Director: Anuj SainiActors: Sparsh Walia, Sargun Kaur Luthra, Kunal VaidRating: 3.5 stars
I love the fact that among the three leads in this film — friends since school, dealing with subsequent drudgery of an entry-level, corporate-executive existence — is an equally recognisable woman (Sargun Kaur Luthra).
She provides a counterpoint to this movie — protecting it, hence, from a typically gabru-jawan, ‘laundon wali’ romcom that could veer towards a sex comedy, instead.
Or, which is more likely, merely a catharsis for tone-deaf men, henpecked by the opposite gender — most of whom, they believe, are a bunch of unfair nags, anyway.
The movie’s gaze is at least partially female — although just as sexualised, once you consider there are as many close-ups of naked men as you may find in a Nat Geo doc on Kumbh mela.
But, of course, these are much better-looking jocks, plus bikinis. This is a brightly lit, young, candy-crush romance, after all.
The said girl, and the two guys (Sparsh Walia, Kunal Vaid), live sit-com Friends style, as platonic flat-mates in NCR. Which, I suppose, is the future of relationships. Given that marriage as an institution is fading, if not legitimately getting delayed, from most urban lives.
She feels “sookhi”, overdependent on “VPIN” (euphemism for internet porn) — loveless, luckless, basically. As do her two male friends.
Whether or not reluctantly, they head together to their school’s reunion, which kicks off the film’s plot — inevitable marriage, and hummable songs, are somewhat central to it still, making this very much a ‘Bollywood’ pic, as we’ve known and loved them to be.
I also enjoyed the trigger to this plot about three younglings searching for their supposed first love/lust, back in school.
Good ol’ Rajkummar Rao makes a kind cameo at a random wedding, dunking himself in drinks — pissed that he never got to confess to his crush, who’s sitting right behind on the stage as the bride. What good is the goddamn “ektarfa pyaar,” he bemoans.
The film argues, making the first move — despite dangers of imminent rejection — is a bit like buying lottery. If you don’t pick it up, you’ll certainly never win! I know it doesn’t work like that.
Likewise, there’s a fine distinction made in the movie, between commitment and relationship, which is a bit like a secure government job, versus contractual employment.
Or about how being hot is a curse — nobody seeks anything long-term, everybody wishes to touch and go. All these nuggets could sound reasonable or dubious; depends.
It’s these trivial/‘sutli’ truth bombs, usually delivered without an explosion, and through cheery characters alone, that give romcoms the lightness of being relatable. It doesn’t matter how old you are for it. You’re every age you’ve been!
What happens to the two guys and the girl, who meet two girls (Alisha Chopra, Sakshi Vaidya), and a guy (Tushar Chibber) — from the same batch in school, nestled in the mountains, with hardly a social life outside; yet, somehow, they barely seem to know each other, wearing name tags at the reunion — is the stuff of the film’s story. Too much backstory ain’t essential.
How old are they? I’m guessing in their late 20s/early 30s, for a board, you notice, that suggests they graduated in 2014, and that they call sex clips, MMS! What draws you to them, and therefore the film?
It’s really the minor banter, quick repartees, and most crucially, the fact that the debutant director (Anuj Saini) knows how to freeze/frame the big moments, bearing the kinda film in mind. Take that moment the hero (Sparsh) and the heroine (Sakshi) first kiss in the back of a moving bus.
I lose memory of how many humbug Hindi romcoms we’ve sat through, lately, assuming the genre is dead — what with conflict in romance itself progressively fading, as it were. I don’t agree.
All of the aforementioned cast is brand-new — catching your attention, through and through. God knows, we could do with even more fresh faces on the desi big screen. None get there. Bollywood’s eternally romancing oldies started out, similarly. But who’s to invest?
The film’s co-writer and producer, Luv Ranjan (Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, 2023), obviously, holds a post-doctorate in this specie of young cinema.
He similarly debuted as director with Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) that developed its own cult over time. I thought young Divyenndu Sharma was the best actor in that lot; Kartik Aaryan became the star.
Who’s to say about Pehla Pyaar Doosri Baar, besides wish them equally well. Yeah, I know, it’s still kinda about f-bois and clingy females, no? But, hey, it’s just such frickin’ unpretentious fun!
