Luv Ranjan‘s “Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2” is a glossier version of the 2011 Bollywood film. It is, in effect, a “Sex and the City” – for men. This is a world where men are perfectly turned out, live in luxurious apartments, and are preoccupied with the women in their lives. It is also a world where women are the enemy – you might sleep with the enemy, but in the end, it’s the brotherhood that is your true comfort and solace.
“Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2″ is not a sequel. Director Ranjan is telling us the same story – only this time it is airbrushed, thanks to a bigger budget and better production design. Our three heroes – Gogo (Kartik Aaryan, reprising his role), Thakur (Omkar Kapoor) and Chauka (Sunny Singh) – fall in love at the same time, but find their ardour fading fast.
The women they seemed smitten by turn out to be either whiny and spoilt, or gold-diggers. As our protagonists fight their way through this quagmire, they pause to deliver soliloquies on how women make their lives miserable, and then run back into the arms of these very women.
Even the problems these lovers face are superficial, and in many ways, a reflection of their own flaws – such as jealousy or the inability to articulate their concerns. And the solution seems to be to blame the woman.
There is merit in talking about relationships from the male perspective, but Ranjan paints the other side such a dark shade of black that it’s difficult to get either humour or genuine insight from the film.
As they face heartbreak and betrayal, and gather to lick their wounds, our three heroes turn to the one woman in their lives who never disappoints them – their mothers. This then, is what Ranjan is trying to tell us. The only thing women can be good at is mothering. In all their other avatars, they are just setting you up for disappointment.
Of the cast, Singh and Aaryan have a pleasant screen presence, but that’s about it. The female leads – Nushrat Bharucha (whose nasal voice grates on your nerves), Sonnalli Seygall and Ishita Raj Sharma – are reduced to caricatures.
The biggest problem with “Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2″ isn’t that it stereotypes women, it doesn’t even do it in a way that makes you laugh.
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