Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety review: The boys have a good laugh at the girl's expense

Like most of his previous films, Luv Ranjan's latest Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, presents the age-old battle of the sexes in the most stereotypical manner, cushioned with some misfired jokes and dollops of cuss words.

When Ranjan made his first film, the hilarious Pyaar Ka Punchnama, most of us overlooked the sexist tone in the film because it provided genuine laughs with some witty lines. The sequel, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 was similar in many ways. It had three boys delivering some sharp lines and being the hapless boyfriends to very shrewd, sexy, gold diggers. Both films indulged in sexist jokes and female bashing. His second film Akaash Vani - was perhaps the only departure from his formula comedies- where the film spoke about marital rape.

Sonu Ke Titu ki Sweety, unfortunately, does not fall into the latter category but the former. Ranjan's story about 'Bromance vs Romance' sticks to stereotypes, makes jokes about ditzy women who either are wanting to sleep with the rich brats or marry and take control of them. Or both.

Sonu (Kartik Aaryan) has been lending his shoulder to his BFF Titu (Sunny Singh) to cry on, for years every time he breaks up with a girl. Titu, a bit of a mushball, falls easily in and out of love and Sonu, like a good and possessive friend, always ends up 'rescuing' him from the clutches of manipulative girls. Titu meets Sweety Sharma ( Nushrat Bharucha) in an arranged marriage set up and falls instantly in love. Sweety has literally no flaw. She knows how to please her man and his family with the right responses and timely jagratas. The only person who is not impressed is Sonu, who feels something is surely fishy about the girl who is set to marry his friend. 'Itna perfect kaun hota hai?' is his argument.

As the days go by and the family gears up for the grand wedding, Sonu tries every trick in his bag to sabotage the wedding because he is sure that the girl is not right for his friend. The girl though is smart enough to figure out Sonu's intention, and even admits she is 'chalu' and calls a spade for a spade and has a ready retort to all of Sonu's accusations. Thus begins a battle of sexes and no prizes for guessing who wins in a story that screams of misogyny.

Ranjan manages to gather a motley group of actors, all in top form and delivering some unintentional and some genuinely hilarious lines with absolute ease. Aaryan, a regular in Ranjan's films, gets the over suspicious, over-possessive Sonu's part to the hilt. So does Singh, who as the gullible, sweet Titu is someone you would fall for very easily. There is Alok Nath, who after ages gets to be non -sanskari, and is quite a delight to watch. Actress Ishita Raj, as Titu's ex girlfriend also delivers a fine performance as the girl who is gullible enough to think Titu wants her back. The film's female lead, Bharucha, Ranjan's other favourite, though gets a raw deal as her character is the most half-baked. Never does it clearly mention as to why Sweety is not the right girl for Titu or why she can't be trusted. So Bharucha is left narrowing her eyesat regular intervals.

In fact, Ranjan oversimplifies and makes a generic statement on how between the wife and the friend, the wife wins. In Ranjan's universe, the woman is always manipulative, overtly critical, always wanting to control the man in her life and usually a gold digger. In all his films, including Sonu Ke Titu ki Sweety, women are the butt of all kinds of jokes. His characters pass sweeping statements on women and his women stick to all kind of stereotypes. And that is the primary problem with this film. But isn't this something that Luv Ranjan has been portraying in all his films?Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety doesn't offer anything new that way.

Barring one, all his films have celebrated male bonding at the expense of dissing the women. And at a time, when filmmakers consciously are trying to change the way we see female characters in films, Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety negates all those attempts by creating caricature characters.

Ranjan's films always have some hilarious lines and this film has its fair share too. But all of these factors still don't manage to make the film as entertaining at Ranjan's first film.

Despite its flaws, the film is bound to work. Because it celebrates dosti over pyaar. Because it makes some crass jokes about girlfriends and wives which in a few months will become Whats App forwards. It has some catchy tunes, good-looking actors who deliver the witty, cocky lines perfectly that will get the crowd cheering in the theatres for sure.

Is that good enough? Maybe for the audience that it caters too. But if you look beyond all the floss, it indulges inmisogyny and that is definitely not cool.

Rating: 2/5