Movie Review : Pyar ka Punchnama

Rating : 3/5
Genre : Drama, Comedy
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Luv Ranjan
Cast : Nusrat Bharucha, Raayo Bakhirta, Sonali Sehgal, Ishita Sharma, Divyendu Sharma, Kartikeya Tiwari, Padam Bhola
Kid rating : A

I went into this one with mixed reviews. My women friends dismissed it and the men found it entertaining. I’m somewhere in between.

For starters here is the story: Rajat, Nishaant and Vikraant are three young working professionals, single and rooming together. They are also very good friends. All three find nice girls – women they think they might be happy with. Rajat meets Neha, whom he moves in with. Nishaant, or Liquid, as he is known to his friends (as Rajat explains it – because itna phelta hai) meets an office newcomer – Charu. And Vikraant , or Chaudhari, meets Rhea who’s just coming off a bad relationship. There is the honeymoon period when all three have high hopes from their attachments. And then . . . Well then, the women turn into scheming witches.

Luv Ranjan directs with a firm hand. The friendship between the three guys is well-depicted; there is warmth and camaraderie, cheeky leg-pulling, as well as support and concern. Divyendu is quite fantastic as the desperate-for-female-company Liquid. He is also the joker of the group, and has some great dialogues ribbing Rajat as “Rajjo Rani”. Kartikeya Tiwari is believable as gentle-souled Rajat, who when upset goes on a 6 minute all-in-one-big-breath must-see diatribe against these oh-so-fickle women. And Raayo Bakhirta is macho Chaudhari. He lives in his underwear (except when he gets spiffy to meet Rhea), fiddles around with his guitar, or rides his bike/jeep. Out of the girls, Bharucha and Sharma do well; Sehgal can’t really act, so she pouts and makes a moue when she is out of expressions.

Yes, the characters are defined well – you get that. There is also a tangible story (however unbelievable it might be), told fairly decently. And there ends my applause. Because there is a big flaw in the story, and that for me takes this film from could-have-been-great to very ordinary. We have three golden-hearted lads, in love with three mean, manipulative females. There is Charu (Ishitta Sharma) – who’s an A-grade user; she uses Divyendu’s genuine concern for her as her support system, and throws it in his face when she has no need for it. Petite Neha (Nushrat Bharucha) is sweetness and light when she gets her way; when she doesn’t Rajat hides (and so do we). Rhea (Sonali Sehgal) is foxy but flighty; she strings Chaudhari along, but isn’t quite sure whether she’s done with her ex.

Now, there are not-nice girls, just as there are not-nice guys – that is just how it is. Sometimes nice girls get hitched to nasty men, and sometimes it’s the reverse. But in this film, Ranjan presents us with a scenario where three doodh-ke-dhule, innocent, I’m-so-good-I-could-be-an-angel guys get stuck with three, yes, three vixenish shrews; it’s like they planned this stuff! What amazes me is how/why this otherwise talented director loses his objectivity so completely in the second half of the movie. I have two theories :

1. A girl broke his heart big time (Sob! Poor baby!). And this is his reply to the female population in general, and that one female in particular.
2. He can see the skewed story-line but goes with it anyway, in the interests of outrageous farce.

I’m going with #1, BTW.

Now, comedy aside, I’ve got to say that this film is misogynistic in it’s treatment of women. Why ? Because we live in a patriarchal society. In Hindi films, boys-will-be-boys while women had better be pativrata naris or else . . . In Bollywood movies, men, married men are philanderers wanting ek gharwali and ek baharwali, who are portrayed as just innocent boys acting out their fantasies – you know the types who never meant any harm even when they were actively cheating on their wives (See this and this and this for more examples of this genre). In reel and real life, where females are reviled and ostracized for just plain not-toeing-the-line-of-expected-womanliness, it is disturbing to see such skewed portrayals.

This, then, is a mediocre film. I hope for a better one from this promising director the next time around. I’m also hoping that he gets over his angst and finds a believable script for his next film; it would be a shame to lose this filmi flair for want of some objectivity!