PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA - Movie Review : A mostly enjoyable journey into the women psyche but could have been much better in a shorter version. (Review By Bobby Sing)

In most of the cases, friends reading this review may not have heard of this film before and hence must have an uncaring kind of response to its silent release this Friday. But surprises do get delivered at regular intervals from our dear Bollywood and PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA is surely one of those pleasant ones. Though the film offers nothing new in its content and neither is it based on any path-breaking plot which you have never seen before. But still it can be seen along with your group (preferably boys), for its superbly written, realistic dialogues and the new kid on the block Divyendu playing “Liquid” in the film. And why he is called “Liquid”, that’s because “Woh Failta Bahut Zyada Hai….”! Quite hilarious!

No doubt PKP is all based on the same old formulas of three friends falling for different girls, hanging out in Goa and then calling it off after some ego fights. And it even reminds you of films such as the cult American Comedy AMERICAN PIE, or our own classic DIL CHAHTA HAI and the most recent DIL TO BACHHA HAI JI. But still it makes a decent impact due to its brilliantly written dialogues which are exactly similar to the spoken language of the today’s youth with the mixture of intellectual self-made terms and abusives used in an explosive blend. In fact I think this might be a movie in which you hear the BEEP sound in its conversations more than ever before.

However the best part of the PKP remains it initial 30 minutes, which are immensely likable from the very first scene with the funky entry of Liquid. In the later reels, as usual due to some highly avoidable sequences the pace drops and the film starts to drag. But even then the saving grace of the film, Liquid keeps entertaining you at regular intervals with his sharp and witty statements on a boy-girl relationship. The debut writer-director Luv Ranjan shows his hold on the medium especially in the dialogue department but if only he had been more strict on the editing table, the film could have been an instant winner. Because in its present version, it is too long and becomes repetitive post interval, leading to boredom.

Another worth mentioning point of the film is that its purely been made from the boys perspective and has everything written keeping in view the trauma faced by the men in an affair. So for all the ladies it may not be an amusing fair at all. At times the female gender may also find it too offensive as the girls in the movie are shown to be too clever, shrewd, self-centered, manipulative and playful when it comes to their love affairs. And they all shamelessly use sex as a means to get what they want from the silly boys. So looking from that point of view, PKP would be more enjoyable for all the males and not the other way round. Perhaps it may also be called as a well attempted journey into the “Women Mind” or an attempt to know what the girls actually have in their thoughts while flirting or having multiple affairs at the same time.

But the fact remains that in a more shorter version it would have been a thoroughly entertaining affair for all. Still if you like the few merits of the movie mentioned above then go for it especially to watch Divyendu as Liquid. The boy is really fabulous in his honest portrayal of a shy boy not having a girlfriend. Kartik and Raayo as the two other friends in the group also look confident on the screen with Raayo scoring a bit better than Kartik. Also Raayo definitely has the best onscreen presence among the three but the film largely depends upon their exclusive scenes together. Among the girls, Nushrat tops them all with a bigger role and looks hot too. Ishita is the second best in the girls department whereas Sonali looks are perfect for the kind of role she had to play.

In the soundtrack I really liked the composition and arrangement of the song “Ban Gaya Kutta” (Luv Ranjan) and also “Ishq Na Kareyo Kaake” (Clinton Cerejo). But here comes the sad thing associated with the tracks and with that I mean the degraded, shameless and sick lyrics of these songs. Truly speaking, when we normally listen to a song then we don’t really pay attention to the lyrics after its initial hook lines and just keep on enjoying it. But from the last few months the kind of lyrics we are being served with, are not only low standards but they even look like taken straight from a cheap road side sex book. For instance if you are really interested then just take a piece of paper and write down the lyrics of the song “Ban Gaya Kutta” as the song is played and then read it after the song is over. You will feel like voiceless while reading it with your eyes down feeling the shame. And it’s indeed an important matter of concern for all the responsible film-makers as well as the Censor Board.

Summing up, I would like to say that yes, its not a masterpiece with anything fresh or out of the box. Yet it has the potential to entertain you in bits and parts. So if possible watch it with your band of boys especially for the performance of “Liquid”.

Ratings : 3 / 5 (.5 more only for Divyendu as Liquid)