'Sanskari babuji' aka Alok Nath is not sanskari anymore. He isn’t looking for a perfect bahu, not raising kids who are idealistic as per Hindi film standards, he is not lecturing on what's right and should be followed as a rule, neither is he spending time in puja-paath. Instead, he is drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes secretly, craving for non-vegetarian delicacies, swearing as hell and doesn't mind dancing with a bikini-clad young girl who has enough chances to become his granddaughter-in-law.
After a few occasional smaller stints to change his image of the sanskari father, he seems to have finally landed a role that may pull him out of the typecasting that has happened since forever.
In director Luv Ranjan's, what is being called a bromantic comedy, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety—that is one of the most novel things. Novelty, however, isn’t the film’s strength if looked at in totality. The two lead actors – Kartik Aaryan (as Sonu) and Nushrat Bharucha (as Sweety) – have collaborated with the director for the fourth time in his fourth directorial venture. It is Sunny Singh's (Titu) third film with the director after Akaash Vani (2013) and Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015). Singh, however, is the only one to have got lucky with Ranjan—getting to do characters that are different from each other.
Even if not pitted against each other in a romantic set-up like other times, Aaryan and Bharucha, try too hard to keep their parts as close to what they did in their first and third, Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011) and the sequel—playing a man who has no faith in women as romantic partners and playing a nagging woman trying to control the man in her life. They both do it well, with enough conviction. But alas, they end up looking like Nath of many years—reprising the same role in all films. No change in graph, tone, or even their looks. Oh wait, did Aaryan open more buttons of his shirt this time around? Guess he did.
At the beginning of the film, there is an unsuccessful attempt to repeat Aaryan’s eloquence in delivering monologues. Remember the long rant against women in PKP which immediately clicked with the youngsters; the sequel, too, had one, albeit a little shorter. This time it is not against women, rather against a bride’s father trying to bring down the expenses of the wedding.
Sonu and Titu have been friends since the time they were four. They are inseparable, have always done most of the things together. They run a successful event management company in Delhi. And even if they have grown up together, they are poles apart. Sonu is street-smart, Titu is innocent or may we call dumb. Sonu has no faith in romantic collusion, Titu can’t survive without one. And that’s why he decides to go for an arranged marriage.
Out of suspicion or a genuine hatred for women, which has no base at all, Sonu is on a mission to break the alliance. And the 142-minute film ends up being a senseless ride through Sonu’s attempt to fulfil that mission. The songs, even if one of them which has ended up becoming a chartbuster, are distracting and loud.
No doubt the film is peppered with jokes and punchlines—some genuinely funny, mostly misogynistic, and some cringe-worthy. Like all his other films, it is as contemporary as it could have been—forward-thinking family, modern setup, family jokes that are self-deprecating; but all of it is looked through a prism of chauvinism, a hatred towards women.
Very sincerely, Ranjan, it seems, is on his own mission to prove that being with women are the cause of all negativity. With this film, he almost makes it certain that he has lost all faith in women. The biggest problem with this one, like Ranjan’s previous films, is that he doesn’t want to show the other perspective. He doesn’t even create a situation for a balanced build-up, thus creating an inconsistent storyline. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety could have passed off as a fun, harmless humour. But more and more people are talking about women’s rights and are celebrating womanhood, and in a situation like this, the film seems like a joke. It could have fitted very well in a husbands-only group on WhatsApp and could have also been wrapped up in a few minutes rather than getting all the screen-space that it has got.
Film: Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
Director: Luv Ranjan
Cast: Nushrat Bharucha, Kartik Aaryan, Sunny Singh
Rating: 2/5