Team FC
Luv Ranjan films are stories of men — heterosexual men, really — who are convinced they do not need women to live a happy, nourished life; of men who cannot understand women and weaponize this lack of understanding.
While the film is preoccupied with the perspective of its male protagonist, Greater Kailash’s Rohan Arora (Ranbir Kapoor), we are given glimpses of his lover by herself, a woman contemplating both heart and heartbreak.
Ranbir’s performance of Rohan feels so performed, in the same icky the way it did in Tamasha (2015) — and I know this might seem silly to say because every performance is performed, but his restlessness leaves you a little antsy, waiting to see how he behaves when he doesn’t have to impress Nisha with his wit and charm.
It is during Rohan and Nisha’s courtship in foreign lands that the film erupts with regular punches of that bubbling cinematic rush. Pritam’s sugary tunes, and Amitabh Bhattacharya’s witty, wily lyrics are wrapped in choreography that is sharp-edged, precise, and catchy.
It is as though Ranjan reminded himself that he needs to not just be original — which his voice is, undoubtedly — but sincere and kind, too. He cannot build an entire career out of male cynicism. That wave dries out.