Selling a film as a “tribute to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” seems like a pretty mediocre idea. Several films have tried to recreate the DDLJ magic since Raj and Simran’s love story wooed us nearly 20 years ago, and the clichés and the familiarity have gotten slightly annoying. Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania projected itself as old wine in new bottle up, and that’s never really an inviting proposition. However, director Shashank Khaitan’s debut film keeps afloat due to some smart lines and breezy humour, and the camaraderie between its two endearing leads, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt.

Dhawan – fresh from Main Tera Hero – dives headlong into Humpty’s world as the “iklauta waris (sole inheritor) of Vidya Book Centre”, who falls for the girl from Ambala, Kavya (Bhatt). Kavya is about to get hitched to an NRI she hasn’t met but who is deemed perfect by her doting father, Singh. Ashutosh Rana, who takes over from Amrish Puri as the intimidating patriarch, is wonderfully cast, bringing the film alive every step of the way. He’s unlike the DDLJ Bauji though. Rough-edged and gangster-like, he seems like a guy who can cause a lot more pain than Bauji’s barrage of slaps did to Raj. And Rana shows us why we need him in our films more often.

Kavya, on the other hand, is a Parineeti Chopra-prototype – feisty and blunt. Europe is replaced with Delhi, where she goes looking for a “designer lehenga” that would cost no less than 5 lakh rupees. It’s all pretty mundane till interval point – Humpty and Kavya fall in love, there’s a lot of Band Baaja Baaraat-ish banter, some pretty insipid songs follow (very unlike other films made by Dharma Productions, where song-and-dance gets adequate importance) and Kavya heads back to her impending wedding.

Several film plots merge in the second half, starting with a Maine Pyar Kiya-inspired interaction between Humpty and Singh, who keeps Humpty hanging around the house till the wedding. Singh is convinced Humpty will bow out of the race after he meets the more appropriate dulha contender, Angad (Siddharth Shukla, forgettable), and puts him through the grind in true Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya-fashion. Unlike Raj’s daft and unlikable nemesis in DDLJ, Angad is Prince Charming – not just a perfectly good-looking, well-earning doctor, but also great in the kitchen. In an inspired moment, Kavya’s grandmother announces Angad is best for Kavya because his “angrez” habits allow him to cook nice meals, unlike typical Indian men who put their legs up and want to be pampered all the time.

There’s little in terms of craft to impress you here, and Khaitan relies mostly on his actors to deliver the goods. Thankfully for him, Dhawan and Bhatt are extremely efficient, the former’s goofy charm and the latter’s girlishly attractive demeanour keeping you engaged for most part. While Dhawan looks set to enjoy a long innings as a quintessential Bollywood “hero” who can play to the gallery at will, Bhatt’s willingness to mix up her roles in films like Highway, 2 States and now Humpty makes her a promising young actor. Humpty’s two friends, played by Sahil Vaid and Gaurav Pandey, provide some cheap laughs, and the film ends on an expected note.

What saves Humpty Sharma is that unlike other formulaic love stories set amid burgeoning families and wedding shenanigans, it spells out its references, and constantly hat-tips iconic Hindi cinema moments from the ’90s. It reminds you that, sometimes, dal chawal is sufficient, and if you are looking for some comfort food this weekend, you probably won’t mind a helping of Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. The film took its time to grow on me but by the time Singh looked at Humpty with long-last affection and said “Jee le apni zindagi” (instead of saying it to Kavya), I knew the time spent on the film wasn’t wasted.