'De De Pyaar De' Review: Ajay Devgn, Tabu and Rakul Preet Singh's film nicely captures frailties in human relationships

Film: De De Pyaar De (Romance, Comedy), Critic's Rating: 3.5 / 5, Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Rakul Preet Singh, Jimmy Sheirgill, Direction: Akiv Ali, Written by: Luv Ranjan, Tarun Jain, Surabhi Bhatnagar, Duration: 2 hours, 15 minutes, Language: Hindi (U/A)

Story:

Ashish Mehra (Ajay Devgn) is a 50-year-old NRI businessman settled in London who falls in love with 26-year-old Aisha Khurana (Rakul Preet Singh), an engineering student who bartends on the weekends. On a whim, he decides to visit his family settled in Manali. When he introduces her to his two children — primarily his ex-wife Manju Rao (Tabu), whom he has separated from 18 years ago — they indicate that Aisha is unwelcome. Of course, Ashish and Aisha continue to live with the Mehra family for a bit under a false pretext. And, that’s when the real drama begins. 

Review:

The one good thing about De De Pyaar De (DDPD) is that it isn’t slapstick. It’s different yet funny. It attempts to tell a love story between a woman and a man double her age in a modern and realistic way. Of course, it needed more finesse. E.g., the 26-year-old and her friend (Sunny Singh) harp on the man’s age a bit too much. They almost make it sound that being 50 is akin to being physically challenged.

Never mind. Coming back to Ashish and Aisha, they are drawn to each other from their first bizarre meeting when she walks in pretending to be a stripper. And though they try hard to keep their hands off each other, they don’t succeed. She also has a clear rule — sex is not to be confused with love. He agrees. Before you know it, the age disparity between Richie Rich and his object of desire completely dissolves. And, they decide to give their relationship a serious try. But, there are worldly hurdles to cross.  

Post intermission, he brings her home to Manali to meet his estranged wife, parents and grown-up children. He does the London-Manali jig without warning and when he realises how unwelcome both Aisha and he are, he tries to pass her off as his secretary. Of course, the more astute in the family smell a rat. However, even before the Ashish-Aisha situation threatens to blow up in their face, there are several other even more bizarre stock-situations to wade through. E.g., Ashish’s 25-year-old daughter Ishita (Inayat) is about to be engaged. And, he can hardly announce to her that he, too, is actually toying with the idea of getting hitched to a girl, just one year older to her. Also, his 21-year old son Ishaan (Bhavin Bhanushali) feels attracted to Aisha and he has to constantly listen to that. Further, his ex (Manju) doesn’t mind sharing a one-night stand with him. So on and so forth. 

In other words, there’s a lot of fun to be had, but there’s also some implausible drama. The film addresses some morally-grey situations by showing people as real, as opposed to cardboard cutouts. Here, Ajay’s character has feet of clay and is often admitting to being a bad father and a bad husband, etc. However, in making him a weakling, the script badly dents the actor’s otherwise macho image. Quite clearly, Ajay, who is clearly experimenting with switching to roles commensurate to his age, needs to test the waters before diving into middle-of-the-road cinema.  

Tabu, on the other hand, is the hero here. The best scene in the film — the one where she explains to her family how Ajay alone isn’t at fault — gives her character a taller dimension. Rakul is just a distraction; pretty as a picture, she fails to display the shades needed for an actress caught in a complex romantic situation. As for Ajay’s children — the daughter is quite irritating. She’s an ideal fit for a television soap opera, screechy and poorly dressed.  

Jimmy Sheirgill is a delight in a cameo as Tabu’s admirer. The song Vaddi Sharaban with Sunidhi Chauhan’s vocals has thoda recall value. But the rest of the music is a big mishmash. Luv Ranjan’s writing packs a punch on occasions, but debutant Akiv Ali doesn’t display any distinctive direction style. 

Disclaimer:

There are a couple of over-the-top scenes, but you decide.

Verdict:

It’s an enjoyable family watch; the frailties in human relationships are nicely captured.  

(tweets @ Meena_Iyer)