Indigestible story, cliched dialogues, and poorly written characters. What a waste of talent!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a fan of Luv Ranjan’s writing. It’s fresh. Ever since Pyaar Ka Punchnama, the guys are able to strike chords with the younger audience. Misogynistic or not, his dialogues have a unique touch. And then he comes up with De De Pyaar De and I literally wonder, “Really dude?” Here’s me telling you if giving away your money to the film’s producer is really worth it.
What’s the Story Morning Glory?
Trying to keep it simple, DDPD focuses on a 50 year old London based investment broker, Ashish (Ajay Devgn) and a 20 something hottie, Aisha (Rakul Preet) who fall in love and decide to meet Ashish’s estranged family (Biwi, Bacche, etc) to get their approval for their marriage (sighs). Ashish’s ex-wife Manju (Tabu) and Aisha share their mutual hatred for each other and Manju tries everything in her capacity to stop the pair to get married. And… that’s about it.
On the Upside
As lead Ajay has convincingly played a character of his own age. Though his chemistry with Rakul is sometimes questionable. Rakul, on the other hand, looks amazing as she is, but needs to polish her chops. The original show stealers turn out to be actors who were sadly not given much screen time. Jimmy Shergill as Manju’s admiring neighbour has delivered some of the funniest lines in the film. Even a cameo by Sunny Singh, whose character has the hots for Aisha, is another comic relief played to near perfection. Finally, Tabu as Manju is simply flawless. It rarely happens in Bollywood that a character makes its first appearance in the film after the interval and still be able to make an impact. Tabu is one of those gems of actors who have saved the grace of Bollywood even in times like these.
On the downside
Oh! where do I start? The script has been the iceberg that took this ship down. Almost cringeworthy dialogues and flirting scenes between Ashish and Aisha are simply indigestible. It’s a shame they’ve wasted potential like Javed Jaffrey, who can be a delightful improviser if let loose, by giving him mundane and cliched lines. Akiv Ali’s debut as a director doesn’t seem to be up to the mark. Not only the above issues with the film grinded my gears, but the loud soundtrack of the film also made my ears bleed. Characters Don’t even finish their dialogues when suddenly blaring music is thrust into our ears. Be it a diss or a comedic back and forth it’s all masked under an extremely loud tune which makes you wonder if the creators are even confident of the writing.
All in All
The movie made me miss Cheeni Kum, a light-hearted rom-com which actually handled the topic of the age difference between couples with maturity, unlike the film in question. We’re going with 2 out 5 stars for De De Pyaar De. Don’t expect it to change your viewpoint about anything. Just go watch it if you’re a Tabu fan.
