REVIEW by ALEX DELEON

Sponsored by the Indian Embassy the 2016 Budapest Indian Film Week offers a savvy selection of recent and not so recent landmarks of the Bollywood cinema. One film per night for seven straight nights, all films with new Hungarian subtitles
The second film of the series was "Dum Laga Ke Haisha" which means something like "Give it all You've got!" ~ a major hit of 2015 both in India and in overseas NRI communities although it has no really big stars and a minimum of razzle-dazzle song and dance numbers -- Only one big at the very end. 

Summary: A Mismatched Young couple forced into an arranged marriage rebel, and then some...
THIS is definitely an off beat entry as far as Bollywood films go because of the minimal musical numbers and the exceptional emphasis on story and character development -- in spite of the fact that it was produced by the major mainstream Bollywood Yashraj Studio. Viewed during Budapest Indian FIlm Week, at the venerable Pushkin Mozi, Friday, October 7, 2016 before a packed house of Hungarian Bollywood fans. Relatively short for an Indian film, clocking in at 104 minutes, DUM LAGE is a family drama, set in the holy city of Hardwar on the Ganges that focuses on very average people living in modest circumstances if not exactly abject poverty. Non of the palatial homes and ostentatious wealth often seen in the big Bollywood escapist productions.. 

. Director: Sharat Katariya, Main cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, as Prem Prakash, the unhappy groom, and newcomer Bhumi Pendakar as Sandhya, the chubby educated wife, in a Heavyweight knockout debut ~ with popular character actor Sanjay Mishra, as the uppity bullying father of Prem.

Getting down to brass tacks, DLKH is a deceptively subtle dramedy about an arranged marriage between an overweight but well educated young woman (Sandhya) and a handsome but uneducated loser of a husband  who is constantly intimidated by an overbearing father, but nearly refuses the marriage forced on him by the family to an unattractive overweight girl, and doesn't sleep with her on their wedding night. Eventually he will, but reluctantly and much to his distaste. He is basically ashamed even to be seen with her in public. Although she had the hots for him at first, heavy set Sandhya has finally had enough of his indifference, moves out abruptly and asks for a divorce. Both families are shocked, most of all Prem. Now that his neglected bride has faced him down, however, he begins to have second thoughts and his attitude toward her evolves bit by painful bit -- reaching a climactic point where a theatrical suicide attempt he stages turns everything around. The remonstrations of both families are the background of the story. 

At the end, an odd village Obstacle Course footrace competition (DUM LAGA) which Prem has signed up for hoping to win some much needed cash (Husbands have to carry their wives on their backs all through the race) becomes the thrilling conclusion of this truly heart warming triumphant family drama. The dénoument (with, alas, too many stop frames!) is a rousing colorful collective dance on the Ganges river bridge, with the now happily united couple at the center and Prem demonstrating some unexpectedly dazzling Bollywood moves -- at one point in a bright orange suit. 

The persistent long suffering love of his wife has clearly awakened a dormant heroic streak in him he himself was unaware he had! -- as he carries her not only successfully to the finish line, but then triumphantly all the way home through a labyrinth of ancient narrow streets.  And yes, at the end we are even treated to an explicit mouth to mouth osculation, until recently a firm No-No in Indian cinema.

This movie really sneaks up on you, starting out as what looks like a run-of-the-mill misarranged marriage comedy, but, before you know it it has become a touching psychological study where you feel sorry for both young people, at odds with each other but trapped in a web of hidebound tradition -- and find yourself rooting for both of them, even though they are set against each other united only by their rebellion against old-fashioned ways and traditional mores. At the end I was literally overcome with tears of joy when the film finally forced me to let go and go with the flow. Bravo! Best and most enjoyable film I've seen this year in any language (This was, of course, in Hindi with good Hungarian subtitles)