance might ruin their wedding, assigns Nikhil to watch over Meeta and keep her away from the Solanki family.

Nikhil and Meeta become close during the seven days preceding Nikhil's wedding. He learns that Meeta has returned, intending to steal again, and has taken a hefty loan of ₹100 million from a Chinese investor for her research by forging her father's signature. The deadline for payback is over, and an extension of three days was given, during which she has to steal money from her father's account to save him from the investor's goons. Nikhil helps Meeta hack her father's account, but advises her to apologise to her family. Meeta apologizes and reunites with her family.

Production

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions along with Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Vikas Bahl's Phantom Films, announced that they would make a romantic comedy together. The film is directed by Vinil Mathew in his directorial debut. The film was initially titled Hasta la vista Su Badam Pista. But it was later changed to Hasee Toh Phasee. Anurag Kashyap said, "The story works with fresh faces, but requires a high level of chemistry and maturity in the performances. After spending months shortlisting various actors, we finalised Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra."

Sidharth Malhotra was cast as the businessman Nikhil. Malhotra said tha Nikhil is not the "typical hero" but a shy, sweet and a committed guy. Parineeti Chopra was cast as the quirky scientist Meeta. Chopra said that her character was a quite "difficult one" and added that Meeta, shattered stereotypical representation of a heroine on-screen. The film marked their first project together.

Vinil Mathew stated that he wanted Chopra to have different hairstyles, to capture the seven-year period covered in the film. Mathew added that while Chopra was always on his "wish list", it was Johar who suggested Malhotra for the film. In an interview, Harshavardhan Kulkarni revealed that Meeta's character was based on his friend's intelligent brother.

Soundtrack

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were initially signed on as composers for the film. But eventually they opted out, and songs featured in the film were composed by Vishal–Shekhar, while the lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, except for "Ishq Bulaava", which is written by Kumaar. The first single "Drama Queen", sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Vishal Dadlani, was launched on 23 December 2013. The song "Zehnaseeb", sung by Chinmayi Sripaada along with Shekhar Ravjiani, was launched on 3 January 2014.

There are six original tracks and a remix track in the album. The complete soundtrack album was released on 6 January 2014. The remix version of "Drama Queen" was later uploaded as a single on the official YouTube channel of Dharma Productions. A Gujarati rap song was entirely written and composed by Khamosh Shah, which is there in the film but not on the soundtrack. The "Punjabi Wedding Song" was choreographed by Karishma Chavan.

The music of the film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Joginder Tuteja of Rediff.com termed "Ishq Bulava" the best love song and noted, "The music of Hasee Toh Phasee delivers more than it promised at the outset. One expected just a fun-filled score, but Vishal-Shekhar have gone beyond that to bring us some soulful melodies as well." Seema Sinha of Times of India stated, "The music of the film also seems to be refreshing, with a nice blend of foot-tapping dance numbers and romantic ballads."

Key details