Gippi Review

One Line Review: An innocent and sweet journey like a dollop of Rasgulla, which will make you remember your teenage.

Positive Points: Flawless Script, Excellent character performances, Amazing direction, Well-knitted storyline containing a stirring social message, Great confidence builder.

Negative Points: Unmemorable music, the story becomes slow like a turtle at some point of time.

Plot: Gurpreet Kaur (Riya Vij), a 14-years old teenager studies in ninth standard in Shimla-based St. Mary's school. Gurpreet, who is called as Gippi, is a very bubbly girl with a sweet nature. She stays with her mother, Pappi, who runs a parlour (Divya Dutta) and younger brother Booboo (Arbaz Kadwani). Her mother is a single parent. The father of Gippi thinks of another woman to settle with.

Gippi is going through a very crucial and delicate phase of her life. She is fat, non-performer and child. As Gippi thinks, these personality traits make her unpopular in the school. This thing takes her to the feeling of being a big looser. In a party, she meets a boy called 'Arjun' (Taaha Shah). Gippi unknowingly starts developing liking towards him. Gippi feels that her life is taking a different turn. But, another party proves an eye-opener for her, as she comes to know that Arjun is interested only in friendship with her and is not in love with her. This incident shocks her to a huge extent. The other thing that makes Gippi constantly upset is her parents' split and she strongly intends to build a happy family once again comprising of her parents, brother and herself.

The schoolmate of Gippi, Shamira (Jayati Modi) bullies Gippi on each and everything when Shamira sees her. This harassment by Shamira fuels Gippi's desire to be like her and Gippi decides to give Shamira a strong fight during school elections. What will be Gippi's next move?

Will Gippi be able to change the game by winning school elections?

Will Gippi bring together her parents again?

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: A very sweet, simple and touchy story presented by the director Sonam Nair. This is something to which we can easily relate with, in one thing or the other. The film makes one remember earlier movies like 'Rockford', as it shares a pinch of similarity with 'Gippi'. The director has very sensitively handled the topic and unfolded its minute aspects very tenderly keeping its realism intact. There has been a very good portrayal of Gippi's mother, who stands as a pillar for both the children as well as suffocates with the feeling of separation from her husband. The story becomes a bit sluggish reaching at certain points. However, a strong script lends a great support to it. The director has supplied smooth shades to each character in the movie and it is reflected in the movie.

The movie 'Gippi' provides its viewers an excessive sweet dose at some points. The Shammi Kapoor songs sprinkle an oldies touch to the film. The second part of the film touches the hearts of viewers the most. Unlike, a typical Karan Johar star-studded glossy movie, 'Gippi' wins the race with a strong and realistic content. The camera work in the film is worth appreciation.

Performance: The lead star 'Gippi', Riya Vij plays her part with a great degree of confidence and cuteness. No need to say Divya Dutta played her role with an immense grace and sans dullness for a single moment. Jayati Modi undoubtedly plays a dashing and excellent little villain, unleashing her darker side to Gippi.

Taaha Shah performed very well portraying a stylish teenager and looked stunning in his role. Arbaz Kidwani essayed his role very conveniently and too much realistically. Mrinal Chawla provides a good support. Pankaj Dheer has once again proved that he can suit well in his respective role. Raqesh Vashisth, who plays the role of Gippi's Chemistry teacher, leaves a print of viewers' mind, though he appears onscreen for a fraction of second.

Music: It would have been a cherry on the cake if the music in the movie designed by Vishal-Shekhar was memorable and could dilute with film's overall flow. But, the brighter side of it can be said that the scenes in the film are so meaningful that one can easily ignore the song playing behind it. Albeit, the tracks like 'Pehn Di Takki', 'Babby Doll' and 'Dil Kaagzi' were the good ones.

Final Verdict: A must-watch for every parent to have a bird's eye view of the delicate phases taking place in children's physical and mental being. The strong content overrides the flaws of the film like productiveness and slowliness of the storyline. In a nutshell, we would conclude it as a bundle of joy awaiting you to unfold it with delicacy.