Packs a punch, if you can ignore the misses
Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2
Director: Luv Renjen
Actors: Omkar Kapoor, Sunny Singh Nijjar, Kartik Aaryan
Rating: ***
This ‘dick pic’ (as against a chick flick) is what you would quintessentially call a ‘laundon wali’ film. I use ‘laundon’ here after much mulling because no other word more aptly describes true-blue Delhi boys, even in their self-perception.
Just to give you further sense of the bro-code, these are guys who quite often refer to themselves as ‘bhai’ in third person, especially when bragging, “Dekh, aaj tere bhai ne kya kamaal kiya hai!” And everyone else is ‘bro’ or ‘bhai’ as well, “Dekh, bhai. Bhai nahin hai kya?”
They are usually very good-looking, well-built, well-dressed North Indian men, often driving expensive wheels at night. But they’re most comfortable in male company. The female form usually messes with their Zen. Gradually they begin to view the world as an unfair divide between silly, bitchy, yappy girls who have their way, and weak men, like them,who chase them still.
If you haven’t met any of these good fellas before, this film is a great place to strike a quick acquaintanceship. The writer-director of this movie, I notice, is called Luv, named after the son of Ram, rather than English for pyaar, ishq and mohabbat, for sure. The level of catharsis here is so strong that love and relationships might turn you off for good if you believe any of the things the guys in this movie are going through.
The only sense you get is that they’ve been nurturing grudges their whole life for a day when they can take their complete ‘bhadaas’ out through a script, or a film. Which is great. At least it’s self-expression.
The three boys here, almost at the same time,begin to date three really hot women. The seriousness begins soon after the seduction is over. Along the way we explore various thorns in the rose-stem. And some of them are such recognisable urban themes: the idea of the girl’s best boyfriend, who she’s given her heart to, and the girlfriends who rule her head; the uncomfortable concept of whether or not you split the bill at the bar or restaurant; and technology, more so (SMS, Whatsapp etc.) that can enhance and destroy the best of relationships.
Is this a hugely original movie? About a bunch of guys, in their mid-20s, sharing a bachelor pad, in Delhi? It’s almost a template. Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) though developed a cult of its own, which explains this second part.
That one had a really fine actor (Divyendu Sharma), who I thought was being terribly let down by others in the cast. One of whom, Kartik Aaryan—who’s been repeated in this sequel—got to deliver a heartfelt monologue on women and relationships that struck a chord with the frustrated young. It went viral on YouTube. He delivers a similarly long monologue in this picture as well. The co-actors this time however (Omkar Kapoor, Sunny Singh Nijjar) seem far more sorted.
Pyar Ka Punchnama, I felt, was wonderfully suited for a TV show, along the lines of Friends, How I Met Your Mother etc. There was nothing on Indian TV to benchmark it against. Here’s what’s changed only over the past four years.
If you shred this film of its general Bollywoodgiri: random frills, pointless item songs, locations that look so totally fake, and women who act like they’re only posing for the camera, this would make for a fabulous web series. And God knows I mean that as a compliment.
You only have to see some of the local work happening on the Internet (TVF’s Pitchers, YRF’s Man’s World etc.) to know what I’m talking about. Like this film, they’re fun, relatable, and so well written.
Is this also misogynistic? Hell yeah. But it’s comedy. So as a woman (or a man) if you’re deeply offended, I’m sorry the joke’s really on you. All I can see from this seat is a handsome wide-eyed launda in Delhi,sitting in a small group with his legs up, looking at the screen, going, “Bhai, baat dil se kahi hai. Chhoo gayi!”