Rating : 2/5
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 40 minutes
Director : Akiv Ali
Cast : Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Rakul Preet Singh, Alok Nath, Jimmy Shergill
Kid rating : PG-13
The bare bones: 50 year old London-based venture capitalist Ashish (Devgn) falls in love with 26 year old bartender/engineer Ayesha (Singh). He decides to introduce his new girlfriend to his estranged family and travels to Kulu-Manali where his ex-wife Manju (Tabu) runs the family resort. Confusion and chaos reign on arrival.
De De Pyar De is supposed to be a comedy, and I will admit that some of the jokes do land. But let me also say, that this kind of comedy makes me want to douse myself in a vat of feminism. The first couple of scenes gave me pause but the first half also gave me hope – the romance is nicely done. But then the twosome go home to family and the saga of perceived male victimhood begins.
Given that this is a Luv Ranjan production (he of Pyar ka Punchnama, Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety fame), I’d expected the misogyny to be omnipresent. But then you see some of the “depth”-laden scenes and you wonder to yourself – has Ranjan seen the light? Was one wrong about him all along? But as the veiled misogyny rises to the surface you realize – no, he hasn’t seen the light. One was quite right about him after all. De De Pyar De appears to be forward-thinking but its regressive notions are very much present.
The second half of “De De Pyar De” pits younger, prettier Ayesha against the mature, graceful first wife with metaphors about aging cars and ghar ki dal. The macho man in the middle cowers and squawks intermittently but mostly watches the proceedings.
Ranjan’s films seems to have a very lax standard for the bechara aadmi. In De De Pyar De’s first few scenes we are told that our hero is a principled man – he wouldn’t have sex with a drunk woman. Low bar that! After his divorce, Ashish has been out of his kids lives for years – no good reason presented as to why. Astonishingly no one but his daughter seems to have a problem with that. When he cheats on the woman in his life, he portrays it to said woman as an act of kindness towards another human being in her hour of need (pun intended).Despite all this caddishness the women are falling for him like nine pins. Wonders never cease.
Ashish’s parents live with his wife and seem to consider him at fault – which calls for a good eye-roll. Because, pop-quiz: Which parental unit actually sides with the daughter-in-law post-divorce? Answer: Not an Indian one. Stuff like this makes me want to categorize this film as a fantasy – a Ram-Rajya fantasy where the man (and his parents) are all saints being put upon by warring women fighting for a piece of the saintliness.
While I’ve always liked Devgn he isn’t too choosy with his roles. Tabu gives this film a touch of class, and Rakul Preet Singh is impressive as Ayesha. Jimmy Shergill is but a husk of his former self – the man deserves better than this eccentric side-hero wala gig. Really, I quite like the actors; just not the film.
Brave this fantasy at your own risk.
Kidwise: The tone of the film is problematic but younger kids may not catch that.
