What started off promisingly is never fully exploited. Shame.

As Gullu’s straight-laced but loving father, Anupam Kher gives the film its only moments of honesty. The rest is an unpalatable snoozefest.

Daawat-e-ishq is not a film to miss this weekend. For me, Aditya Roy Kapoor is the show-stealer in DEI. A delicious watch.

In the film’s dull menu the only item of interest is Aditya Roy Kapoor. Despite the complete lack of reciprocity from Parineeti, he is able to get intimate with her and turn the screen into a pool of feelings. He makes you want to be in love. Parineeti is a charming and competent actress but now she’s getting repetitive and boring. And here she isn’t even invested in her role. Her Hyderabadi accent comes and goes, like the fluctuating talent of Anupam Kher.

Daawat-E-Ishq is like an exuberant menu of a newly opened restaurant that’s eager to please with its spread of scrumptious offerings that balances crowd-favourites with substance.

While the sides are undercooked, the entree leaves an enjoyable aftertaste that owes much credit to its spunky actors and rest to Habib Faisal’s crisp script and direction.

This one won’t fill your hungry hearts, but one serving (not too bland, not too spicy) isn’t too bad for your appetite.

Habib Faisal has written and directed some memorable films but this one seems confused. Is it about food, romance, social message or a con film is open to interpretation. Strangely it was marketed as a food film (the title suggests it too) but the film isn’t about that. The film drags on in the second half.

Daawat-E-Ishq dodges you with tall promises of serving a great food film or even a good film. But it’s diet food variety of cinema that is neither healthy nor nutritious and leaves you famished by the end of it. Parineeti and Aditya despite their earnest performances cannot bring the needed charm to the film. I am going with a very generous 2.5/5. It had a lot of potential but the feeble sketching makes it a forgettable watch.

…the plot of DAAWAT-E-ISHQ does have a good social message relevant to today’s times, however, wrong marketing and slow pace of the film leaves the audience a bit disappointed.

The acting, especially Parineeti Chopra and the reliable Anupam Kher are the saving grace. While the film has got some of the things right, the fact is that the story is a dud. I was left hungry, not for food but for a good film.

Even the spicy and spirited performances by Parineeti and Aditya fail to satiate one’s appetite for real drama. Even Sajid Wajid’s tasteful music goes to sheer waste. This could’ve been a real seven-course fiesta but the misguided vision and thanda drama reduce this feature film to side dish status. Nothing wrong in it technically. A side dish can be the perfect complement to a good meal. But it can never be a stomach full. No matter how much you stuff yourself with it.

…daawat is tasteless! The intention of director Habib Faisal is noble, but the route he has taken is long and boring.

The premise is promising and the intention is right. In a country where dowry is still a huge social malaise (the stats shown in the beginning of the film tell us that even now every hour, one woman in the country is killed for dowry), this film attempts to present the serious cause on an entertaining platter.

I came away with the baap-beti relationship rather than the love story. As for food, I craved for more.

Burp re burp.

Despite promises of a delectable cookout that could send our (visual) tastebuds into a tizzy, director-writer Habib Fazil’s recipe of love leaves us rather famished…

Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapur’s film is so not delicious…

Despite honourable intentions, all Faisal has done with Daawat-e-Ishq is brought every paranoid chauvinist’s nightmares to life on celluloid.

Daawat-E-Ishq mixes romance and crime. Its effort is to bring up the evil called Dowry into focus and evoke some thought around it. A rather wasted effort. Having said that, Daawat is fairly entertaining. It could easily be your watch for the weekend.

Daawat-e-Ishq has an interesting story, backed by good acting performances. ½ star extra to director Habib Faisal for treating the controversial issue so interestingly.

The movie is clever and fun for the most part. Yet, as you step back for a second, you realise this is a contemporary ‘Muslim social drama’, and it is about lower middle class Indians.

Direction is good, and the storyline and plot is average. The dialogues are apt and to an extent the humour also strikes the right note with the audiences. Though there is nothing new in the script, but it is served with a whiff of fresh air.

Garnished with love, fun, colorful settings and impressive performances, chef Habib prepares a grand fiesta – Daawat-e-Ishq . And if a sweet love story is your cup of tea, then don’t miss this treat.

Challenging the most generous to digest it, Daawat-E-Ishq is an overlong bore where the food in the film makes you hungry while the film makes you angry by its humdrum handling of romance, food and dowry.

The otherwise predictable story is saved by the brilliant performance of the cast. it isn’t a great film but is good enough for a one-time watch.

Overcooked and unsatisfying smorgasbord…

Writer-director Habib Faisal (Do Dooni Chaar, Ishaqzaade) attempts a foodie rom-com with a well-intentioned message. Perhaps it’s too much to put into one film, and all you get is undercooked, bland biryani, where the flavours clash instead of complementing each other.

In tennis terms, Daawat-e-Ishq, much like its maker, resembles that big-serving player who can boom in aces at will. But as soon as the ball is returned for a rally to be constructed, the player freezes. And the ideas dry up.

A relevant social message delivered in an entertaining fashion…

Daawat-e-Ishq with its fragrance will take you to seventies; however the spirit of the movie is youthful and contemporary. Garnished with Aditya and Parineeti’s impressive performance the movie can be summed up as a dish made up using an old recipe with a modern fusion.

…whatever Habib has in his junket is surely to be tried once.
He may have missed out on appropriate amount of spices or may have just scalded couple of the recipes but he manages to keep us engaged in his carnival ‘Daawat-e-Ishq’.

Quite a masaledaar yummy movie that is a good one time watch but not so great that it would be the biggest blockbuster movie of the year. But Habib’s direction, and the spicy tale definitely deserves to be watched.