Finally, Vir Das has got a film which is designed to make him do what he knows best. As he plays an investment banker looking for a perfect match, it comes across as if a stand-up script of Vir has been filmed and the artist has been given the licence to improvise with his partner Kavi Shastri. He doesn’t disappoint but ultimately the script short-changes him.
An exaggerated version of the new generation of cocksure managers, Amit is well versed with the latest apps but he has made a hand written list to find his better half. He believes that he is doing something special but the list includes obvious expectations like love for Tendulkar and a sense of humour and as it happens in Adam Sandler’s rom coms, he comes across only weird options sanitised to meet the demands of a family audience.
Director Ajay Bhuyan manages to bring out that male chauvinism is refusing to abate even when women know what they want. When Amit is about to give up on his adventure, Mala (Vega Tamotia) enters the frame. She is opposite to whatever he has listed but still sparks fly and ultimately Amit tells us that opposites attract and goes for bungee jumping. How refreshing!
But we haven’t reached even the intermission stage yet. So in comes Devyani Dev (Anindita Nayar), who cracks Amit’s expectations, forcing our hero to revisit his decision. The feeling is mutual because the trademark one liners work only as long as they add something to the content. The moment the script falls into a predictable pattern, the fun element deflates. Vega provides vitality to the proceedings and doesn’t allow the screenplay to stagnate but when Ajay offers Anindita as an alternative to her, it kills the anxiety of what’s next for the debutante doesn’t have the wherewithal to justify the gutsy girl who has her own list.
Unfortunately, Ajay has very few items on his list. The message that like jewellery, love also demands some imperfection to be lasting, is more spoon-fed than heart felt. The soapy treatment makes it worth a wait for the film’s television premiere.
