Anyways, when I first saw the promo, I felt this was Maruti’s answer to Hyundai’s brilliant car selling in the 2010 charmer “Do Dooni Chaar”. But frankly, the Rishi Kapoor starrer was in a different league and the Product placement was just about tolerable. Here it is right in your face. Every other guy is drooling over the Ertiga, talking about its spacious interiors, how its back row flattens to increase boot space and other such crap. And all of it seems laughable, because the car is quite frankly horrendous. Far from the aspirational value they want to append to it. They say it’s not a car, it’s a LUV. Apart from the bad grammar, it also seems more like a badly shaped cardboard box!
I went to watch it because I heard some nice things about it. Well, it wasn’t great, but it didn’t completely bore me to death either. It was a happy little timepass flick.
So, Ram Kapoor, the fat father buys a Maruti Eritga for his to-be son in law. His daughter is about to get married and he is busy in the prep. But his son, Sameer (Saqib Saleem) is upto his usual lazy antics. He is like any other stereotypical teenager – useless, worthless, dumb and just out to impress the fairer sex. With the help of his Chaddi Buddy Gattu (Prabal Panjabi) he manages to drink booze all night and infuriate his father. He fortuitously lands a date with the hottest girl in the college - Jazzleen (Rhea Chakraborty) and manages to lose the Ertiga. And then starts the loony coverup and recovery story.
Now, it’s all sweet and the Punjabi humour is over the top as always, but what the film lacks in some brains. It’s all too clichéd. The father always has to berate his useless son, but love him deeply from inside and has to express that in the end, when his son apologizes. The mother always has to bring out goofy Punjabi jokes. The side kick always has to be a smart talking loser. The dream girl always has to be a bitchy one, who in the second half turns out to be a sweet, caring saint! Even the story is clichéd. If you have seen enough films, you can tell what’s gonna happen next.
The performances are quiet decent. Even though Saqib Saleem looks out of his depth in many scenes, his goofy charm does come through. Rhea as the bitchy Punju Siren does alright. She convinced me that she is dumb! The sidekick Prabal does a very good job indeed and helps Saqib pull it off. The background score is decent, but the songs overall are forgettable.
So should you watch this film? Well, if it’s on TV, you should definitely watch it once. Infact, if you really don’t mind spending some money in the week days, you can go watch it for some breezy fun. There is this one inspired song and dance routine, where the hero’s about-to-be-wedded sister does a sleezy act on stage, that leaves the entire crowd stunned! It’s hilarious to say the least. Otherwise, the Ertiga urf LUV overselling just get on the nerves. And that’s particularly why, in this film where the LUV is missing, the LUV is actually missing!
Rating: 5/10