Tum Bin 2 Movie Review

Cast: Neha Sharma, Aditya Seal and Aashim Gulati

Director: Anubhav Sinha

Tum Bin 2 is a strange film. It's been marketed as the second film in the Tum Bin franchise – which I think are love stories built around songs. But the story is almost the same as the first film, which released 15 years ago. Director and writer Anubhav Sinha didn't even bother to change the names. Once again, we get an Amar and a Shekhar in love with the same girl. Once again, Shekhar is trying to atone for an accident. I didn't see the first film but this one alternates between being unintentional comedy and undiluted tedium. I laughed and cried – in all the wrong places, for all the wrong reasons.

The story is set in Edinburgh. It frequently snows but the characters don't seem to notice the weather. In the first scene, Amar and his girlfriend Taran come to a ski resort.  He's wearing a T-shirt. Within minutes, they are singing – she's wearing long chiffons gowns. But inappropriate styling is the least of this film's problems.

The characters in Tum Bin 2 are ready to impart life lessons anytime and anywhere. Early on, one character tells the grieving Taran – jab rona aaye, toh phoot ke ro lo, jab pyar aaye toh gale laga lo, zindagi mein sirf yeh do saach hain. Soon after this, someone else says – life is a summer vacation.  And here's the kicker – in explaining her grand love for Amar, Taran says: pyar reasonable nahin hota, bas bewajah hota hai. To which, Shekhar who is the third arm of this triangle, responds with: Beautiful.

These interminably boring conversations on love and longing are punctuated by half a dozen forgettable songs. In the second half, Amar and Shekhar feel like they are playing a game of  'she loves me, she loves me not.' It's impossible to follow whom she really loves and why and frankly you are long past caring.  Neha Sharma, who plays woman inciting this furious devotion, retains a single expression of anguish on her face. Aashim Gulati is even more stilted. The only spark here comes from Aditya Seal who looks appropriately conflicted.

He was probably trying to figure out what was going on.