Movie - Shuddh Desi Romance
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Star cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor.
Director: Maneesh Sharma
Shudh Desi Romance in all has an earnestness galore with a novelty in the film's take on new age romance
We have Gayatri and Raghu who are rebels in love with messed up minds so it makes for a delightful passable amusing watch.Maneesh Sharma’s film flirts with the theme of marriages as well as the mindset of today’s youth.
The storyline starts with Raghuram(Sushant Singh Rajput) who is a tourist guide in Jaipur .Occasionally, he works for Tauji’s (Rishi Kapoor) agency .He meets the gregarious Gayatri(Parineeti Chopra) on his way to his own wedding her irresistibly radiant personality sends him off the edge.So he ditches his beautiful bride, Tara (debutant Vaani Kapoor), some forbidden kisses and cigarette puffs later, the two move in together. Their union is swift and their relationship is sealed.
Later the two decide to get married. On the day of the wedding Gayatri runs out on him, and Raghu is left inconsolable-y confused.Soon after in a wedding Raghu meets Tara (Vaani Kapoor), the woman he was going to tie the knot with he met Gayatri. She asks him out initially on a revenge trip but slowly their relationships turns serious.
Just like today’s modern-day couples, these lovers fight, break up — and make up with gusto.The lovers’ tiff, lust, love, and confusion on hot topics like marriage and commitment are shown nicely here. Adding more spice to the picture is Tauji’s character that is sensible, funny, mature, and every bit entertaining.
There is sweetness in the chemistry between its lead actors. Both Parineeti and Sushant have displayed the tiny nuances of their characters with finesse and boldness.Taara, the jilted bride, played by newcomer Vaani Kapoor. She’s weirdly jarring , her reaction to a guy who dumped her unceremoniously comes across as a bit unrealistic. She’s confident in her act but it makes you question whether such women exist in real life.
Capturing the energy of the young and the restless isn’t an easy job, but director Maneesh Sharma does his job with near infallibility.Swift hitching and swifter breakups are a part of ‘love’ these days and the director’s vision works well in this film.Director of photography Manu Anand has presented Jaipur so beautifully in most of the frames of the movie that you will feel like visiting the pink city this season?
A tacky climax and a complex web of confused emotions woven around Raghu and Gayatri’s ‘love’ (or lack thereof) makes the audience lose sync with the story in the second half. It is difficult to understand after a point of time why Raghu is so hell confused between the two leading ladies of the film and it gets unnerving Gayatri and Raghu’s unexplained, non-committal attitude towards each other.
All in all a one time watch.
Movie Critic - Siddharth Mathur