Keyur Seta
Mumbai, 16 Mar 2018 9:00 IST
Vaibhav Tatwawaadi and Prarthana Behere's chemistry is impressive.
A guy and girl, who are poles apart, become friends. They slowly start having feelings for each other. They decide to get married after taking their respective parents into confidence. But problems start showing up in their relationship after marriage. What will happen ultimately?
Does this synopsis remind you of any film? Well, it will turn out that you will think of not one, but innumerable films based on this theme and template. This is exactly what Vishwas Joshi’s What’s Up Lagna is, even though the film tries to be cool and modern. Unfortunately, repetitiveness is not the only issue here.
The film revolves around two extremely different personalities. Aakash (Vaibhav Tatwawaadi), who works in the IT sector in Mumbai, is a perfectionist to the core. He strictly prefers to keep everything in order, come what may. Ananya (Prarthana Behere) is the exact opposite. Hailing from Nashik, she works as a theatre actress in Mumbai.
The two of them get introduced to each other in an unusual way while sharing a taxi from Mumbai to Nashik. Although Aakash and Ananya don’t start off on a good note, they slowly start liking each other and their friendship soon blossoms into love. But are such extreme personalities destined to be together?
When the audience is aware of the entire story right from the start till the end, the only way to impress them is to make sure they enjoy the predictability. What’s Up Lagna succeeds in that department in the first half. There are issues like the unconvincing manner in which the guy and the girl suddenly start dating, among few other things. But the humour, entertainment and the chemistry between the lead pair don’t let you give up on the film. The characteristics of the lead pair also manage to squash gender stereotyping.
What’s Up Lagna could have been an interesting exploration of the changing expectations from a girl after marriage and a statement against patriarchy. But the film touches these aspects only at the superficial level with little conviction. The behaviour of the two characters appears illogical at times. Also, the conflict area is delayed in the narrative, literally making you wait impatiently. The same happens even after it is introduced. This ensures that the film is dragged unnecessarily to 148 minutes!
An unusual problem area the film suffers from is the incompleteness of a number of scenes. Just when you gain interest in a particular scene, it ends abruptly.
The laughable product placement also deserves mention. Among all the products endorsed indirectly, the promotion of a matrimonial website is the silliest. The product placement clearly appears forced since the two of them fall in love after meeting in the real world without intervention of a matchmaker. There also comes a point when Aakash literally endorses an online movie ticket booking application by highlighting that it also has audience and critic rating. Seriously?
Nilesh Moharir and Troy Arif’s songs suit the romantic genre. But they end up dragging the proceedings in the second half. Sethu Sriram’s indoor camerawork is praiseworthy.
Vaibhav Tatwawaadi and Prarthana Behere’s pairing keeps the film going even when its graph is going down. Theirs is the go-to pair in Marathi cinema when it comes to playing young lovers. Tatwawaadi once again impresses you with his charm and wit. Behere fits into the character although she is not as natural.
Vidyadhar Joshi has played a strict father many times in the last few years. But this time, in the role of Ananya’s dad, he is more sensible and light-hearted, which makes him likeable. Vandana Gupte is completely believable as the nosy aunt, although her antics are similar to what she did in Barayan (2018) and Time Please (2013). Ila Bhate, as Akash’s mother, and Sneha Raikar, as Ananya’s, play their respective characters well.
Vikram Gokhale’s inclusion in the story appears forced. His preaching is unintentionally funny. But that turns out to be a welcome break when things are dragging to the point of boredom.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) also deserves to be criticized for their silly censoring. The word ‘sleep’ is muted in the sentence, ‘It is easy to sleep with someone.’ But the word ‘sex’ isn’t when a character says, ‘We don’t even have sex.’ We wonder why?