Unlike the usual light-hearted, cheesy rom-coms that drug you with their make-believe emotions for at least a couple of nights, Shuddh Desi Romance is definitely a bold step away from these reel-life fairy-tales. Challenging the fundamental South-Asian belief of ‘marriage’, director Manish Sharma stoutly sheds light on today’s commitment-phobe youth’s messed up notions of life, love and sex. But while the effort is commendable, the film leaves us unmoved, annoyed and void of any kind of reactive emotion.
Set in a relatively less modern city of India, Jaipur, Shuddh Desi Romance revolves around three protagonists bearing direct resemblance to the characters of Bittoo and Shruti from Band Baaja Baaraat. Raghu (Sushant Singh Rajput) is a scruffy-looking, commitment-phobic guide and a part-time barati. He gets cold feet on his wedding day and sneaks out of it via a trip to the lavatory. Earlier, while struggling with this puzzling decision, he meets Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra), a free-willed, modern Indian girl, who is also a hired barati, and falls head over heels for her. The two end up together in a testosterone-driven, scandalous, live-in relationship. Later on, after yet another wedding escapade, Raghu bumps into Tara (Vaani Kapoor), the girl he left at the altar, and the two hit it off.
A better name for this somewhat random love triangle would have been Runaway Bridegroom because there is quite a lot of running away in the film — the reason for which is disclosed right at the end in a rather unjustifiable manner. Considering that writer Jaideep Sahni has penned some of the most notable movies of Bollywood in recent times, including Chak De India and Khosla Ka Ghosla, this circuitous love story isn’t his most touching endeavour. The story appears to be a flat, unstructured, theatrical play where the camera mostly focuses on the characters, and the script relies heavily on aimless conversations. Yes, there are a few moments that tickle your funny bone, but after some time, it feels like it’s not even necessary to look at the screen to grasp the crux of the film.
Sushant is at best adequate in his acting, and highly irritating as the character Raghu. As a sleazy womaniser who takes his charm very seriously, Sushant does not gain any attachment from the audience, and his uninteresting dialogues don’t help either. Parineeti, on the other hand, successfully manages to pull off something different from her regular chirpy roles, and wears the character like a glove. Debutant Vaani looks like she is trying a little too hard to delve into a bold, feisty role representing urban India with her awkward dialogue delivery and bland expressions. Rishi Kapoor, as the small-time wedding planner, is probably the only character who amuses you with his orthodox mindset and constant persuasion of fulfilling the marital obligation.
The music lives up to Yash Raj standards. The songs are delightful and foot-tapping, smartly fusing traditional tunes with modern music. For once, they fit in well with the situation and are choreographed with Tere Mere Beech Mein, being a stand out. The pace of the film is again too slow and with the script not offering many compelling moments, it does not work in the film’s favour.
Sharma’s intentions, of executing the hypocritically-hidden, realism of progressive India, are genuine and he does bring an innovative twist to romance, but despite that, the film offers only a few minutes of honest engagement and hours of superficial, lust-driven romance.
VERDICT: If you are a strictly ‘no-marriage’ person, the movie will manage to satisfy your adrenaline rush. Otherwise, with its essentially lackluster dialogues, it could range from being a mere time-pass to becoming mental torture, depending on your level of patience.
Score: 3/5
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2013.
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