Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy review: Simple yet gripping tale with an intriguing title

A title like Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy is certain to confuse viewers and lead to a guessing game about what the film is all about. Most of the guesses would be wrong. But rest assured, the title has not been used just for the heck of it. It does fit the story well.

Sandeep Mohan's film revolves around a man called Nirmal Anand (Karanveer Khullar). He is into sales of medicines, especially a drug that claims to cure diabetes. He lives in Mumbai with wife Sara (Gillian Pinto), their daughter and a pet dog, Parie. Nirmal and Sara who, as their names suggest, profess different religions had married against their respective parents’ wishes.

Their love, however, is on the gradual slide when Sara is expecting another child. Soon, their relationship goes through more challenges after a tragedy and a new exploration that attracts Nirmal.

So, Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy, despite the unusual title, is a simple story of a usual, middle-class man. Like Sandeep Mohan’s previous films Love, Wrinkle-Free (2011), Hola Venky! (2014) and Shreelancer (2017), this one, too, is a simple yet appealing story about one of the thousands of ordinary folk you will see in any city; Mumbai in this case.

Once again the writer-director tells us an interesting and, at times, funny tale about the complicated lives in today’s times. His manner, both in terms of writing and presentation, is simple. Hence, you won’t find any sort of drama, major twists or even a noticeable background score, yet you will be hooked and want to know the outcome of the tale. 

Stories about urban couples do come with a set template. There will be some conflict which will lead to them falling apart midway, and same is the case with Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy. But the film still stands out because the conflict here is not just creative but truly out-of-the-box. You would have hardly come across such conflict among ordinary couples, though it is completely believable.

It’s just that after witnessing such a creative concept you don’t expect a simplistic climax. But it certainly does not fall in the disappointing zone.

There are two major differences between Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy and the earlier Sandeep Mohan films. One, for the first time he seems to have had a bigger budget to play with. This is easily his most lavish film till date in terms of production values and projection.

Second, he was known for casting rank newcomers and, at times, people who had never acted professionally before. But he has not followed that approach this time. Karanveer Khullar has had at least a couple of film appearances (including one in Sandeep Mohan’s own Shreelancer) and has done a fair amount of theatre. His acting skills are clearly visible as he knowingly does not put more effort than required, which works well.

Gillian Pinto, too, is known for her work in theatre in Pune. She is also spot on when displaying various shades of emotions. Like Khullar, Salmin Sheriff has been repeated from Shreelancer. He fits the role of an experimental filmmaker.

Khushboo Upadhyay had earned a lot of praise for her challenging lead role in Aadish Keluskar’s Jaoon Kahan Bata Ae Dil (2019). She has a supporting part here but one that makes a solid impact because of the confidence she displays.

All in all, Sandeep Mohan has done things somewhat differently with Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy, but importantly, he has maintained the simplicity that he is known for.

Nirmal Anand Ki Puppy was screened at the 10th edition of the Jagran Film Festival in Mumbai in September 2019.