Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety : Reviews and BO

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Posted: 7 years ago

#11

'Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety' review | Kartik Aaryan,Nushrat Bharucha & Sunny Singh's film is funny and engaging

Chaya Unnikrishnan | Updated: Feb 23, 2018, 09:45 AM IST

A still from Sony Ke Titu Ki Sweety

Film : Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Comedy)

Film : Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (Comedy)

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha, Sunny Singh

Direction: Luv Ranjan

Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes

Story: Sonu (Kartik) and Titu (Sunny) are best friends since childhood and the former is fiercely protective of the latter. Titu tends to fall in love easily and Sonu has made it his job to save him from ending up with dominating girlfriends.

Review: The film opens with Sonu getting a phone call from a sobbing Titu. When Sonu lands up at Titu's place, we gather that it is a common occurrence - the latter's girlfriend Pihu (Ishita Raj) is a control freak, who makes him jump loops and every single time, Sonu comes to his rescue. Sonu has enough of it and asks Titu to choose between Pihu and him and the friend chooses his bestie. Next, Titu agrees for an arranged marriage, which has Sonu worried of losing his place in his friend's life. It's doubled when he meets the bride-to-be Sweety (Nushrat). How the two fight for space in Titu's life forms the crux of the story.

Based in Delhi, it's a typical large Punjabi family comprising an assortment of relatives - dadi, chacha, etc. It's neither a syrupy one like in Barjatya films, though there is a light-hearted reference to Hum Aapke Hai Kaun - nor is it dysfunctional. But yes Alok Nath, who is usually seen as the sansakri papa is far from it. He is the patriarch of the family, but not moralistic. In fact, he smokes and drinks with his wife's mooh bola bhai Lalu (Virendra Saxena) on the sly and is more like a friend to Sonu who lost his mother when he was 13 and has been staying with them since then.

The film scores on dialogue - Kartik and Alok Nath - have some of the best lines. It's a film that follows the youth lingo and like in TV shows, all the abusive words are beeped, but it works for the film. It has the effervescence of the youth, ticks all the boxes when it comes to the youngsters idea of fun - flings and daaru. A couple of songs like Dil Chori Sadda Ho Gaya and Subah Subah are catchy and fun to watch. Among the performances, Kartik shines -- though it doesn't beat his Pyar Ka Punchnama outing -- Alok Nath is a delight to watch and so is Virendra Saxena as his aide complements him perfectly. Ayesha Raza as Titu's mother is endearing. Ishika who has a small role as Pihu stands out. However, Nushrat, who has a crucial role as the girl who gives takkar to Sonu fails to pack a punch. Sunny's Titu doesn't rise above the script and is pretty flat. For most parts, the film is funny and engaging. If not romance, the film definitely gives friendship goals.

Verdict: The youth will connect with it and the ending will take you by surprise. One star only for the climax which combines emotion, drama and humour perfectly. A very rare instance to happen in a Bollywood film, watch the film only for that if nothing!

Critic's rating: 3/5

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altgr

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Stunner

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Posted: 7 years ago

#12

Faridoon Shahryar

@iFaridoon

.#SonuKeTituKiSweety is a fun entertainer with Blockbuster music n fine performances.A youthful film 4 all age groups.Kartik has a charming screen presence.He'll enter the big league.Nushrat is a terrific actress-dancer.Alok Nath...plz keep those expletives coming sir.Go n Enjoy!

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altgr

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#13

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety movie review: The unfunny story of a frustrated misogynist

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety movie review: Luv Ranjan is back with the same actors, the same story and the same hatred in his heart.

Updated: Feb 23, 2018 10:10:00

By Sweta Kaushal

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety would be perhaps the first misogynist attempt where even a man has been objectified in the process.

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
Cast: Nushrat Barucha, Karthik Aryan, Sunny Singh
Director: Luv Ranjan
Rating: 1/5

Bollywood films often begin with a disclaimer where filmmakers claim the story and characters in the film have no connection with any real person or incidents. I sincerely wish the disclaimer is 100% true for Luv Ranjan's Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. For, here's a young guy who has no clue what he wants in life, a childhood friend who turns into Lalita Pawar-style mom-in-law every time he spots a girl near his friend, and a woman who claims to be chalu' but does everything that suits the bahus of a Sooraj Barjatya film. Have you met or heard of similar characters in real life? At least I haven't.

Luv Ranjan of Pyaar Ka Punchnama fame is back with his team of actors, Nushrat Bharucha, Kartik Aaryan and Sunny Singh, and a new film, Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety. It is the story of a girlfriend and a friend fighting over the possession' of a man. Yep, this would be perhaps the first misogynist attempt where even a man has been objectified in the process.

The film opens with Kartik aka Sonu delivering a Pyaar Ka Punchnama-style speech; only he is talking about the illogical demands of a client. We are soon told, through a few more similar throwbacks to Ranjan's past films, that Sonu runs an event management company and his friend Titu (Sunny) is an idiot who hooks up with all the wrong girls and doesn't even realise they are fooling him. He only has Sonu to save him from the assaults the womankind has decided to wreck on him.

Enter Sweety (Nushrat) via the arranged marriage route and Sonu's life is shaken to the core. Not only is he insecure of losing' his friend, he even believes Sweety is too good to be true. While the character clearly is unreal, the only mean thing she does in the entire movie is to tell Sonu that she is chalu'. The filmmaker wants us to believe she is a good-digger, with the gold-digger' song playing in the background, but the story offers nothing to substantiate the claims.

From pulling an ex in the fight to manipulating family members, Sonu does everything you can imagine in a saas-bahu fight (or maybe watch in a TV serial) in his bid to separate Sweety from Titu.

Right from Sonu asking Titu to get a better cook or maid instead of getting married to Sweety to threatening her with false cases, the script and dialogues reek of misogyny that even the two Pyaar Ka Punchnama films couldn't bring together.

If there's one fresh or slightly entertaining thing in the film, it is the pairing of Alok Nath and Virendra Saxena. Alok Nath shuns his sanskari image and dons the avatar of a cool granddad. Though his dialogues are also gender-biased, the novelty of watching Alok Nath in a non-sanskari garb can be fun. Saxena plays Alok Nath's old friend and even with limited dialogues, he manages to keep the sequences interesting with his restrained acting.

The one thing that worked for Pyaar Ka Punchnama films was the relatability, even if it was restricted to guys-only discussions. Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety doesn't have that, nor is it funny.

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altgr

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Posted: 7 years ago

#14

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

Sunny Singh, Nushrat Bharucha and Kartik Aryan in a still from the first song of 'Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety'. (Source: YouTube) Photograph: (Others)

Shomini SenNew Delhi, Delhi, India

Feb 23, 2018, 10.03 AM (IST)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Luv Ranjan indulges in major women bashing

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 kaunhota hai?' is his argument.

A still from Chhote Chhote Peg song from the film "Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety". (Source: YouTube) (Others)

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 eyes at 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.

A still from 'Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety' (Twitter)

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 in misogyny and that is definitely not cool.

Rating: 2/5

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altgr

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Posted: 7 years ago

#15

Latest

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety Movie Review - Ultimate bhai-sexual comedy!
Mayank ShekharMumbaiFeb 23, 2018, 08:56 IST
Let alone issues you may (or may not) have with this pic, there are some serious problems in here between the film's lead characters that are worth every minute of your sweat - even if you deem them very #FirstWorldProblems, so to say

Still from Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
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Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety
U/A: Drama, Romance
Director: Luv Ranjan
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha, Sunny Singh
Rating:
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Let alone issues you may (or may not) have with this pic, there are some serious problems in here between the film's lead characters that are worth every minute of your sweat - even if you deem them very #FirstWorldProblems, so to say. They appear urgent, essential, nonetheless. What sets this Sweety picture apart is a seamless smile running through the whole film still - something that inevitably transfers from the screen on to your face, while the filmmakers manage to even sway your emotions on occasion, and keep you engaged with far more suspense than suspension of disbelief.
What's the big deal? Well, here's the big deal. As a genre, this is what you might call a quintessentially juvenile, North Indian 'launde wali' picture. It's full of lad humour, to explain in English. The whole set-up though is so originally desi, alternating between a mansion in Meerut, and a swanky bachelor-pad in Delhi, funded by a joint family of wealthy halwais (sweet shop owners).
The battle of sexes, needless to add, is basically about how a woman treats her man (prospective or otherwise) as a perennial, personal project - a work in progress, as it were. She employs every astra (weapon) in her armour (sexual, political) to see to it that he dances to her tune, forever; and ideally dances alone. She's not simply insecure - just inherently wily.
Frankly, I can imagine a lot of women finding this film admittedly sexist. But you tell me a joke, and I'll you tell you the cyst in that humour. That's how any comedy works, or walks, boss - in the opposite direction of political correctness. So, please don't fret is all I'm sayin', give peace a chance.
The hero here, since you must know, is called Sonu. He is fretting, because his bhola-bhala BFF, that's Titu, is under the spell of Sweety. Titu and Sweety have only met recently, and they're about to get married. Sonu, I suppose, can't stand Sweety, because she'll have him sit nowhere near Titu, once she marries him. Now, this is hardly as complicated as the film's tongue-twister title.
How much can you possibly plough through such a plot? That is essentially the brilliance in its story-telling. Who's the script-doctor Love here, by the way? The writer-director is called Luv, no less. He equally skillfully cracked the desi bro-code in the sleeper-hit, current cults, Pyaar Ka Punchnama (PKP) and its sequel, with the same cast (give or take a few), within the same genre, only getting progressively better at it - PKP2, I felt, was superior to the first part. This one's definitely the best of the lot. The cast is absolutely up to the mark. The one who, in fact, stands out is Alok Nath as the cool, Black Label swigging, Punjabi grand-dad. For once, from what I hear, Nath is in a role closer to his actual self, rather than the Sanskari parts he's walked through most of his career. Kartik Aaryan plays the jilted-bro Sonu.
Aaryan is best remembered for his motor-mouth monologues on the state of the Indian man in the two PKPs, which became instant sensations on YouTube. Why? Because of the exaggerated 'bhadaas' in all that bak-bak. Lots of young, supposedly 'suppressed' bros could identify with the heart-felt catharsis. They'll feel the same watching this Sweety picture. It's seeti-maar stuff, totally.

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altgr

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Posted: 7 years ago

#16

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety Movie Review: Broken-Back Mountain

What could have been a perceptive behavioral comedy about Indian adulthood turns into a horribly tone-deaf tale about two men who should have come out of the closet long ago

BY RAHUL DESAI

Director: Luv Ranjan

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Sunny Singh, Nushrat Bharucha, Alok Nath, Virendra Saxena, Ishita Raj

Luv Ranjan might just be India's most famous "meninist. Perhaps the strict dress code on his production sets dictates the use of #BrosBeforeHoes and #NotAllMen T-shirts only; good-natured girls are probably immediately ejected from sight. Three of Ranjan's four films recreate feminist themes from a male point of view. In each, victimized men thrive on increasing degrees of brotherhood to fight back against deviously controlling women. This might have been masterful subversion if the director intentionally meant to satirize the female counterpoint.

But I don't think his films are that self-aware. None of his choices are that cheeky or deliberate. While meninism is supposed to be a parody movement, this director has inexplicably elevated it into the realms of angry romanticism and turned it into a mainstream Bollywood genre. Unfortunately, Ranjan knows his target audience there are millions of bitter men in a country that can't distinguish between heartbreak and entitlement. Needless to mention, a (waxed) chest-beating film about aimlessly evil girls isn't quite the need of the hour.

In Sonu Ke Titu ki Sweety, he repeatedly puts forward some of the darkest psychological mind-games and emotional manipulation with the casual flimsiness of a college sports competition.

Offensive stereotypes might have still been fine if these were shamelessly boyish comedies with zero inhibitions like, say, a Wedding Crashers or an American Pie. But as much as he defensively claims in interviews that his films are just for fun (and not for dispensing "gyaan), Ranjan, it often appears, is dead serious about his urban male gaze. The cartoonish sound cues and privileged North Indian milieu come across as clumsy ruses to disguise the political incorrectness the vengefulness of his vision. By simply basing characters in Delhi (or Meerut) time and again, one might earn the license to depict a certain kind of rooted toxicity (Badrinath ki Dulhaniyais an example), but one certainly does not get the license to trivialize this toxicity. And that has always been Ranjan's biggest problem.

In Sonu Ke Titu ki Sweety, he repeatedly puts forward some of the darkest psychological mind-games and emotional manipulation with the casual flimsiness of a college sports competition. Rape technicalities, needy ex-girlfriends, character certificates and unhealthy obsessions are employed as "fun devices to gaslight us that is, if we read too deeply into its implications, the movie is designed to convince us that we are oversensitive, uptight people. Never mind the opening party song parading blonde twin girls in pigtails and hot pants to help a sad boy move on from his flaky ex.

Only the premise that of an anti-love-triangle involving a girl (Nushrat Bharucha as Sweety) threatening to disturb a lifelong bromance (Kartik Aaryan as Sonu, Sunny Singh as Titu) is mildly relatable. Ranjan however injects a truckload of alarmingly disturbing relationship philosophies into this seemingly harmless storyline. What could have been a perceptive behavioral comedy about Indian adulthood turns into a horribly tone-deaf tale about two men who should have come out of the closet long ago. Or at least, that's how I see it. Because there is literally no other way any adult Indian male would exercise such a toxic mental stronghold over his closest friend if there weren't a hint of untapped homoerotic undertones between them. Again, as much as I'd like to believe otherwise, Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety is not a brave South Asian New Wave gay love story hidden in broad daylight. So what if there are two mournful songs devoted to Sonu's fear of separation from nave Titu? So what if Sonu is the reason Titu will forever remain single, and vice versa?

Only the premise that of an anti-love-triangle involving a girl (Nushrat Bharucha as Sweety) threatening to disturb a lifelong bromance (Kartik Aaryan as Sonu, Sunny Singh as Titu) is mildly relatable. Ranjan however injects a truckload of alarmingly disturbing relationship philosophies into this seemingly harmless storyline.

Slimfit-wearing Sonu is unnaturally possessive about longshirt-wearing Titu, given that they have grown up together in the same house after Sonu was unofficially adopted by Titu's wealthy, large-hearted family. So naturally, after a bad breakup, when Sweety enters the fray as Titu's holier-than-thou arranged fianc, Sonu suspects that she is a fraud "chalu, in his limited Delhi parlance (the other word being ch*tiye). The rest of the film is spent proving to us that life's most pressing rivalry is between the outgoing best friend and the incoming girlfriend through loud slow-motion shots of Sonu and Sweety walking past one another like stylish boxers and grinning suggestively after manipulating the hell out of poor Titu. To be fair, if your name is Titu, you probably deserve it.

Kartik Aaryan, the human equivalent of a Twitter rant, turns Sonu into a conniving asshole that doesn't deserve our empathy. Sunny Singh turns Titu into a dumb fool who is happy to be swayed like a yoyo between two selfish devils. And Nushrat Bharucha who is otherwise a competent actress gets so carried away with the bitchy expressions that not once are we told why she is actually a dangerous prospect. Is she a gold digger? Is she a psychopath? Is she a robot sent by Japan on a test run? Is she a writer duping a simpleton for research purposes? Is she every Luv Ranjan "heroine channeled into the plastic existence of one pointless antagonist?

Kartik Aaryan, the human equivalent of a Twitter rant, turns Sonu into a conniving asshole that doesn't deserve our empathy. Sunny Singh turns Titu into a dumb fool who is happy to be swayed like a yoyo between two selfish devils.

Basically, everyone in this film including the forcibly quirky members of the Sharma family is a strangely terrible human being with no respect for each other's feelings. Sonu tries to make Titu fall back in love with an ex, while Sweety just smiles as if she were a Bond villain stuck in an Abbas-Mustan thriller. If Titu was a slightly weaker (read: real) person, he'd have jumped off a balcony, and Sonu and Sweety might not have batted an eyelid before having angry sex with each other at his funeral. Again, this is just me fantasizing about one of the many saner directions this film could have taken.

Perhaps the only agreeable portion revolves around Titu's grandfather, Ghasitaram (Alok Nath, being as un-sanskaari as possible), and his best friend (Virendra Saxena), who spend nights smoking and drinking Black Label in their balcony. Saxena considers the man's wife the family matriarch to be his sister, and he even owns a tiny stake in their business empire. Theirs is an old-school equation designed to reflect an ideal future for Sonu, Titu and Sweety's modern-day predicament. Back in the day this is what could have been, Ranjan seems to be telling us. Their banter Ghasitaram is an amused onlooker despite knowing all the details, instead letting the "kids learn from their own mistakes is the only part that seems to be written with a purpose in mind.

Yet, his patronizing attitude is in sync with the language of the film a grandfather gleefully underplays the conflicts of a lower generation, even as Sonu warns him of Sweety being a girl intent on inheriting his fortune. Token progressiveness in such stories doesn't need to appear at the cost of protectiveness and common sense. We dare not take such issues too seriously, lest we are accused of not understanding the sur' of an alleged comedy.

Lastly, I'm not sure what kind of early life experience propelled Luv Ranjan to incessantly and, in 2018, tastelessly celebrate boyhood at the cost of girlhood. To the phantom woman who inspired him to wage a war on her kind, this is on you. Every meninist who forgets that he is not a real term is on you. Every subsequent Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety ka Punchnama will be on you. And the joke, as always, will sadly be on us.

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altgr

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#17

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety movie review: A dreary woman-hate-fest cum unwitting gaymance

Firstpost Feb 23, 2018 09:54 IST

By Anna MM Vetticad

Sonu and Titu have been buddies since nursery and almost brothers. The motherless Sonu even addresses Titu's mother as "Mummy.

Titu is the pretty and gullible one, an innocent darling who keeps falling for manipulative, controlling women. Street-smart, worldly-wise Sonu sees these women for the witches that they are and has been saving Titu from them for years.

Enter: Sweety Sharma as sweet Titu's potential biwi. Sonu is immediately suspicious of her, as he is of any new woman in his Titu's life, and as he probably will be of any man too, you realise as the film rolls on. But Sweety comes up trumps in every test Sonu throws at her until his opposition to his best friend's wedding becomes: she is too good to be true, so she must be faking her goodness.

Is Sonu right in doubting Sweety? Or will Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety prove that in a world filled with godawful, devious women and their male victims, there are some decent women after all?

Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha and Sunny Singh in a still from Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. YouTube

If you have watched writer-director Luv Ranjan's earlier works, the answers to these questions are so obvious that you may as well fast forward to the final scenes. Ranjan's calling card so far remains the sleeper hit Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), which was about three hapless, innocent young men embroiled in abusive relationships each with an all-out evil manipulative she-devil. He briefly flirted with sensitivity in Akaash Vani (2013), a film on marital rape, but returned with a second woman-hate-fest in the form of Pyaar Ka Punchnama (PKP) 2 in 2015, a near carbon copy of the first with a marginally different cast.

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety recycles the cast, clichs and convictions of both the PKP films.

Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha who play Sonu and Sweety here, have been fixtures in all Ranjan's films so far. Bharucha still looks like she might have the potential to do something different, but Aaryan, who showed some spark in the first PKP, is tiresome and hammy now.

Sunny Singh, who was in PKP2, delivers an off-the-mark performance here as a duh-ish Titu, although the director's intent seems to be to portray him as nave and golden-hearted, not dumb.

Sonnalli Seygall and Ishita Raj played horrid girlfriends in the two PKPs. Seygall has a few seconds long cameo here as one of Sonu's female human playthings, while Sharma has a longer role as wait for it, c'mooonnn, try guessing a horrid girlfriend. Sharma is the only breath of fresh air of the lot.

The opening scene of Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety features Sonu lecturing a man with a monologue of a length that is designed to remind us of the extended monologues assigned to Kartik Aaryan's characters in PKP 1&2. Thankfully this one is much shorter, but it serves as a teaser to the formulaic story that follows. The inside joke is also tacky and self-important considering that while this actor and film franchise have enjoyed some success, they have yet to enter the mainstream consciousness.

From that opener, the film cuts to Titu weeping over a girlfriend who has accused him of invading her privacy because he accessed her Tinder account. Sonu goes into a detailed description of the scheming harridan that she is. We are only minutes into the film, and already a cloying repetitiveness has set in.

Cut to the opening credits accompanied by a song called Bom diggy diggy, during which Sonu and Titu drum the bums of dozens of women who shake those butts in vibratory movements aimed at the camera, each other and the boys.

What comes next is from the same old mould, just much louder, more garish and even more open about its contempt for women than Ranjan's earlier films.

When Titu asks his parents to find him a bride, Sonu asks why he needs to marry when he could just change his cook, they have already bought a new washing machine and dishwasher, and alternative arrangements could well be made for sex. I guess you have to grant it to Ranjan for frankly acknowledging what most Indians do not: that these motivations are indeed what prompt many men to marry.

The lack of pretence continues all the way up to the song playing along with the end credits, when Sonu, Titu and Sweety dance together to the Yo Yo Honey Singh track Chhote chhote peg. "Itne der se baitha bas mind main tera padd ra hoon (all this while I have been reading your mind), a male voice sings as Sonu stares pointedly and reductively at Sweety's almost bare breasts, because hey, that is where a woman's mind resides, I guess?

While the director makes no bones about his desire to cash in on the deep-seated resentment towards women among a section of the film-viewing audience, I doubt whether the homosexual undertones of the Sonu-Titu bhaichaara were planned. Sonu's lurving gaze could be read either way, but what else is one to make of the song Tera yaar hoon main playing as a moony Sonu watches Titu with Sweety:

Tu jo rootha,

Toh kaun hasega.

Tu jo chhoota,

Toh kaun rahega.

Tu chup hai toh,

Yeh darr lagta hai.

Apna mujhko,

Ab kaun kahega.

Tu hi wajah tere bina,

Bewajah bekaar hoon main.

Tera yaar hoon main.

Translation:

If you are displeased,

Who will laugh?

If I lose you,

Who will I have?

When you fall silent, I get afraid,

Now who will call me his?

You are my reason,

Without you I am nothing.

I am your friend.

Commercial Hindi cinema sorely needs a homosexual romance, but not an unwitting one. The impression of a gaymance in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety comes not from a well-meaning director's deliberate intent. It is a product of poor acting and writing.

It is possible that Ranjan may make a better film some day, once he recovers from his raging hatred towards women and realises that in giving vent to that feeling, he is also repeatedly portraying men as manipulable fools and cowards.

The unfortunate part of Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety is that in small patches especially in a scene in which Ishita Raj's character Pihu is re-acquainted with Titu's family it shows a penchant for humour and good timing. Mostly though, this is a tacky, trite recycling of a recipe that has brought box-office success twice to this director. Why bother writing an original script when a photocopy machine is at hand?

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altgr

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Posted: 7 years ago

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Opinion: Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety's Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha need to leave director Luv Ranjan's nest

2018-02-22 19:24:12 IST
BySushmita Sen

Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha Twitter

Bollywood actors Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha became popular faces and a lovable on-screen pair post Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011). Since then, these two are stuck in the same zone with same director Luv Ranjan.

Till date, these two have mostly done movies with each other and their director was Luv Ranjan. Now, this Friday (February 23), we will have Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety which brings back the jodi of Kartik Aaryan and Nushrat Bharucha for the fourth time after Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), Akaash Vani (2013) and Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (2015).

Isn't it high time to come out of Pyaar Ka Punchnama (PKP) zone and leave Luv Ranjan's nest?

Though the director's movies made the two famous, the actors now should explore the industry and show their talent individually in other movies. Isn't it?

Or the actors are not getting good offers, except Luv Ranjan, who also looks like is quite fond of the two?

Whatsoever is the case, Kartik and Nushrat have won hearts and have created a good fan base. The two should definitely think of trying their hands in other projects. Kartik tried his luck with Guest Iin London last year and couldn't succeed that much. But he in contact with B Town biggies and we wonder whether he will be seen next in Karan Johar's movies as he has been spotted at the director's parties.

Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety Twitter

Meanwhile, Kartik and Nushrat are set to appear in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety with PKP 2's Sunny Singh. However, this time, Luv Ranjan has not made Kartik and Nushrat the lead pair, but have put them as rivals.

The movie will give you a hilarious glimpse into the dilemma of Sonu (Kartik) whose best friend Titu's life (Sunny) and his choices are taken over by his bride-to-be Sweety (Nushrat).

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Posted: 7 years ago

#19

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety Movie Review: A Great Entertainer in 'Anti-Women' Genre With No Social Conscience

It's time for Ranjan to actually grow up in his thoughts rather than serving up the same mentality again and again. The film had all the potential with a good cast to address the millennial issue of 'third wheeling' and that would've been fun to watch, but instead, they decided to make it an out and out 'guy' film, slamming women for even existing.

Updated on: February 23, 2018, 9:16 AM IST

Sameeksha , News18.com

One could easily argue that 2017 marked the presence of women and their rights in Hollywood cinema scene with films like Wonder Woman, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and shows like Big Little Lies and Handmaid's Tale getting appreciation from audiences and critics alike. Back home the year belonged to rooted stories with strong female representation in movies such as Lipstick Under My Burkha and even comedies like Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan and Bareilly Ki Barfi. Now the second month into 2018 and we are back to 2008, with cheeky comedy, sexist remarks and misogyny splashed in front of the audience in form of a story. Luv Ranjan's Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety is a brilliant example of how films shouldn't be made at a time when the entire world is echoing the thoughts of equality and banishment on gender discrimination.

The film was being promoted with the tagline of 'bromance vs romance' and the privileged thinking of the makers ultimately assumed it to be a case of bhai vs ladki. No thought occurred in the minds of either the writer or the director that the material they were producing was dated to the core, and was meant only to entertain a certain 'privileged' section of the society, while the other half watches it with a clenched fist, laughing not at the jokes but at the sheer ignorance of the director.

The film is about two friends Sonu and Titu. While Titu is a sweet, gullible boy, Sonu is his guardian angel with a bat. He is his best friend, more like 'brother from another mother'. The obsessed friend saves Titu from the biggest evil in the whole wide world- Terrorism Women.

The 'poison' of society keeps dictating how the guys should live their lives so Sonu makes sure that his gullible friend (with some sense) breaks up with the devil, only to enter into another 'danger'. Sweety enters Titu's life as a perfect woman who starts taking care of everybody from the first shot. Then starts the fight between 'bhai' and to-be 'lugai', which continues till the very last moment of the wedding.

Now, to be fair the plot seems interesting and it might have been an enjoyable experience, had they kept at least the fight 'genderless' by making it between a best friend and a lover. However, the makers decided to take the path most sexist and turned the entire plot and message into entertainment for the 'guys'. But hey, we've enjoyed Pyaar Ka Panchnama, so what's so wrong with this film? Well, while the film lacks a basic sense of the world, it also misses the connection and over-dramatises depiction of something as relatable as friendship makes the film lose the touch. And because the makers couldn't show the 'faulty' behaviour in Sweety's character, they made her say it out loud 'twice' that she's the 'bad guy' here for basically helping Titu built a life away from Sonu's toxicity (How dare she! This entire gender needs to be banished from the planet and just 'bros' should exist but the two men shouldn't convey their weirdly low-key romance with each other because it's gay and we are making a film for 'dudes').

There are so many eye-roll moments in the film that even your eyes start hurting after a bit and you actually have to watch the film. The film repeats itself at every given moment and is stretched to a point where the day and night of every wedding ceremony is shown! There are certain scenes which will remind you of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, especially the treatment of the songs.

Talking about the cast, Kartik Aaryan and Sunny Singh do have chemistry and you want to root for them but the glaring sexism keeps coming in the way. Nushrat Bharucha is pleasant and deserved more than just narrowing her eyes or a plotting smile. But then, when has Ranjan actually portrayed women accurately? They are either conniving and manipulating or dumb enough to give two bucks about their life. It's always the guys in the film who needs rescuing from such poison by themselves and their fellow 'good MEN' with no concept of heterosexual friendship or sisterhood in his films. Thus, you know what kind of audience is going to laugh the loudest or even clap at the cheapest, most misogynist dialogue.

It's time for Ranjan to actually grow up in his thoughts rather than serving up the same mentality again and again. The film had all the potential with a good cast to address the millennial issue of 'third wheeling' and that would've been fun to watch, but instead, they decided to make it an out and out 'guy' film, slamming women for even existing and that bit hurts a lot.

Overall, the film is a great entertainer in the anti-women genre, but sadly for Ranjan, it is not a proper category yet and thus the film deserved to called a sexist, 'eye-roll' worthy ride which will leave you frustrated and angry by the end of it.

Ratings: 1.5/5

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Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety Review: An Engaging Tug Of War Between Bromance & Romance With A Twist!

Posted By: Madhuri

Published: Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 8:15 [IST]

Rating:

3.0/5

Bromance vs Romance! Oh, a situation that's quite relatable to most of us, isn't it? Bestie falling for someone and you shaking your head as a dismissive 'No' for your friend's choice. Luv Ranjan's latest outing Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety derives largely from such tug-of-war.

Like Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, the director may be guilty for his portrayal of skewed gender balance here too. But what works in his favour that there is no false pretence built around the film. Remember Vidya Balan's famous dialogue from 'The Dirty Picture"? "Filmein sirf teen cheezo ke wajah se chalti hai ... entertainment, entertainment, entertainment" and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety does just that for a runtime of about 140 minutes.

Chaddi buddies Sonu (Kartik Aaryan) and Titu (Sunny Singh) are friends thick as thieves with Sonu being the dominant one in their equation. Be it matters of the heart or anything else, Sonu's saviour complex always comes to Titu's rescue. Enter the perfect 'bahu material' Sweety Sharma (Nushrat Bharucha). Cupid strikes and Titu decides to get hitched to this charming lady. But, Sonu is convinced that 'yeh naa too good to be true waala scene hai' and digs deeper only to realize that there's more to her that meets the eye. Will Sonu be successful in knocking some sense in Titu who is already floating high in love?

Kartik Aaryan took the internet by storm with his angry, comical rant about manipulative girlfriends in the Pyaar Ki Punchnama series. The snippet clicked with the Indian males who saw themselves in Kartik's character. In Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Kartik plays yet another relatable part and pulls it off with a magnetic charm. The actor shines even the emotional moments.

'Main heroine nahin, villain hoon'- Hard to imagine these lines go down with the affable Nushrat Bharucha? Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety might just burst that bubble for you! As the devil with the horns, she throws in a sweet surprise and is totally on fire with her warring opponent on screen. Her verbal sparring with Kartik heats up the moment with sizzles all around.

Sunny Singh as the meek Titu too pulls off his role convincingly and gets his own 'shining' moments. But his chemistry with Nushrat lacks a certain spark.

Those who have been on staple of 'Sooraj Barjatya' films, 'Baabuji' Alok Nath is here to give you a culture shock. He's everything else except 'sanskaari' and mind you, this time he isn't keen on doing a 'kanyadaan'!

Special mention for the actors who play the extended family and add more 'ha-ha' to your bouts of laughter.

On the flip-side, there are a few loose-ends. For example, the director skips to explain us the reason behind Sweety's meanness. Also, the film drags a bit in a few portions and could have been a little more crispier.

Sudhir. K. Chaudhary's cinematography works fine. Talking about the film's music, the recreated version of Zack Knight and Jasmin Walia's popular number 'Bom Diggy Diggy' is going to be your party song for the weekend. Dil Chori is also a foot-tapping number. But the real surprise is 'Tera Yaar Hoon Main' which beautifully plays out an emotional moment and tugs your heartstrings.

In a nutshell, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety is miles away from highbrow cinema. Instead, it's all about fun and spunk that's doesn't tell you to take itself seriously. Grab that popcorn bucket and make way for this one with your close pals. This one is dedicated to all the 'Sonu's and 'Titu's out there!

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha, Sunny Singh

Director: Luv Ranjan

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Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety : Reviews and BO - Page 2

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Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety Movie Review: A Great Entertainer in 'Anti-Women' Genre With No Social Conscience

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