Do Aur Do Pyaar (2024) :
Movie Review -
Shirsha Guha Thakurta brings an official Hindi adaptation of the Hollywood flick "The Lovers" (2017). This isn't actually an unknown story. To be more precise, Hollywood has made many extramarital affairs stories back in the 1940s-sometimes with a love triangle and once in a while with a quartet. The same was done by Bengali cinema and Bollywood in the 1970s, but on a very comic note. Do Aur Do Pyaar rehashes the same story again to bore us with its predictable content, but more than that, it's a boring film in itself. The conflict between a married couple who are cheating on each other could have been crispier and more emotional than this, I believe. When I thought that this two and two could make a four-star movie, they only ended up making a two-star movie. It went wrong theoretically, practically, and mathematically too.
Kavya (Vidya Balan) has been married to Ani (Pratik Gandhi) for more than a decade, but their marriage has no value and there has been no bonding since the last 5 years. They hardly speak like husband and wife; they hardly have sex; they only share the bed, not feelings; and they only talk about medicines and other regular stuff. In the last couple of years, both have found new lovers. Ani is having an affair with Nora (Ileana D'Cruz), while Kavya is in a relationship with a photographer named Vikram (Sendhil Ramamurthy). The basic thought is to get divorced and live with their new partners, but it all becomes complicated for Ani and Kavya when they come close to each other during a funeral trip to Ooty. After returning home, they have intimate sex, and things change for them. They both begin to like each other again and are now having problems talking to their new lovers, who are expecting some kind of commitment. What happens when these two learn about each other's affairs? Find out all the answers in the film.
Written by Suprotim Sengupta, Amrita Bagchi, and Eisha Chopra, Do Aur Do Pyaar seems like a messy script. I don't understand how a sudden sexual encounter can change everything for two people who hardly have any feelings left for each other. As if they were only lacking that thing. Really? Let it be.. But how can these two continue seeing their lovers when things are finally looking to be settling? Two people, who are so distant and somewhat disturbed too, are falling for the awkwardness of the situation rather than contemplating what's happened, which is totally out of logic. While doing so, they have to make the funeral scene funny. Why? Kavya and Ani land in Ooty, and the cab driver says, "Welcome," with a big smile on his face. Bro, they were in for a funeral, not a party. Come on, humour can't be so dumb, even by mistake. The differences between the couple aren't explored well either. We don't really know the reason behind their arguments or why they fell in love with their extramarital partners. After that long, boring drama, we finally come to the reconciliation part. I mean, seriously? It's too predictable for a film made in 2024. They were trailing behind by two decades, I guess.
Pratik Gandhi and Vidya Balan do not suit each other as a couple. Individually, they try their best and look fairly decent too, but the chemistry between a couple is missing. Not just chemistry, but even imagining them as a couple wasn't making any practical sense at those moments. Rather, the extramarital couples looked better. Pratik and Ileana look like lovebirds, and so do Vidya and Senthil. Ileana's character suffers from maturity, while Senthil lacks an accent. Pratik and Vidya share some spicy moments together that can be enjoyed for a while, but not afterwards. The taste fades away too quickly. The supporting cast is hardly noticeable since the screen space does not allow them to leave any mark on us.
On the technical front, we have Kartik Vijay handling the camera, and he was good at it. Maybe there are just too many close-ups that are like pain in the eye sometimes. The makeup department has made every character look gorgeous, especially Vidya Balan. You can notice a change in her physical appearance, even though her husband fails to notice the same (as she asks him in one scene). The editing is surely at fault here, as the narrative doesn't have a grip. The first half was still okay, but the second half was terribly slow. And why did they need those songs to make it even more tedious? Shirsha Guha Thakurta has tried a modern story that is too old for smart movie buffs. This idea of an extramarital affair actually doesn't have any issues left to showcase, yet some people think it is new. Karan Johar made Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna in 2006 and learned that these ideas are too bold for Indian society. 2024 isn't that changed to accept such ideas, and here, you have more problematic characters and more infidelity. Just imagine this metaphor: "cheating someone who is already cheating you." Who's at fault? The one who's cheating, or the one who's also cheating, or both? And how can one not be sensible enough to see itself in the mirror before or while pointing a finger at someone? See, this conflict is tough to crack, and one needs a lot of brainstorming to make a go at it. Do Aur Do Pyaar isn't that. No, not by far.
RATING - 4/10*
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