"SKTKS" - Collision of Bromance and Romance
Luv Ranjan had returned with yet another film on urban relationships seen from a male perspective but it unknowingly also shows that men have some serious growing up to do!
FOSLA is a term I got to discover through social media. 'The Frustrated One Sided Lovers Association' seems to be peopled largely by frustrated men, at least in my limited experience. I’m told that there’s also a dedicated Facebook page for the community. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (SKTKS) seems like it's made for the young male members of this club, in fact all of Luv Ranjan’s films are. The way he has steadily stood by enthu-ridden young men, who have been disillusioned by women and failed relationships, FOSLA could well be called Ranjan’s genre. No wonder there are certain givens in his films—the young women are either full-blown bitches or weird wallflowers and then there is also another bunch—the loving elderly mainstreamers. No nuances are allowed even sideways. Not that one is complaining either; we can well imagine where all this deep-seated anxiety prompted by women is coming from.
Luv Ranjan is just Anti- Karan Johar type director who entertained audience with anti- romance flicks e.g. Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2.
Titu’s (Sunny Singh) pending marriage with Sweety (Nusrat Bharucha) comes in the way of his friendship with Sonu (Kartik Aaryan). The traditional filmy triangle gets inverted. Instead of two men fighting over one woman we have the love for the woman coming in the way of male friendship. The representation of bromance is, in fact, more interesting in the older generation with what the grandfather (Alok Nath) almost joined at the hip with his bachelor buddy (Virendra Saxena). Is that Ranjan’s ideal?
What about the women? Frankly, I was least offended. Empathise as young men may with the two heroes, Sonu and Titu also show how some men always prefer to remain boys. Unwittingly the two had me laugh at them than with them. The cute-hunk appeal aside which good woman would be able to spend more than two minutes with them? At 28 they seemed in urgent need of growing up and getting a life, reinstating my long held belief that modern Indian woman has indeed come a long way and men have some serious catching up to do. Men in the film complain about lack of “achchi ladki”; most women on the other side would have much the same to say about men.
There are some genuinely funny, even if broad, punchlines and phrases, a sharpness and bite to the writing and good comic timing by the actors to make the first half a heady ride. The second half does get scattered, needless song-n-dance routines get rushed in as does a mandatory foreign location—Amsterdam. Things seem easily, melodramatically and illogically resolved but the cheekiness comes back in the climactic moments to restore the equality of every Bollywood movie.
Luv Ranjan’s direction is splendid. He has made the film a racy entertainer which is what it should’ve been. Music (by Rochak Kohli, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Amaal Malik, Guru Randhawa, Zack Knight and Saurabh-Vaibhav) is very good. Most of the songs are fast numbers with appealing music. Even their most hit song 'Tera Yaar Hoon Main' the friendship anthem 2018 is very nice. Lyrics go well with the mood of the film. Song picturisations (by Bosco-Caesar) are eye-filling. Sudhir K. Chaudhary’s camerawork is of a fine standard. Akiv Ali’s editing is crisp and over all the movie has become 2018 one of the best drama movies with it's great story line and story.
Titu’s (Sunny Singh) pending marriage with Sweety (Nusrat Bharucha) comes in the way of his friendship with Sonu (Kartik Aaryan). The traditional filmy triangle gets inverted. Instead of two men fighting over one woman we have the love for the woman coming in the way of male friendship. The representation of bromance is, in fact, more interesting in the older generation with what the grandfather (Alok Nath) almost joined at the hip with his bachelor buddy (Virendra Saxena). Is that Ranjan’s ideal?
What about the women? Frankly, I was least offended. Empathise as young men may with the two heroes, Sonu and Titu also show how some men always prefer to remain boys. Unwittingly the two had me laugh at them than with them. The cute-hunk appeal aside which good woman would be able to spend more than two minutes with them? At 28 they seemed in urgent need of growing up and getting a life, reinstating my long held belief that modern Indian woman has indeed come a long way and men have some serious catching up to do. Men in the film complain about lack of “achchi ladki”; most women on the other side would have much the same to say about men.
There are some genuinely funny, even if broad, punchlines and phrases, a sharpness and bite to the writing and good comic timing by the actors to make the first half a heady ride. The second half does get scattered, needless song-n-dance routines get rushed in as does a mandatory foreign location—Amsterdam. Things seem easily, melodramatically and illogically resolved but the cheekiness comes back in the climactic moments to restore the equality of every Bollywood movie.
Luv Ranjan’s direction is splendid. He has made the film a racy entertainer which is what it should’ve been. Music (by Rochak Kohli, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Amaal Malik, Guru Randhawa, Zack Knight and Saurabh-Vaibhav) is very good. Most of the songs are fast numbers with appealing music. Even their most hit song 'Tera Yaar Hoon Main' the friendship anthem 2018 is very nice. Lyrics go well with the mood of the film. Song picturisations (by Bosco-Caesar) are eye-filling. Sudhir K. Chaudhary’s camerawork is of a fine standard. Akiv Ali’s editing is crisp and over all the movie has become 2018 one of the best drama movies with it's great story line and story.
