The plight of men in relationships has many a times been a fodder for comic scenes/ tracks in Bollywood movies but never has there been a full-fledged venture dedicated specially for them. Pyaar ka Punchnama (PKP) is an ode to all those guys who someday or the other regretted being in a relationship. Sure, the female brigade will not be happy with the one dimensional (read mean) depiction of women in this movie, but what the hell, somewhere we all know that the situations shown here are not entirely removed from reality.
So what is PKP exactly about. Don’t let the promos fool you, because it is not a cheesy sex comedy. Neither is it a date movie. PKP is a pure fun movie which rides heavily on great dialogues and great performances. Rajat ( Kartik Tiwari), Chaudhary (Raayo Bakhirta) and Nishant aka Liquid (Divyendu) are three close buddies still to experience the bitter-sweetness of a relationship. So while Rajat gets committed to Neha (Nushrat Barucha) who starts controlling and manipulating him, Chaudhary gets involved with the ‘over-friendly’ Ria (Sonalli Sehgal) who doesn’t seem to let go of her ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile Liquid falls for his colleague Charu (Ishita) who is already in a long distance relationship and doesn’t exactly define her stance with Liquid thereby giving him mixed signals. So the once ‘gali ke sher‘ go on to become ‘ghar ke kutte‘ with each having to put up with their respective gals’ tantrums.
Luv Ranjan’s debut turns out to be really good with he being successful in hitting the bull’s eye most of the times. The dialogues are amazing and the most important factor contributing to why this movie ends up being likable. Sure he does end up stereotyping women as mean, conniving selfish bitches but his execution of the script makes you gloss over that part. Some scenes are funny, some down-right hilarious. The best in the entire movie, watch out for the five minute monologue by one of the leads Rajat on the ways women emotionally manipulate and argue with their mates! Hitting the nail right on spot, all men (and quite a few women) were seen nodding their heads and clapping as he finally put in words what many guys have been wanting to say since years. The movie does tend to drag in the middle and some of the scenes end up being repetitive. Editing could have been a bit tighter and the viewer tends to start losing his interest a bit, especially when the second half takes a turn towards being emotional. Also only Rajat’s story seems to have a good conclusive end. It would have been good if both Liquid’s and Chaudhary’s character were seen finally speaking up and giving the girls what they truly deserve but that never happens. Music is pretty decent with Hitesh Soni, Clinton Cerejo and the director himself (track ‘Kutta‘) having kept the feel of the movie in mind while composing the tracks.
Performances are good but among all the newcomers in the movie, Nusrat and Divyendu tend to stand out with their performances. Nusrat, who was already seen earlier in a track in Love, Sex aur Dhoka, does wonders as the controlling girlfriend Neha who manages to irk you with their growing tantrums. Nusrat perfectly fits the role and plays her part well as the now sweet-now nagging lover. Divyendu as the friend who ends up being used is marvelous and his change from a short tempered, foul mouthed guy to a meek, heart-broken person is too good – you end up feeling sorry for the guy. Kartik is pretty ok; his baby looks work for this character but he does need to improve his acting a bit. Raayo has a constant look on his face but then it could be because of his serious, less talking character he plays. Ishita is fine – she could do better – and Sonalli doesn’t get to show much as far as her acting skills are concerned, but then again she is perfect for the role.
Luv Ranjan’s PKP may not be a path-breaking movie but it is definitely one of the better, non-hyped movies to have come this year. No doubt he will be successful in winning over the guys with this one – probably a first for a rom-com. Guys, this is one such movie which you shouldn’t miss. Gals, watch this if you have it in you to accept the guy’s point of view.
