Prem Keetanu feels outdated for its ‘boys will be boys’ narrative and muddled messaging, failing to deliver a compelling modern romance, observes Deepa Gahlot.
IMAGE: A scene from Prem Keetanu.
Key Points
- Prem Keetanu struggles to present a modern urban love story, relying on old-fashioned tropes and failing to create genuine emotional resonance.
- Aparshakti Khurana’s character, Ranjeet, is surprisingly more likeable than the entitled leading man, Vishal, despite being positioned as a rival.
- Prem Keetanu ultimately fails to make up its mind about its central message, reflecting a broader issue in Bollywood’s portrayal of contemporary relationships.
Here’s the problem with the Dilli-fication of the Malayalam film Premalu. In Prem Keetanu, the Hindi remake, a man who sees another proposing to the woman who turned him down, lands up with a hockey stick to fight his rival.
‘Launde aise hi hote hain. Yeh normal hai,’ he says.
Idiot guy missed the consent memo.
It’s this boys-will-be-boys nonsense that should have been banished from cinema by now (cleaning up society will take longer).
Far from being a sweet, youthful romance, Prem Keetanu (literally Love Bug) is a mess of mangled messaging. It’s the kind of film in which the supposed bad guy is more likeable than the leading man.
Outdated Tropes and Character Portrayals
Vishal (Veer Pahariya), accompanied by joined-at-the-hip buddy Magan (Nikhil Vijay), spends his days in college drinking and roistering. He somehow gets through his mechanical engineering degree by copying, but is rejected at placement time.
The bright Suhani (Aafiya Syed) passes from a better college, gets head-hunted by the best companies, but chooses to work with the cool Ranjeet (Aparshakti Khurana).
Their paths cross at a wedding. Vishal falls in love with Suhani, who also enjoys the attentions of Ranjeet, and it looks like there is an attraction there. Vishal is skint, forced to work at a food court and delivery boy to save money for a US university, and is told bluntly by Suhani’s friend, that she is clearly out of his league.
When has that cooled the ardour of an entitled male?
Muddled Narrative
In the film directed by Apoorv Singh Karki, written by Girish AD (writer-director of the original) and Deepak Kingrani, Suhani is portrayed as a bimbo.
In this day and age, she can’t tell the difference between flirting and friendzoning.
She calls Vishal when she needs help, takes a lift from him for a long-distance bike, he picks her up from work in the evening, and when he proposes to her, she says, all affronted, ‘What wrong signal did I give you?’
There is nothing wrong with a woman (or man) seeking a steady, stable relationship, with a suitable partner.
Her behaviour towards Rangeet encourages romance, but she doesn’t want to accept his proposal either. Which, of course, is entirely her choice.
But the film expects her to choose between a layabout and a successful professional.
What is in Vishal’s favour is that he can drink himself into a stupor, he takes Suhani’s parents to Chandni Chowk, instead of a five-star roof top. And Ranjeet who takes the rap for her mistake at work, and tries to help her get ahead, is a villain?
Bollywood’s Struggle with Modern Romance
So the myth that ‘no actually means yes’ carries on, and every loser believes that because he loves a girl, she must love him back. Maybe an actor with the charm of Shah Rukh Khan could carry this off, and Veer Pahariya has a long way to go to reach there.
Aparshakti Khurana is effortlessly likeable, and better dressed too.
Aafiya Syed, with a vacuous smile pasted on, is unfortunately saddled with a role that does her no favours.
The style of the film is old-fashioned too, when a background song or dream sequence is trotted out instead of genuine emotions or lines that resonate with the audience. These days, it is admittedly more difficult to make urban love stories because there is no real conflict anymore. But romcoms still remain popular, if done well.
Prem Keetanu just cannot make up its mind what it wants to say, a bit like its dithering leading lady.
Today, a woman, who has slogged through engineering college and landed an exciting job, might actually choose her career over a man, at least till she has achieved what she wants. Sadly, Bollywood is still enamored of unsuitable men!
Prem Keetanu Review Rediff Rating:
