Abhi Tak Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani & The Art Of Perfecting A Desi Rom-Com

The 2013 Ayan Mukerji directorial is a rom-com that is not just a love story, but a celebration of youth, friendship, and self-discovery, Swetha Ramakrishnan writes.

A BESPECTACLED, INTROVERTED YOUNG WOMAN. A brash, handsome and extroverted young man. A moving train. A connection formed by looking into each others’ eyes. The young man asks the young woman to take a leap of faith, he reaches out his hand, asks her to clasp onto it, and she makes a jump for it, into his arms.

This isn’t a scene from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, but actually, the first meeting between our lead pair, Ranbir Kapoor as Bunny and Deepika Padukone as Naina Talwar, in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Ayan Mukherji’s second film with Ranbir Kapoor, after Wake Up Sid, released in 2013 with much pomp and buzz, and smashed the box office. There’s so much to love about the film: the chemistry, between not just the lead pair — but uff, what chemistry, the songs that are still relevant at weddings today, the memorable dialogues, the fashion statements and my favourite character of the movie, Kunaal Roy Kapoor as Taran, Aditi (Kalki Koechlin)’s fiance.

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But when the film released over a decade ago, I walked out of the theatre dismissing it. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was nursing a horrible hairline fracture on my heel, but that’s a story for another ruminative essay. I watched the film with a friend who was equally into masaledaar Bollywood rom-coms, and our bar has always been really low, but something felt very repetitive about the film. Like I’d seen versions of the same movie many times before. “And Ranbir Kapoor’s character is such a man-child, ugh,” I remember pronouncing.

Well, I’m happy to report that I have been proven wrong, because as I watched the film on the big screen, again, in 2024, I thoroughly enjoyed myself despite several callbacks to many, many Bollywood romance films. Ranbir’s Bunny is still a certified man-child, but the scenes that seemed repetitive to me back then brought warm, nostalgic feelings today, of a time in Bollywood when romance was the go-to genre for mainstream cinema (and not multi-starrer “action” like it is today). The theatre I watched the movie in was packed with young, 20-somethings who were mouthing the dialogues before they could even be said by the characters, who danced to all the songs (including wavy hand gestures at Ilahi) and hooted every time Ranbir and Deepika shared a frame.

As the iconic film re-released in theatres, here’s an opportune moment to mull over why it was such a massive box-office success in its original run, and what has changed in the years since that has made the rom-com genre less viable today.

Dharma is no stranger to successful rom-coms, and you can accuse them of using the same formulae in all their films, but you can’t fault the entertainment factor, from K3G, 2 States to Humpty Sharma/Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Kapoor & Sons and many more. In the early 2010s, they were able to balance a visual grammar that enthralled young people at the time along with universal mass appeal that cut across generations. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a perfect example of this balance, as it champions a rom-com that was not just a love story, but a celebration of youth, friendship, and self-discovery.

What YJHD managed to get a hold of was its ability to tap into universal themes of growing up while still maintaining an idealised, relatable depiction of relationships, romantic or otherwise. Rahul Desai points out in this essay for The Hollywood Reporter India, how the ending of the film seems like a stretch, and this writer agrees. But an unlikely hero-heroine pair ending up together against all odds was always a part of the plan. It’s what most of Bollywood is made of.

The film’s portrayal of the challenges of balancing career aspirations with personal desires resonated with the millennial generation, offering a storyline that felt both aspirational and familiar. Turns out, a decade later, it resonates with Gen Z too. The film’s catchy music, stunning visuals, and well-timed comic moments (even if a bit dated today) have stood the test of time. I have seen this film multiple times on cable TV and streaming platforms, but as I watched it unravel on the big screen, the emotions still felt fresh. Farooque Sheikh still made me cry, all these years later.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani epitomised the sense of nostalgia and adventure that the rom-com genre thrives on. It wasn’t just about love; it was about the choices we make along the way and the realisation that life is about living in the moment. Or so Bunny said, again and again. The timing of YJHD's release was another reason for its success. It tapped into the emerging trend of destination-based cinema, with scenic shots of places like Manali, Udaipur and Paris giving the film a dreamy and aspirational quality that appealed to audiences seeking both visual and emotional escape.

However, in the years following the film’s release, the rom-com genre saw a gradual decline in popularity, almost altering the landscape of what constitutes “mainstream” today. The death of the romance genre as a popular, mass-appealing fall-back can be attributed to many factors, including changing audience preferences, the rise of streaming platforms, and an inclination to more hard-hitting narratives. Digital platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ Hotstar have further alienated the romance genre as they have opened up a broader range of content options from across the globe, giving audiences access to better quality genre content. This makes it harder for mainstream Bollywood rom-coms to exist only based on cliches and predictable formulas.

And that’s why the nostalgia of watching Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani hit me hard. I doubt we’re going to see Ranbir Kapoor sport dialogues like, “Main udna chahta hai, daudna chahta hoon, girna bhi chahta hoon, bas rukna nahi chahta,” (especially as daddy dearest to Raha). Pritam’s top-notch soundtrack seems tailor-made for those characters, that film, and never to be replicated again. Kalki Koechlin had a great run being a part of glamorous big, budget films playing memorable characters (rock-chick-meets-stuffy-fiance in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) and Aditya Roy Kapur has been sucked into a meticulous PR machine that is determined to make him a leading man. 2013 was a glorious year, and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani was a large part of it.

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