After a series of long-drawn conversations that enforce gender stereotypes and put men and women into neatly labelled boxes, the film begins with the ominous sounding number Oh No Never!, hinting at the audience that this is their chance to make it to the exit. Unfortunately, we don't, hoping the film will pick up pace and start making sense any minute now. Except, it does not!
Tammy (Tamannaah), brought up by a single parent (Sarath Babu), experiences heartbreak when she's 16 and decides she 'hates boys'. Instead of pumping his only child with optimism, her father decides this is the opportune time to tell her some cold hard truths about life - ie. It is only her looks that will make men fall for her, but that she should look for a man who will want more than sex from her. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Sanju (Sundeep Kishan) is not that man. Because when Tammy begins to spiral out of control like she is prone to, talking of hypothetical situations which might not come true and expecting sane answers, he reacts in a way a 'typical man' supposedly does, expecting things from her she refuses to give after living in with him for 6 months. Except, when she does meet the man of her dreams, a much-older and mature Krish (Navdeep), he's apparently not right for her either. But why, you ask confused just like Krish, expecting a sane answer. And when you do get the answer, it makes you laugh wondering why you ever came to watch this 'progressive and stereotype breaking' tale in the first place.
Confused? We don't blame you, because that's how the film and the supposedly millennial characters in the film are. Next Enti? is filled with clichéd conversations about everything from sex, lust, love and marriage to clicking pictures of food, making friends over social media, bachelor parties and most importantly - forcibly fitting men and women into tiny little boxes they most often don't fit into in real life. Despite being filled to the brim with references to lifestyle and things that millennials are connected to, it is extremely difficult for anyone to connect to the film. The conversations seem forced, so do most of the scenes. The character developments are so inconsistent that when they finally flesh out in the second half, it almost makes one wish they go back to being the flat cardboards they were in the first half.
Tamannaah's character Tammy goes on and on about what dogs men are, despite being brought up by a first-rate man, that it gets real tiring real fast. It is never really understood why she's so commitment phobic, how she has no much time to rant over men, what she does for a living and how she can afford that wardrobe or what she even really wants in the first place. It's also never really understood why the director Kunal Kohli felt it so important to mention she's 'brought up with Indian values despite living in London' as if it's the 50s and then go ahead and tangle reputation, commitment, love, lust and sex all in a huge ball.
Sundeep Kishan's character Sanju goes from wanting a stable relationship with normal things like sex and understanding to wanting to just 'settle down' in life with a known devil than an unknown one. Navdeep is unfortunately the bakra of this tale with his Krish, who unfortunately gives the relationship his all with honesty, unlike Sanju, and finds out it's still not enough. Larissa Bonesi's Roshini, Sanju's ex-fiancé on the other hand seems to be the only one in this tale who's happy and content with however she is, seemingly having the most fun out of the whole miserable lot.
Proceed with caution if you have time to kill and would love to make sense of a nonsensical narrative, because why not? Give this one a miss if you would like to preserve your sanity. Sorry Kunal Kohli, better luck next time!
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