Ranbir Kapoor’s flamboyant act coupled with Pritam’s foot-tapping music adds life to Luv Ranjan’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar.
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Anubhav Singh Bassi, Dimple Kapadia, Boney Kapoor, Inayat Verma, Hasleen Kaur, Monica Chaudhary
Director: Luv Ranjan
Writers: Luv Ranjan, Rahul Mody
When Mickey (Ranbir Kapoor) flirtingly asks Tinni (Shraddha Kapoor), “Pyaar karna hain ya timepass karna hain?”, the latter coolly responds, “Timepass bhi aise hi kisike saath nahi kar sakti, uske liye bhi koi milna chahiye naa.”
In a similar vein, does Luv Ranjan’s latest ‘battle of the sexes’ prove worthy of your love? Well, the answer is ‘yes to a certain extent’.
What’s Yay: Ranbir Kapoor, songs
What’s Nay: The first half of the film drags a lot
Story
Mickey (Ranbir Kapoor) and his close pal Dabas (Anubhav Singh Bassi) craftily run a breakup service which charges a bomb to end a relationship. Meanwhile, the latter is about to get hitched to Kinchi (Monica Chaudhary). When the two boys land up in Spain for a bachelor’s party, little does Mickey know that he has a worthy opponent in store in the form of Tinni (Shraddha Kapoor), Kinchi’s bestie.
For Mickey, it’s love at first sight when his eyes fall on a shimmery dress-clad Tinni pulling off a Bollywood-meets-cabaret number. It doesn’t take a while for our ‘player’ to turn into a shayari-spewing aashiq. At the same time, how can Tinni resist our ‘kaabil, handsome, good-looking, rich, fit, virile, polite, loveable, humble, respectful, romantic and pyaara’ hero!
Time to raise up the heat as the two slip into some sexy beachwear and paint the lanes of Spain red, of course, ‘pyaar mein’. From stealing the thunder from the soon-to-wed Dabas and Kinchi with their romping escapades to recreating a Tamasha-esque moment at a bar, Mickey and Tinni’s love affair gets into full swing amid the lush blue waters and skies pockmarked with glistening stars.
However, when Mickey and Tinni return back to Delhi, their steamy affair gets a bit doused when the latter meets the former’s over-bearing family. And before our couple could land up in ‘shaadi ka mandap’, Tinni dials up Mickey’s breakup service, unaware about his identity.
When Mickey learns about Tinni’s intention to break up with him, our boy vows revenge against her for breaking his ‘masoom’ heart.
Direction
Luv Ranjan known for his Gen Z rom-coms, is back with another ‘battle of sexes and monologues.’ While all of his previous films (Pyaar Ka Punchnama series and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety) had the men cribbing about their lack of understanding when it comes to women, the filmmaker decides to be a little kind this time by not painting his female protagonist as a vixen or a gold-digger. Instead, he lets romance take over bromance. ‘Toh problem kya hain?’
Well, the problem is the way he sketches Tinni’s character. Her intentions may be noble but her actions borderline questionable. She is someone who is too focussed on her independence and that’s where Luv Ranjan takes a blurry path. Ginni’s personality is addressed as a ‘symptom’ of her experience during her growing years and not her choice. Ranjan might have toned down on the misogyny in his story-telling, but you do get occasional glimpses of manipulation here.
Another thing which takes out some fun from Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar is the first half which drags a lot. One wishes that the director had gone a bit easy on the monologues and some of the shayaris which look out of place.
On the bright side, Luv Ranjan turns over the tide in the last 15-20 minutes where he lets himself lose and gets into some ‘chucklesome’ writing. He even throws in a classic airport scene with hilarious liners that brings down the house.
Performances
Ranbir Kapoor is not only easy on the eye but he also smoothly slips into a territory which is quite familiar to him (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Bachna Ae Haseeno). Further, when the lad flaunts his smooth ‘thumkas’ on the dance floor, your heart is bound to skip a heartbeat.
However, there are a few portions where things get a bit superficial when Ranbir tries to pull off his monologues ala Kartik Aaryan style.
Speaking about Shraddha Kapoor, the actress spices up almost every frame with her sultry looks and exudes some spunky energy. On the flip side, the actress fumbles a bit when she gets glassy-eyed.
Dimple Kapadia as the loud, boisterous Punjabi mom commands a strong screen presence and makes all things fun. Boney Kapoor barely gets any dialogues except in the crazy finale and the man gives it all.
Anubhav Singh Bassi makes a confident big screen debut and gets most of his humour on point. Hasleen Kaur and Monica Chaudhary play their parts well. Inayat Verma as the precocious kid is a show-stealer even though some of her dialogues might come across as problematic.
Kartik Aaryan and Nushhratt Bharuccha drop in for some ‘ha-ha’ cameos.
Technical Aspects
Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran treats us with some vibrant and zestful frames with his cinematography. Akiv Ali and Chetan M Solanki’s editing scissors could have been sharper especially in the pre-interval portions.
Music
Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar brings back the days of quintessential Bollywood music and dance. Beginning with the peppy ‘Pyaar Hota Kayi Baar’ where Ranbir Kapoor dances like a dream, you next have Shreya Ghoshal dripping some sexiness in her voice with ‘Maine Pee Rakhi Hai’. Arijit Singh and Nikhita Gandhi bring in some flirty romance with ‘Tere Pyaar Mein’. There’s ‘O Bedardiya’ in Arijit’s vocals for the heartbroken souls. On the other hand, ‘Show Me The Thumka’ leaves you tapping your feet with its quirky lyrics and perky music.
Verdict
In short, despite some ‘jhooth and makkaari’ in its narrative and execution, Ranbir Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar makes for an entertaining watch.
