Luv Ranjan returns with yet another film on urban relationships seen from a male perspective but it unwittingly also shows that men have some serious growing up to do.
FOSLA is a term I got to discover through social media.
The Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association seems to be peopled largely by jilted men, at least in my limited experience. I’m told that there’s also a dedicated Facebook page for the community. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (SKTKS) seems tailormade for the young male members of this club, in fact all of Luv Ranjan’s films are. The way he has steadily stood by angst-ridden young men, who have been disillusioned by women and failed relationships, FOSLA could
well be called Ranjan’s oeuvre.
No wonder there are certain givens in his films—the young women are either full-blown bitches or ditzy wallflowers and then there is also another bunch—the loving elderly matriarchs. No nuances are allowed even sideways.
Not that one is complaining either; we can well imagine where all this deep-seated anxiety prompted by women is coming from. Also, to give the devil his due, Ranjan does manage to craft quite a laugh riot, especially in the first half, his inconsiderateness to women notwithstanding.
He sets the scene well. The actors, their attitude, chatter and boy and girl next door personalities ring true. As does the fabulous supporting cast; a special word in for the lovely, unaffected, funny mom Ayesha Raza Mishra. Titu’s (Sunny Singh) impending marriage with Sweety (Nusrat Bharucha) comes in the way of his friendship with Sonu (Kartik Aaryan).
The traditional filmi triangle gets inverted. Instead of two men fighting over one woman we have the love for the woman coming in the way of male friendship. The representation of bromance is, in fact, more intriguing in the older generation what with the grandfather (Alok Nath) almost joined at the hip with his bachelor buddy (Virendra Saxena) and the grandmother least concerned.
Is that Ranjan’s ideal? Is that how men expect women to respond when it comes to their own male bonding? There are some genuinely funny, even if broad, punchlines and phrases, a sharpness and bite to the writing and good comic timing by the actors to make the first half a heady ride. The second half does get scattered, needless song-n-dance routines get thrust in as does a mandatory foreign backdrop—Amsterdam.
Things seem easily, melodramatically and illogically resolved but the cheekiness comes back in the climactic moments to restore the equilibrium. It was in 2011 that Ranjan first came out with a “male perspective” on the man-woman relationship in a middle class, urban scenario inPyaar Ka Punchnama. It reached out to many.
Would SKTKS now become the Bible for an entire generation of young men? It would appear so. What about the women? Frankly, I was least offended. Empathise as young men may with the two heroes, Sonu and Titu also show how some men always prefer to remain boys. Unwittingly the two had me laugh at them than with them.
The cute-hunk appeal aside which good woman would be able to spend more than two minutes with them? At 28 they seemed in urgent need of growing up and getting a life, reinstating my long held belief that modern Indian woman has indeed come a long way and men have some serious catching up to do. Men in the film complain about lack of “achchi ladki”; most women on the other side would have much the same to say about men.
Time now for someone to make a Sweety Ki Soni Ka Titu.
The Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association seems to be peopled largely by jilted men, at least in my limited experience. I’m told that there’s also a dedicated Facebook page for the community. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (SKTKS) seems tailormade for the young male members of this club, in fact all of Luv Ranjan’s films are. The way he has steadily stood by angst-ridden young men, who have been disillusioned by women and failed relationships, FOSLA could
No wonder there are certain givens in his films—the young women are either full-blown bitches or ditzy wallflowers and then there is also another bunch—the loving elderly matriarchs. No nuances are allowed even sideways.
Not that one is complaining either; we can well imagine where all this deep-seated anxiety prompted by women is coming from. Also, to give the devil his due, Ranjan does manage to craft quite a laugh riot, especially in the first half, his inconsiderateness to women notwithstanding.
He sets the scene well. The actors, their attitude, chatter and boy and girl next door personalities ring true. As does the fabulous supporting cast; a special word in for the lovely, unaffected, funny mom Ayesha Raza Mishra. Titu’s (Sunny Singh) impending marriage with Sweety (Nusrat Bharucha) comes in the way of his friendship with Sonu (Kartik Aaryan).
The traditional filmi triangle gets inverted. Instead of two men fighting over one woman we have the love for the woman coming in the way of male friendship. The representation of bromance is, in fact, more intriguing in the older generation what with the grandfather (Alok Nath) almost joined at the hip with his bachelor buddy (Virendra Saxena) and the grandmother least concerned.
Is that Ranjan’s ideal? Is that how men expect women to respond when it comes to their own male bonding? There are some genuinely funny, even if broad, punchlines and phrases, a sharpness and bite to the writing and good comic timing by the actors to make the first half a heady ride. The second half does get scattered, needless song-n-dance routines get thrust in as does a mandatory foreign backdrop—Amsterdam.
Things seem easily, melodramatically and illogically resolved but the cheekiness comes back in the climactic moments to restore the equilibrium. It was in 2011 that Ranjan first came out with a “male perspective” on the man-woman relationship in a middle class, urban scenario inPyaar Ka Punchnama. It reached out to many.
Would SKTKS now become the Bible for an entire generation of young men? It would appear so. What about the women? Frankly, I was least offended. Empathise as young men may with the two heroes, Sonu and Titu also show how some men always prefer to remain boys. Unwittingly the two had me laugh at them than with them.
The cute-hunk appeal aside which good woman would be able to spend more than two minutes with them? At 28 they seemed in urgent need of growing up and getting a life, reinstating my long held belief that modern Indian woman has indeed come a long way and men have some serious catching up to do. Men in the film complain about lack of “achchi ladki”; most women on the other side would have much the same to say about men.
Time now for someone to make a Sweety Ki Soni Ka Titu.
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