Shuddh Desi Romance

An utterly charming romantic comedy

Desi chick lit has come to Hindi movies, and this movie sets the tone with the story of a wedding altar, a mandap, in Jaipur and how two girls and a guy approach it with much trepidation. In all, there are three visits to the guillotine, none of them leading to an execution.

Is marriage extinct or has liberty, equality and fraternity within and between the sexes diluted the idea of commitment? This is the subject of Shuddh Desi Romance and it begins with a runaway groom.

During the course of an overnight bus journey on the eve of his wedding, Raghu Ram (Sushant Singh Rajput) cuddles with the independent minded woman sitting next to him. She smokes, has had several boyfriends, or so she claims, and is not averse to a lip lock with the boy she knows is getting married the next day.

Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) is, in fact, part of Raghu Ram’s wedding party, and the next day, when he sees her standing next to him as he is about to exchange garlands with the bride, he loses his nerve and makes off, via a visit to the loo.

The loo is the leitmotif in the film. It functions as the emergency exit from unholy matrimony. The funniest scene in the film is when Raghu Ram visits the mandap for his second attempt sometime later, having had a few beers to calm his nerves. This time the shrewd wedding planner (Rishi Kapoor) is wise to it and has cut off all access to the loo, stationing guards outside.

But one digresses. The movie is really about two women, Gayatri and Tara (Vaani Kapoor), the bride who was dumped at the beginning of the film. The women talk to each other, to men and sometimes directly into the camera. They express themselves naturally and with rare self-confidence. This is utterly charming.

However, as with some chick lit, the talking never ends, and the conversation drifts and repeats itself.

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Ajit Duara