CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Ileana D’Cruz, Arun Ajikumar
Marriage is no doubt a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution? Azazel Jacobs’s The Lovers (2017), Do Aur Do Pyaar movie shows that marriages are not only about sharing a bed and a bedroom. It needs to have the zing which is missing in most modern day marriages. Probably the familiarity and the comfort of the relationship is so huge that couples start taking the relationship for granted. And that is where the down slide begins.
Marriages are never rosy. It’s mostly messy and that’s what make it challenging. The best thing about Do Aur Do Pyaar is that it didn’t shy away from vulnerability_._ In fact, it is unapologetically vulnerable and all the characters in the film are beautifully flawed. Kavya (Vidya Balan) and Ani (Pratik Gandhi) are married for 12 years. They are not exactly unhappily married, but that mad, passionate love is not there anymore. So, they are looking for affection outside marriage. A relationship outside marriage that makes them feel alive and that partner outside marriage is not judging you for your looks, clumsiness or your personality. That partner outside marriage is finding your flaws to be attractive.
Often in marriages beyond a certain year, you stop engaging with each other, you lose interest and most importantly you don’t argue or fight with each other. Both of you are just like two pieces of furniture. Like Kavya (Vidya Balan) says in the film, “Why is that we don’t have fights like the way we used to do during our initial years of our relationship.” Very true, isn’t it? Relationships stay alive with fights and we often forget that. And again not always do you need to be faithful to each other. Shirsha Guha Thakurta’s feature debut Do Aur Do Pyaar tries to say that a certain element of adultery in a relationship is normal.
Do Aur Do Pyaar shows that for Kavya (Vidya Balan) and Ani (Pratik Gandhi) relationship all they talk about is the size of the garbage bags and allergy medicine. The relationship has gone monotonous and there isn’t any freshness in their conversation. Kavya finds happiness in her relationship with a handsome photographer who mostly works out of New York, but has decided to settle down with her in Bombay. The role is played by Sendhil Ramamurthy. While Ani feels alive in the arms of an aspiring actor Nora played by Ileana D’Cruz. Simple concept that happens in many urban households, but the way the film treats it is what makes it refreshing. The movie talks about everything- love, sex, orgasm, infidelity and most importantly conflict and why it happens in a long relationship of 12 to 15 years. The best thing about Do Aur Do Pyaar is the way it is spiced with humour even during stressful moments.
But the happiest part of the film is when Kavya and Ani make a trip to her hometown, Ooty, Tamil Nadu when Kavya’s grandfather expires. They revisit the beginning of their love from there. It kind of brings back nostalgic memories of their love story starting from the lamppost where they hit while riding a scooter to the retro-bar where they used to go for a drink and most importantly their favorite love songs. Through this film we get to know the connection of love with toothpaste.
The connection of food in films is kind of dying and it is great to see the new filmmaker showing the origin of Chicken65 and Begun posto (aborigines with poppy seed paste). The clash of cultures and the clash of two states (Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) is beautifully depicted in Do Aur Do Pyaar. The film deals with how this couple find their way back to each other.
As for the performances, it looks like a Pratik Gandhi year. It is great to see his comic and romantic roles, first with Madgaon Express and now with Do Aur Do Pyaar. Vidya Balan seems to be in her full form. It is good to see her back in a rom-com. Vidya and Pratik’s chemistry work well on screen. And it is a welcome break to see, a couple in their late thirties-early forties having a flawed yet beautiful relationship.
