R Madhavan, Fatima Sana Shaikh And A Match Made In Yauwan

Since this is a Karan Johar production, there are bound to be people who deserve love in each other’s company. Shrinenu Tirupathi and Madhu Bose are Ashok Kumar and Madhubala, Sanskrit and French, or maybe Jamshedpur and Kolkata, the two cities that Vivek Soni’s souffle-biryani travels through.

Srinu and Madhu are not as young as Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor in Nadaaniyaan (and definitely not that foolish), though not as old as Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi in Rocky Are Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.

Shrinenu and Madhu are…one of their kind, not exactly made for each other. It is their determination to find a common ground that makes this the “cute girl, nerdy boy asli romcom”.

The bang-on description comes from the film’s excellent dialogue writers. The conversations sound lived-in and … well, if not a hundred per cent real, then close. The characters whip up a constant bustle without crowding the canvas.

But the cynosure remains the Madhu-Srini relationship. Will they, won’t they?…. It’s a lovely little naughty yarn with loads of genuine feelings. True, towards the second half it begins to take itself too seriously, especially when Srini’s Bhabhi Kusum (the excellent Ayesha Raza) breaks free of a stifling marriage with Bhanu (Manish Chaudhary who excels in playing the patriarchal bully) to find ‘True Love’, whatever that be. (How does she know it isn’t just gas that makes her heart leaden, Aditya Roy Kapoor was heard asking in Metro In Dino lately).

There is a well-planned, elaborate conference-room interlude of reckoning where Ayesha Raza speaks on centuries of patriarchal tyranny. More than Manish Chaudhary’s take-it-on-the-chin patriarchy Bhanu, I was intrigued by his best friend Pramod (Sanjeev Wilson), who hangs around at every meal in his friend’s household. Is he meant to be Bhanu’s secret love life?

This is not quite the time and place for gender-equality lectures. But the film survives the extraneous onslaught on its lighthearted mood. Even as the mood gets excessively preachy, we never stop cheering for Srini and Madhu, who are so old-school, they seem a refreshing departure from the shallow woke-ness of young love.

One reason why the couple is so likeable is that they are played by Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh, two actors who are constantly pushing their vanity aside to play vulnerable, broken but repairable characters. They lose some, but they are winsome.

This is Fatima’s second admirable plunge into a damaged character after Metro In Dino.

As for Madhavan, he is going through the most productive phase of his career. Aap Jaisa Koi gives him the opportunity to sink into a part with plenty of blind spots. But the character is willing to work on his weaknesses. Yup, there is no shame in being a 40-year-old virgin, even if his best friend (Namit Das, pitch perfect) thinks otherwise. Kick in your balls, bro!

Director Vivek Soni’s concoction is not free of flaws. But the characters seem more interesting because of them. This romance between a Sanskrit teacher and a French tutor is Netflix’s atonement for recent sins.