Choreographer-turned-director Remo D'Souza can sure set the stage on fire but isn't quite the storyteller, notes Sukanya Verma.
Abhishek Bachchan is shaping into quite a father figure.
From playing one to his real-life 'Paa' Amitabh Bachchan wherein the latter's progeria condition ages him dramatically to the point of infirmity, an estranged dad of a precocious kid he reunites with under curious circumstances in Ludo, a divorced daddy surviving medical issues of the life-threatening kind while navigating a bumpy relationship with his daughter in I Want to Talk to a single dad of a smart-alecky princess harbouring dancer dreams in Be Happy, Abhishek has embarked on quite a few journeys where his parenting skills are put to test.
Unlike the textbook Papas trickling with emotional wisdom and snuggly warmth, Abhishek's silently supportive approach, playful sarcasm and sparingly expressed authority conveys a father figuring it out as he goes along.
All these traits colour his portrayal of Shiv Rastogi, a Ooty banker raising his school-going daughter, Dhara (Inayat Verma) at their hillside home along with his father-in-law (an exuberant Nassar) since the passing of his wife (a blink-and-miss Harleen Sethi) eight years earlier.
It's the usual scene of banter and bonhomie between Shiv objecting and relenting to Dhara's demands, a boisterous grandpa flirting away to no avail while dressing up in cartoon-printed pyjama suits and an over smart, cute child, aged somewhere between 8 to 10, dreaming of taking spotlight on stage like one of those uber talented kids of reality dance shows on TV.
At a competition in school, dancing idol Maggi (Nora Fatehi, superb moves, ordinary acting) not only shows faith in Dhara's star-in-the-making prowess but also offers to train her in Mumbai for participation in India's Superstar Dancer.
Expectedly, Dhara wants it more than anything in the world but daddy dearest disapproves.
He's sceptical about the whole thing and would have her rather focus on studies, which isn't all that unreasonable given how hefty school fees are these days and the nature of early fame and its impact on an impressionable mind.
He tries to talk her out by warning how she'll end up dancing in functions or making rotis at home instead of becoming a career woman like her deceased mum.
Despite such clumsily conveyed odds, Shiv agrees to accompany Dhara and help her realise her dancing queen dreams and jump back into the dating game while he's at it.
Cut to the chase, Maggi is on the app.
Remo coyly treads on the said romance preferring to hint than highlight.
Between matchbox sized homes, eerie security guards and young children chatting up like adults and proposing combo reels, Mumbai's culture shock is lost on starry-eyed Dhara as well as her clueless papa.
Choreographer-turned-director Remo D'Souza can sure set the stage on fire but isn't quite the storyteller.
A can of worms about lost innocence and the stressful impact of pursuing glamourous stakes early on in life is waiting to be opened, which Remo side steps to endorse a world known to romanticise the exploitation of childhoods.
Since nuance is the last thing Dhara's spurting stardom has on its mind, everything is too hunky-dory to bother with a balanced insight into the pros and cons of nursing such ambitions.
Turns out, Remo has a lot more Dard Ka Rishta than Secret Superstar on his mind as Be Happy's slice of spirit spirals into survival.
Not competition but another C-word poses a challenge before the father-daughter duo against a usual pattern of stereotypical sentimentality and manipulative melodrama.
Giving into reckless impulses that favour a parent's willingness to endanger their child's health for fulfilling a wish and justifying it with divine intervention is telling of Be Happy's philosophy and Remo's filmmaking.
Both leave a lot to be desired.
Ultimately, it is Abhishek's restraint that controls Be Happy's urges to go overboard even as Inayat's charms threaten to do its exact opposite. Pretty apt for a father-daughter jodi, isn't it?
Be Happy streams on Amazon Prime Video.
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