Jodi Breakers: This Jodi fails to work

Stills of R. Madhavan and Bipasha in the movie Jodi Breakers

Ashwini Choudhary's Jodi Breakers is about Sid (R. Madhavan), a newly divorced man enjoying his freedom with girls in bikinis, who seem to have fallen in love with his double chin and pot belly because Sid has already lost his expensive watch, house and car to pay the alimony. He can still smile because during the process he has discovered a new job: breaking marriages. He must be doing something worthwhile to drive an Audi, but that is beyond the scope of the plot. The makers have lifted the basic idea from Heartbreaker, but haven't fleshed it out. The comedy borders on the crass, and the romantic portions are incongruous.

In a case of miscasting, Choudhary has put Madhavan and Omi Vaidya in a plot that demands cool dudes. No doubt, Madhavan is a good actor and tries to put more meaning into the lines than the dialogue-writer imparted, but some roles demand face value, or should one say shape value? Here as a bloated divorcee, singing “Kunwara Hoon Kunwara” with babes going bonkers over him, he looks out of place. It doesn't help that he is paired opposite the super fit Bipasha Basu and shares screen space with Milind Soman and Dipannita Sharma, people who rely solely on the coolness quotient.

Omi's turn as a sort of Casanova is irksome. It has been a couple of years since

3 Idiots hit the screens, but Omi is still sticking to the Uganda-born Chatur's accent. As Sid's buddy when his speech gets mixed with the bar menu, we get some ‘Old Monk' moments, but after that the humour goes downhill.

While in the French film, the detailing of the hard-to-believe profession was spot on, here even hardcore believers in Bollywood will find it blasphemous. Sid is joined by a svelte Sonali (Bipasha Basu shows some spontaneity, for a change) over a drink. Together, they free some souls caged in matrimony, but in the process get close enough to discuss the anatomy of a kiss over a drinking binge. Sid is shrewd, Sonali remains a romantic. Ultimately, they hit a road block in Greece when they separate a perfectly happy couple (Milind Soman and Dipannita Sharma) with Sid not telling Sonali he has a personal stake in it.

It doesn't take long for Sid to realise his fault. Time for remorse and the entry of good old Helen, who plays the grandmother, the trusted lever of Bollywood to bring together the sparring partners over staple melodrama climaxed with that timeless line “Main tumhare bachche ki maa banne wali hoon”. And we thought we are done with it!

Jodi Breakers

Genre: Romantic comedy

Director: Ashwini Choudhary

Cast: R. Madhavan, Bipasha Basu, Milind Soman, Dipannita Sharma, Omi Vaidya

Storyline: A divorce expert gets a bout of guilt after he breaks a perfect couple for personal reasons.

Bottomline: One doesn't know about the relationships it talks about, the film is dysfunctional for sure.