Saans-bahu serial with a twist? Here, Buddy Vs Bahu replaces the archetypal warring duo
Director Luv Ranjan has been playing the male-victimization card and his ‘hatke’ take on modern-day relationships to good effect right from 2011- s...read more
Director Luv Ranjan has been playing the male-victimization card and his ‘hatke’ take on modern-day relationships to good effect right from 2011- starting with his sleeper hit series, Pyar ka punchanama (1 & 2) and now in his rom-com drama, "Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety". In his latest flick, he sticks to the main leads from his previous movies, with Kartik Aryan donning the cape of the heroic savior-bro, Sonu, whose sole goal in life seems to be to prevent his chaddi-buddy from falling for the “wrong” girl, and Nushrat Bharucha seemingly resuming the role of the manipulative shrew, Sweety from where she left off in the PKP series. Sunny Nijar plays the naïve, affable Titu, who is caught between the perennial dilemma of the modern dude - or atleast that’s what the producer-director-screenplay writer, Luv Ranjan would like to have you believe – ‘Pyaar ya Yaar?’. So previously where we had movies with the male protagonist torn between his love for his ma and biwi, here we have the modern version of it with the ‘Ma ki mamta’ factor being replaced with ‘Dost ka bromance’! That said, the plot follows pretty much the same track as a saans-bahu serial – only difference being instead of the warring saans-bahus here we have Romance Vs Bromance.
The supporting cast mostly make up the rest of Titu’s and Sweety’s familys. Here special mention must be made of Aloknath & Virendra Saxena who essay the role of Titu’s grandfather & his manservant. The usually sanskaari duo, (esp. Alok Nath, who has got stereotyped to the extent of getting memed in the sanskaari pita/ uncle/ father-in-law mould!) are an absolute delight with their distinctly refreshing, unsanskaari dialogues and act. When the to-and-fro, getting-even game between the protagonists begins to drag, they bring in the much-needed respite with their effortless humour amidst the frequently forced, cliched proceedings. Because after a while that is what the story boils down to- endless, relentless bouts of one-upmanship between the bro-yaar and the would-be bahu. So, although initially it is fun, even bringing in spontaneous bursts of laughter, eventually when one realizes that that is all the movie is about, it tends to grate, till the point that one no longer cares who finally wins this extended, elaborate "tu-tu-main-main" session!
Nevertheless, that the movie resonated big-time with today’s movie-going public was evident from the cheers and whistles the dialogues drew from the masses in the theatre (mostly of the male variety- no surprises there), and if that wasn’t evidence enough, one may take note of the fact that it went on to become one of the top grossers of 2018!
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