De De Pyaar De Is 2 Hilarious

Starring: Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet Singh, R. Madhavan, Gautami Kapoor, Ishita Dutta, Mizan Jaffrey, Suhasini Mule

Director: Anshul Sharma

Who would have thought that director Anshul Sharma would have done a ‘Rishida’ in contemporary times. This, in the context of contemporary cinema, is a huge compliment to any filmmaker. The surprise packet that comes with strong recommendations, on story, on dialogue, on music, and some amazing performances, is not something you see very often in mainstream cinema. Compliments to the filmmaker for getting his crew and cast in perfect positions.

‘DDP2’ takes off from where Tabu and Ajay Devgn had gone, with Rakul Preet Singh sort of being the tempest in the wedding of the past. This time round, we have Aisha played by Rakul Preet and Ajay Devgn as Ashish.

Ashish is a financier making tonnes of money in the UK and his live-in partner is Aisha. His wedding with Manju has ended in a divorce. Remember they have two adolescent children.

The story begins with Aisha having to come home to inform her dad Rakesh (R. Madhavan) and her mom Raji (Gautami Kapoor) that she is in love and that she wants to marry this gentleman. Watch the worm in the ointment. The couple are constantly propagating themselves, marketing themselves as educated, progressive, modern, and broad minded. Therefore, one would have thought there are no hitches to a marriage of their daughter with a divorcee who has two children. What becomes a challenge is that while everybody mouths the cliche that age is just a number that is also a huge bottleneck and a speed-breaker.

The relationship between the father and the daughter undergoes its deepest strain because she is her own person. She is not looking at her fiancé from the angle of her dad. In fact, the dad and the son-in-law perspective has had huge differences over a period of time, though they are extremely well-bonded. Ishita Dutta as Kittu, the sister-in-law. Aisha takes Kittu into confidence to inform her parents, Rakesh and Raji, about the marriage, the love story, the live-in relationship and finally the age gap.

By the interval, there have been huge battles between father and daughter. The husband-to-be or the in-law-to-be, the son, is the mature guy about whom it is always said that he is very mature, very collected, very understanding, and therefore that becomes his unbecoming.

The story moves on as they walk out and finally Rakesh comes back to his daughter apologetically at half-time and brings them home. You are now wondering what the drama would be after that. Probably this is where the film gets a little flabby in the midriff.

You have this great attempt being made by Sharma to do a Karan Johar-cum-Sooraj Barjatiya. There is a bit of ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’. There are these marriage scenes, the mehendi and all that, a la Sooraj Barjatya. Then it moves on and on and on, for a while. And you have a new prospective groom whom the family has known for a long long time. In walks, post interval, Adik Kumar Das (Mizan Jaffrey). He is all brawn, he is attractive, there are people drooling over him, and interestingly Aisha too does. Suddenly her love life takes a back seat and her chemistry with the new boy in town gets the better of events.

Parties go on and this is where the director compromises. He is trying to do a bit of Karan Johar in getting sloppy stories about maa and beta, etc. The story escalates very comfortably, notwithstanding the Karan Johar-Sooraj Barjatya intervention.

But you know in the larger context that they fall in place at the end of the story. The 27-year age gap is the story that pans out. Very interestingly, you have a lovely cameo coming in from Nani played by Suhasini Mule. She has her moments in the club.

While the protagonist couple Rakesh and Raji keep marketing themselves as progressive, educated, and modern, it works only when their comfort zones are not challenged. The moment the comfort zones are trespassed, the story falls like a pack of cards. That is what ‘De De Pyaar De 2’ is about.

Amazing performances by Madhavan and Rakul Preet Singh. While Madhavan has the reputation of being a very good actor who has not had too many chances in mainstream Hindi cinema, he steals the show effortlessly. He makes no effort yet outshines. Gautami Kapoor is good. I think it is Madhavan who steals a march by a yard and more. Rakul Preet Singh could give Taapsee Pannu a run for her money. She takes her role seriously, she delivers it with tremendous sincerity, and the opportunity does not go begging. They better get their designer clothing ready: If you are willing to bet on the integrity and honesty of our film award-givers, these two are sure winners. But then, we live in a country where a Khan gets a national award instead of a Prithviraj.

Kudos to the veteran Ajay Devgn for consciously choosing a role where he knows he is just the backdrop, but a very important one. He knows he does not have too much screen space, but he is the fulcrum, and a very well-levered fulcrum at that. Having done multiple franchise films like the ‘Singham’ and the ‘Golmaal’ series, it is nice seeing him in a family drama like ‘De De Pyaar De 2’. He is a silent winner. His performance is not one you go to town about, but when you sit back and notice, it makes for good viewing.

‘De De Pyaar De 2’ is a surprise packet. Go there, watch it, enjoy it, and hear the movie too, because there are lovely dialogues, good music and amazing performances. Not a very long movie. Could have been sharper at the table, but our filmmakers believe they must make movies a little longer than necessary. Allow that, excuse them for that litmus test, and ‘De De Pyaar De 2’ is worth a watch. Definitely an improvement over ‘De De Pyaar De’.