Do Aur Do Pyaar Movie Review: Love is a breeze. Love can also be a tornado. It is beautiful and it is ugly. It can make you soar high and make you dizzy at the same time. And what happens when marriage comes in the way of love? Is love enough to make a marriage work? Can love happen twice and that too with the same person? Where does lust fit into the framework of love? And are extramarital affairs the gateway to finding your true soulmate?
Boomers, millennials and gen-Z have been equally confused about what true love is and have been questioning its grey nature. While some have been successful in indulging this confusion, others have approached it with a more unhinged perspective. The bottom line, however, remains that love is unpredictable and cyclical. And the Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi starrer, Do Aur Do Pyaar, explores all of that, not once casting a shadow of judgment on relationships, be it conventional or unconventional.
‘Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?’ questions the film in its prelude. It begins with a rain-soaked montage of Bombay (no, not Mumbai) with Vidya Balan’s Kavya breaking out into her signature infectious and delightful laughter as she and her lover Vikram seated in one of the city’s oldest Iranian cafes discuss how love is a lot like a tube of toothpaste and that gently nudging it at the right place can create wonders.
Kavya, a dentist, eloped with Aniruddh from Ooty 12 years back and now the married couple stays in Bombay. But their relationship today doesn’t have the same spark that it used to. Bored of her marriage, she has sought refuge in Vikram, a globe-trotting photographer. They’re in talks for buying a sea-facing house in the city and start a new life together. Anirudh, on the other hand, is in love with Nora, an aspiring actor. He’s currently planning to divorce Kavya and move in with his girlfriend.
However, the death of Kavya’s grandfather changes everything. Anirudh accompanies her to Ooty to bid a final farewell to her grandfather and while there, the memories of the past help rekindle their relationship. Soon, both of them find themselves torn between their spouses and their lovers. The relationship between the husband and wife almost turns into a clandestine affair that begin straining their connection with their extramarital partners.
A one-tone formula, a trope and a filler to drive a narrative forward, love stories were made in galore back in the day. Today, they are a novelty for the audience. One needs to patiently sit through mystery thrillers and patriotic actioners to earn themselves a story about two imperfect and real people navigating love and marriage.
Shirsha Guha Thakurta’s Do Aur Do Pyaar perfectly captures the nuanced messiness and intricacies of modern-day marriage and relationships. Though it also revolves around the greyness of extramarital affairs, the maker makes sure that she treats it with utmost sensitivity, maturity, objectivity and gentleness. There’s no coerced attempt to normalise love outside the sanctity of marriages. It’s this breezy treatment and approach that makes the film a winner.
The film is made up of multiple special moments that will stay back with you for a long, long time. The pre-interval block that sees a resolute and angry Kavya questioning her father’s authority and strictness followed by Anirudh and she downing glasses of whiskey, letting their hair down and dancing to Bin Tere Sanam in a local bar with mad abandon is a treat to watch.
The final confrontation scene between the couple is so well written, packaged and executed that you won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen for even a moment. It might not bear the same intensity and agony as a Marriage Story but writers Suprotim Sengupta, Amrita Bagchi and Eisha A Chopra deserve the loudest applause. While Kavya rues how Anirudh has changed so much, he laments over how she hasn’t and it is this conflict between them that leaves them with a feeling of loneliness and emptiness. Sounds pretty familiar, right?
Each character – Kavya, Anirudh, Nora and Vikram – are beautifully fleshed out. Despite the writers not spending a lot of time in establishing their back story, you will find yourself empathising with all of them. Nora’s constant disillusionment and Vikram’s heartbreak will tug at your heartstrings every now and then. These characters are flawed but not presented as villainous home-breakers.
One may not have gone through a rocky marriage, dealt with their partners cheating on them or fallen in love with someone more compatible outside a marriage and yet there are so many nuances, episodes and turns in the film that will hit home every now and then. No marriage and no relationship is perfect and Shirsha celebrates this grey without glorifying or wanting to set a precedent about the same. It’s a fine line to tread but she does it subtle audacity and a whole lot of heart.
And mind you, Do Aur Do Pyaar is no Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. There’s no Karan Johar-ification of an extramarital affair happening here. This film isn’t about rich and good looking characters dressed in the finest of designer wear with picture perfect make-up. Here, the characters are a reflection of us. Its dramatic quotient is also many notches lower. But unlike Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Do Aur Do Pyaar doesn’t have a bunch of memorable melodies to elevate the script. The background score of this film, however, is magical and kudos to the composers!
Having said that, credit should be given where it’s due and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna deserves brownie points as it waddled so that films like Do Aur Do Pyaar could fly. And hopefully, there will be no blowbacks this time around for not treading the path of virtue and morality. So, if you associate dubiousness with greyness, this film might not be for you.
Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi share the most incredible and effortless chemistry. It feels so organic that you forget that you’re watching a film. They’re both brilliant in the emotionally heavyweight as well as the comically lighter scenes. One can just hope that more filmmakers take note of this fresh pair and cast them in more stories. The restraint, charm and grace they bring to the table even when their worlds fall apart is stupendous.
Sendhil Ramamurthy and Ileana D’Cruz ably lend their shoulders and make this film a delight. They hit all the right chords and win your hearts. In a scene outside Bandra’s Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Anirudh and Nora with furry wings pinned on her back against a backdrop of a chai ki tapri are seen engaging in a heartfelt and emotionally intimate chat, which is yet another remarkable vignette from the film. Vikram’s conversation with Kavya, on the other hand, as he tries hard to woo her into staying with him against all odds is all kinds of heart-wrenching.
Do Aur Do Pyaar will make you want to fall in love despite all its chaotic messiness. It’s a warm and fuzzy ode to love in all its glory and grime. In this generation of swipe right and left and open romantic choices, it is companionship and communication that has become the foundation of relationships. And who doesn’t want to feel and be loved? Films like this don’t get made very often and it is this novelty that makes it a cut above the rest. It also reinforces the fact that simplicity is bliss and in most times, simplicity is more than enough to hold your undivided attention and it is the need for the same that keeps you going.
Comments
0 comment