Cast rises above story

BEHEN HOGI TERI Direction: Ajay Pannalal Actors: Rajkummar Rao, Shruti Haasan, Herry Tangri, Gulshan Grover Rating:

Lower your expectations before you sign on for Ajay Pannalal’s debut film. This is meant to be a light story about a boy from Lucknow named Gattu (Rajkummar Rao) and a girl named Binni (Shruti Haasan) who grow up together, fall in love, and run up against the “mohalle ki ladkiyan behen hoti hain” tradition. Herry Tangri plays Gattu’s friend Bhura who gets unwittingly caught in the comedic crossfire. This should have been a joyride, but the plot is poorly written.

Gattu is a loser who fails UPSC exam, which might have been forgivable in a hero; but also fails as a lover, which is certainly not.

He weasels his way into Binni’s house by becoming a sort of errand boy for the family. He doesn’t have the courage to talk to them about his relationship with Binni. Instead, the man starts a rumour that Binni and Bhura are having an affair.

By this time, you’ve pretty much lost all interest in the proceedings. It’s clear you’re going to be given nothing to invest in.

The dialogue is entertaining in parts. The cast is stellar — Rao, Gulshan Grover as Bhura’s dad, Ranjeet as Bhura’s uncle, Darshan Jariwala as Gattu’s dad and Ninad Kamat as Binni’s elder brother all rise above the dismal storyline . One star is for them.