2 States

Story:

2 States is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film directed by Abhishek Varman and produced by Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala. Based on Chetan Bhagat’s 2009 novel of the same name with the story rewritten by Varman and Bhagat, the film stars Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt with Amrita Singh, Ronit Roy, Revathi and Shiv Kumar Subramaniam in supporting roles.

PLOT

Krish Malhotra, a fresh engineer from IIT Delhi pursuing his MBA at IIM Ahmedabad, comes from an affluent Punjabi Hindu family based in New Delhi. His mother, Kavita, is in a troubled relationship with his alcoholic father, Vikram Malhotra, with whom he has strained relations. He is immediately smitten when he meets Ananya Swaminathan, a fellow student from a conservative Tamil Brahmin family in Chennai. When she tells him she wants to study with him, he agrees, and the two gradually become friends. After a minor pause in meeting her, Krish eventually confesses his feelings for her one night, and the two share a kiss. They begin dating and live together for the next few months on campus. Krish confides in Ananya that his real passion is writing, which he wants to pursue as a career. As the two attend their interviews on campus drives, Krish proposes to Ananya, and she gladly accepts. Krish gets selected for Yes Bank, while Ananya is selected for Sunsilk.

The couple attempts to introduce their parents to each other during their convocation ceremony, but to their dismay, a loud Kavita does not get along with Ananya’s reserved Tamil parents, Radha and Shiv. As Ananya joins her marketing job in Chennai, Krish returns to Delhi with the choice of his workplace in his hands. Kavita urges him to stay in Delhi and criticizes his relationship with Ananya, citing cultural differences and telling him to get into an arranged marriage with a Punjabi girl. There is still friction between Krish and Vikram, and much to his dysfunctional family‘s chagrin, Krish shifts his job to Chennai to stay in touch with Ananya.

During this time, Krish tries hard to win over Ananya’s family. Initially, her family disapproves of him, but gradually, he builds a rapport with the family. He tutors her younger brother Manjunath “Manju” Swaminathan for the IIT entrance exam, gets Radha an opportunity to sing for an event at his workplace, and helps Shiv create his first PowerPoint presentation. Before departing for New Delhi, Krish confesses his intentions to marry Ananya to her family, which everyone finally accepts. Krish and Ananya then travel to Delhi to win over his family. Similarly, Kavita and her family are initially hostile towards Ananya but come to like her after she publicly saves Krish’s cousin Minty’s wedding from being canceled due to a dispute over an excessive dowry. Krish reveals to Ananya that his bitterness towards Vikram was mainly because of his angry outbursts, which escalated one day when he hit him after he hit Kavita in an altercation, causing a strain on their relationship.

Krish and Ananya decide to take a vacation in Mumbai with their families before the wedding, hoping they will get to know each other better. However, the trip does not go as planned due to Kavita’s continuous remarks about their cultural differences. Furthermore, Ananya and her parents overhear Krish falsely assuring his mother she can treat Ananya however she wants after marriage. Having had enough of the insults, Ananya breaks up with Krish, and they go their separate ways. Krish becomes depressed and starts writing about his story with Ananya. He also visits her in Chennai, where she tells him to stop all communication. Later, he gets a call from Ananya, who reveals Vikram had secretly come down to Chennai to speak to her parents, apologizing for Kavita’s shallow behavior in an effort to change their decision. The two families finally come together to get the couple married in Chennai. At first, Vikram declines to attend the wedding to prevent any further embarrassment, but at the last minute, he flies down to Chennai and apologizes to Kavita for his abusive behavior over the years. After getting married, Ananya gives birth to twin boys. Krish resigns from his job at the bank and publishes his book, 2 States, based on his and Ananya’s lives.