The kind of feel-nice summer movie I haven’t chanced upon in many suns. Occasionally cheesy, yes. Foreseeable, a gigantic YES. Yet it had me engrossed, smiling and guffawing.

Ponderous enough to encourage a snooze but also with its rewarding side-effects. Needless to emphasise, Veera lingers on in the memory. And Alia Bhatt’s performance is nothing short of extraordinary, especially her solo stanzas of dialogue, executed in long takes.

The cinematography, the minimalist music score, costumes and set décor are in sync with the dramaturgy, consistently, Thedore’s shirts and jackets being thoroughly retro-chic. Don’t think twice, Her is the ticket of the week.

All said and watched, with all its highs and lows, ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’ is a mirth-see for its strongest factor: Ms Chopra.

Replete with florid dialogue and competent performances, too, the sequel to Ishqiya (2010) is good to put it plainly, but not quite in the class of the outstanding first edition which was free of, for want of a better word, snafus. Moreover, the earlier femme fatale played by fierce fervour by Vidya Balan, is sorely missed.

Frankly, it’s irresistible. Whether you love or loathe Hollywood’s downpour of science fiction extravaganzas, this take on the shape of things to come possesses that George Orwellian kind of undertow.

However, it’s Deepika Padukone whom the film belongs to. Looking drop dead gorgeous and going at her part with a wallop, she’s the prime asset of ‘Ram-Leela’. Eminently worth a dekko.

Shahid will not be forgotten. Catch the film right now.

Throughout, direction-wise Kashyap appears to be hell-bent on making a statement – that masala is all that matters. A measure of control could have been exercised, though, especially during the finale which stretches on till kingdom come. Redeemingly, the end-credit titles are a zinger.

What stays in the mind at the end of ‘The Lunchbox’ is pretty much what stays in mind at the end of a memorable set by jazzmen – not their lapses but the heights they scale.

Bottomline: Bon appetit! Miss this sumptuous movie, at your own peril.