Pyar Ka Panchnama: Misogynist's Delight

So it took a Pyar Ka Panchnama to shake me out of my year long hibernation from blogging... so be it and its not bad for a comeback especially when it gives the author the delicious pleasure of dissection:))....

PKP is debutant director, Luv (is his name being quirky about love or is this the Luv-Kush wala Luv?) Ranjan's diatribe against the fair sex - their viles, machinations and their maneuvers in relationships. Ladies, take a small breath, for our dear Luv is a misogynist who seems to revel in female bashing! The story follows three friends Rajat (Kartikeya Tiwari), Vikrant (Raayo Bhakhirta)and Nishant aka Liquid (Divyendu Sharma), through their loves and woes. What B town's latest outing tells you is a lopsided almost immature tale of how a guy can be 'ruined' in a relationship :)). Excuse me, Mr Luv or is it Hate, but is this a fallout of your personal experience? Is there any substance to the tale? Well, if so, my sympathies are with you. But, wouldnt it would have served you better if you had done a little more soul searching...achha, ok, that was too big a word..a little more research before dismissing the three ladies, Neha (Nushrat Bharucha), Riya(Shonali Sehgal) and Charu(Ishita Sharma), as manipulative, demanding, nagging, confused b*****s of the first order...??? :)

And then of course, there is a five minute non-stop monologue by our dear uxorious Rajat who is neck deep in distress in a live-in relationship with Neha (His "Babu, I Love You" bits in the movie are hilarious)and is heading nowhere...So, ladies, if you thought till now, that you stood right behind a successful man, please be informed by Rajat that now, you could very well be the cause for his destruction as well!:) The rabble rousing doesn't end here; take a sharp breath, Vikrant and Liquid have equally fascinating miseries to narrate.

Vikrant is in love with model Riya, who is trying hard to come out of a long standing relationship and is 'torn' between Mr Current and Mr Ex. Riya's way of handling the break up with Mr Ex (which she insists will be the way SHE will deal with it:)) amounts to having dubious 'discussions' with him (which Vikrant suspects invariably lead to sex)and our poor hero feels thoroughly used. It isnt a very rosy feeling..to imagine your woman getting cosy with two men at the same time, tch, tch, ram ram, what are women upto these days?

Nishant's story is by far the sorriest of the lot. The poor seedha-saadha bhola bhala, albeit foul mouthed Liquid falls for Charu, his colleague who uses him like a tissue for work as well as other secretarial chores -shopping, paying her bills et al..While the other two boys successfully manage a semblance of having sex lives, our Liquid just about manages to steal half a kiss with Charu, only to be dumped unceremoniously by the lady. Charu, you see, is another archetype of Luv's imagination of the female species, who two-times a long distance relationship and a lallu colleague with practiced ease.

The ending? Cliched. The three boys are so disgusted that they walk out and come back to square one. So, Mr Luv, while I do feel PKP is flawed, I would not want to take away anything from you or the lead actors' performances which are very credible, considering they are all newcomers. And that is what sustains our interest for close to three hours. Clumsy editing and the censored beeps apart, PKP is worth a watch. Watch it to get a slice of where urban relationships are supposedly headed, all of course, seen from the jaundiced eyes of Luv Ranjan Bhai. And its a no-brainer to know that men are indeed from Mars while women remain in Venus, which the movie kind of highlights,though with a steep bias. I am tempted to direct a sequel to this Panchnama with a strong 'punch'. Any takers? :)