An engaging twist on modern romance with a touch of family drama

Movie review: De De Pyar De 2 

Cast: Rakul Preet Singh, R Madhavan, Gautami Kapoor, Ajay Devgn and Javed Jaffrey.

Director: Anshul Sharma, Kunal Narula, Rakesh E Nair and Hina Anisha Rokadia

Rating: 8/10

THIS movie is an entertaining take on a new age love story where a bias about age differences takes centre stage as the plot addresses hypocrisy at different levels.

Ayesha (Rakul Preet Singh) returns from her job in London to her parents’ home in India to share in the imminent birth of her sister’s first child. But she comes with a secret which she is initially too scared to tell her parents (R Madhavan and Gautami Kapoor) about – she is in love with an older man, Ashish (Ajay Devgn), who wants to marry her.

The parents, who describe themselves as “modern, progressive people”, first accept this, stating that “age is just a number”, until they discover that Ashish is divorced with young adult children and is around the same age as Ayesha’s father. As they try to balance their love for their daughter with trying to get Ashish out of her life, they engage in various schemes to achieve this. Ashish tries to win over the parents in various ways, urged on by his bosom buddy, played by Javed Jaffrey.

The result is an entertaining comedy that shares moral and social dilemmas, with Madhavan overshadowing the other characters as he cons even his own daughter with his plans to make her change her mind about Ashish. He even hatches a plot to draw in Aisha’s childhood friend Aditya, (Meezan Jafri) in an attempt to create jealousy in Ashish’s heart.

Preet Singh's role as a determined, defiant and feisty young woman, as she berates even Ashish for not being strong enough about winning her over against the opposition, shows the way in which young women in India have broken out of the stereotypical paternal-run family system. But director Anshul Sharma treads carefully not to upset the applecart too much to ensure the film remains a box office hit. 

Fakir Hassen is a veteran Bollywood critic who has written three books on the subject.

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