In last year's wedding caper Band Baaja Baaraat (Bands Ring in Revelry), newcomer Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma shared an easy camaraderie. The pair's infectious rapport, which they seemingly fed off each other, translated beautifully on to the big screen.
The film was the year's surprise hit. It turned Singh into an overnight star and sent a fresh-faced Sharma on her way to the Bollywood A-List.
In an attempt to bank on that success, Band Baaja Baaraat's debutant director Maneesh Sharma has brought the pair together again for Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, the story of a con man who targets women using his charm and goodlooks and then becomes the target of his own victims.
But the movie, which premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival on Thursday, unfortunately suffers from lack of originality and is painfully slow-paced and predictable.
With a premise that smacks of the 2006 Hollywood film John Tucker Must Die, Ladies… sees Singh play a number of characters - a fitness instructor, an art dealer and an out of luck cloth merchant - who travels the country to cheat women of money and then escape with the loot.
After publicly humiliating Raina Parulekar, played by the glamorous model Dipannita Sharma, in a faux art deal, Parulekar is contacted by Dimple Chaddha (Parineeti Chopra) and Saira Rashid (Aditi Sharma), both previous victims. The three then track him down and hatch a plan to get back all their money. For this, they hire smooth-talking sales woman Ishika Desai (Sharma), who agrees to help them for a price.
Promoted as a rom com, you could tell from a mile away what happens next. But director Sharma takes his own time getting there, pausing for song sequences - like his and her songs to introduce the leads - while you shuffle in your seat patiently, hoping he will spring a surprise or two.
They never come.
And that's not all. Despite its sluggish pace and predictability, the script is so full of loose ends some audiences are bound to feel insulted. While the sheer gullibility of the victims is frustrating, it is hard to believe how a man who boasts to have conned 31 women, could so quickly and so easily fall for the trap set for him.
Singh tries his best to smooth over the rough script but in vain. While we loved him for his innocence and easy charm in Band…, his transformation from con man to con man is neither convincing nor refreshing. Sharma though holds her own, eliciting as much range as is required of her, which is really not a lot.
There's not much to write home about the music either.
The film's only saving grace comes in the form of Chopra, actress Priyanka Chopra's cousin, who gets the film's best lines - and in turn, the only laughs. That, and the gratuitous shots of a topless Singh frolicking in a Goan beach, or that of Sharma in a one-piece bikini lounging in a pool are just about the best bits in this uninspired rom com.
