PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA 2 (A)
Director: Luv Ranjan
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Sunny Singh, Omkar Kapoor, Sonnalli Seygall, Nushrat Bharucha, Ishita Raj
Running time: 136 minutes
In the middle of big movies with big budgets and big stars, there always comes a small film or two every year that springs the biggest surprise. In 2011, that was Pyaar Ka Punchnama. This year it’s Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2!
Luv Ranjan pulls it off yet again. And pulls it off better, delivering that rare sequel which ups the highs of the first film in every way.
The genius? A look at girls from the boys’ perspective where the boys are stereotypes while the girls are painted in varied hues with dark, sometimes very dark, tones. It’s a standard franchise genre in Hollywood but nobody does it here and does it this well.
So the three guys (Kartik Aaryan, Sunny Singh and Omkar Kapoor are Anshul, Siddharth and Tarun) drink beer, watch cricket and are desperate to date girls. The girls come with their purses of trouble. Ruchika (Nushrat Bharucha), it seems, imagines her life to be episodes from Sex and the City, parading around in designer clothes with her posse of girlfriends. Supriya (Sonnalli Seygall) is so welded to her parents that she cannot decide anything for herself. And Kusum (Ishita Raj) is the faux feminist who wants to split every bill her boyfriend pays but gradually siphons off his entire bank account.
When the guys initially start dating the girls, it’s all hunky-dory and all hanky-panky. But then strictly adhering to the format of the first film, they start suffocating in their love booths. The rom and the com soon disappear as the film again seeps into the scarily dark zone that mainstream Bollywood doesn’t want to tread. It’s misogynistic, lopsided and at times politically incorrect but oddly satisfying because the girls are allowed to explain themselves and have more than a shot at redemption.
Given it’s a guy movie, there’s quite a bit of skin show. The male gaze, though, is a tad too uncomfortable at times, especially in the early gym scene. But no complaints about the writing: The set-pieces are very cleverly penned with dialogues that slyly play to the galleries without sounding ludicrous.
The performances bring it all together. Kartik, the only male lead repeated from the first film, has that smashing almost-single-shot-nearly-breathless monologue. It runs longer than the first movie and “climaxes” early but the haath-se-shaadi-karlo soup tastes just fine after the dessert. Sunny also gets the graph right for his character who’s too blind in love to realise he’s being used. Omkar, perhaps cast for his abs, is the stiffest of the lot but still doesn’t stick out as a sore block of muscles.
All the three girls were in the first film and they have eased out a lot in this second outing. Nushrat is the pick of the lot, delightfully loud and nyaka. The music by Hitesh Sonik really hits the spot, whether it’s the songs or the score.
The thing is when a film gets it right, even if it’s anti-women, the women are the first to start clapping. Because every other Bollywood film preaches that men are dogs. But at least three dogs have their day every few years. And it’s okay to cheer for them.
Pratim D. Gupta
Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 is the big small film of the year because.... Tell t2@abp.in
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